Researching Schools, Parents and Affects of Researcher

Question 1

How does school’s data affect researching schools?

Answer 1

• There’s secondary data publicly available about schools (exam results, league table etc.), making schools ‘data-rich’. However, schools records confidential so access might not be possible
• Official statistics on exams may not be accurate as schools can make changes in the curriculum to improve results (e.g. entering pupils for easier exams) and create an image that their improving

Question 2

How does the law affect researching schools?

Answer 2

• School’s operate in a legal framework, e.g. the law requires them to collect information on attendance, achievement etc, which may be useful for sociologists
• The legal duty of schools that schools have may mean researchers’ access is restricted

Question 3

How do gatekeepers affect researching schools?

Answer 3

• Meighan and Harber argue heads view research negatively. e.g. heads’ reactions to a research project of Meighan’s on consulting pupils about teaching included view like ‘it would be bad for classroom relationships’ and ‘children are not competent
• Beynon and Atkinson not heads often steer researchers away from sensitive situation, e.g. classes where the teachers has poor classroom control

Question 4

How does school organisation affect researching schools?

Answer 4

• Many schools are single-sex, which may pose problems if the researcher is if of a different gender. e.g. researcher might be the focus when they prefer to keep a low profile in a participant observation
• Schools have daily and yearly timetables, management structures etc, which might affect when and how a study can be carried out. e.g. holidays and exams can limit research

Question 5

How does socio-economic factors affect researching parents?

Answer 5

• As parents aren’t a homogenous group, their class, gender and ethnicity may affect how willing or able they are to participate
• e.g. pro-school MC parents may be more willing to return questionnaires which makes research unrepresentative

Question 6

How does parental permission affect researching parents?

Answer 6

• Parental permission is required for research with pupils and the likelihood of this may depend on the sensitivity of the research issue and if their children will benefit from participating
• The more sensitive an issue is, the less likely they are to consent

Question 7

How does access to parents affect research?

Answer 7

• As most parent-child interaction happens at home (outside of school), they’re more difficult to research
• School’s also don’t release parents’ names and addresses to researchers.
• Researchers might be able to send letters of questionnaires home with children, but there’s no guarantee that parents’ received them

Question 8

How does the researcher’s own experiences affect research?

Answer 8

• Sociologists’ experience and familiarity with schools can dull their awareness, so they need to awake of their assumptions
• If the researcher was successful in education, they might not be able to empathise with underachieving students and anti-school subculture