RESEARCH METHODS- USING EXPERIMENTS TO RESEARCH EDU

Question 1

What is a strength of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 1

It is easier to set up a lab experiment than gain access to a real school, making it more practical.

Question 2

What is another strength of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 2

Most lab experiments do not use real children, which makes it ethical as no children will be harmed by the research.

Question 3

What is a third strength of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 3

Lab experiments can easily be replicated, making the data reliable.

Question 4

What is a limitation of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 4

Lab experiments are inflexible; as the experimenter controls the variables, they will only find out information about the variable being tested, but they won’t gain wider insight into the research topic.

Question 5

What is another limitation of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 5

If real children are used, they can be harmed psychologically, and as minors, they have not given their consent to be experimented on.

Question 6

What is another limitation of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 6

Lab experiments can be invalid, as teachers may behave differently in a controlled lab environment than they would with real students at their school.

Question 7

What is another limitation of using lab experiments to research education?

Answer 7

The sample in lab experiments is often unrepresentative, as it’s usually gathered through volunteer sampling, which may lead to biased results, especially if more senior teachers are unavailable to participate.

Question 8

What is a strength of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 8

Anonymity and confidentiality can be maintained by changing the names of the school, teachers, and students.

Question 9

What is another strength of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 9

Field experiments are more valid than lab experiments since they are conducted in a real school with real teachers and students.

Question 10

What is another strength of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 10

Field experiments are reliable as they are systematic, making them easy to replicate.

Question 11

What is a limitation of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 11

Access can be difficult, as the headteacher may be reluctant to allow research if it’s controversial or could damage the school’s reputation.

Question 12

What is another limitation of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 12

The researcher cannot control all variables in a real school setting.

Question 13

What is another limitation of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 13

Field experiments can cause psychological harm to children if they are used as participants.

Question 14

What is another limitation of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 14

The experimenter may deceive teachers about the true aims of the study, meaning informed consent is not obtained.

Question 15

What is another limitation of using field experiments to research education?

Answer 15

Field experiments are often only carried out at one school, meaning the sample may be unrepresentative of all schools, teachers, or students.

Question 16

What is an example of a field experiment in education?

Answer 16

Rosenthal and Jacobson’s “Pygmalion in the Classroom” study, where they manipulated teachers’ expectations of students to observe the effects of labelling on achievement in a Californian primary school.

Question 17

What is a practical issue with Rosenthal and Jacobson’s field experiment?

Answer 17

It was expensive and time-consuming, taking 18 months to complete, and they had to deceive the school about the true aim of the study.

Question 18

What is an ethical issue with Rosenthal and Jacobson’s field experiment?

Answer 18

There was no informed consent from the teachers, and the study caused harm to 80% of students by neglecting them educationally.

Question 19

What is a theoretical issue with Rosenthal and Jacobson’s field experiment?

Answer 19

The study is reliable as it can be replicated, but the sample was small (only one school), making it unrepresentative. It also lacks validity as there was no evidence that teachers treated students differently.

Question 20

What is an example of a laboratory experiment in education?

Answer 20

Harvey and Slatin’s study, which investigated whether teachers’ expectations of students were based on social class by showing teachers photographs of children from different social backgrounds.

Question 21

What is a practical issue with Harvey and Slatin’s laboratory experiment?

Answer 21

It is difficult, even impossible, to recreate school conditions in a lab.

Question 22

What is an ethical issue with Harvey and Slatin’s laboratory experiment?

Answer 22

The study didn’t use real students, so there were no ethical issues, but it’s unclear whether the teachers fully understood the true aim of the research.

Question 23

What is a theoretical issue with Harvey and Slatin’s laboratory experiment?

Answer 23

The study is reliable and representative due to the large sample (96 teachers), but it lacks validity as teachers’ judgments based on photos may not reflect how they would judge real students, as behavior and accent also affect teacher labeling.

Question 24

What is an example of another laboratory experiment in education?

Answer 24

Charkin et al.’s study, which investigated whether teacher expectations are passed on to students through non-verbal communication.

Question 25

What is a practical issue with Charkin et al.’s laboratory experiment?

Answer 25

It is difficult, even impossible, to recreate school conditions in a lab.

Question 26

What is an ethical issue with Charkin et al.’s laboratory experiment?

Answer 26

The study could be unethical as it may cause psychological harm to the boy who was treated less favorably by ‘teachers’ who were told he was of low ability.

Question 27

What is a theoretical issue with Charkin et al.’s laboratory experiment?

Answer 27

The study is unrepresentative due to the small sample size and invalid as the ‘teachers’ were university students, not real teachers, so the findings may not reflect real teacher behavior in schools.