Topic 2- Education: The Research Context

Question 1

what are the 5 main groups and settings in education you can research?

Answer 1

• pupils
• teachers
• parents
• classrooms
• schools

Question 2

what are the 3 main differences between studying adults and young people?

Answer 2

• power and status
• ability and understanding
• vulnerability

Question 3

how does power and status affect researching pupils?

3

Answer 3

• children have less power than adults so it is more difficult to state their views openly
• schools are hierarchical so teachers have more power and can influence which pupils are selected for research
• if pupils have bad relationships with teachers they are more likely to hae bad relationships with the researcher

Question 4

how does vulnerability affect researching pupils?

2

Answer 4

• young people are more vulnerable so participation of them in research is a question to be asked
• parental consent is not enough the researcher should be getting consent from the pupil as well

Question 4

how does ability and understanding affect researching pupils?

4

Answer 4

• pupils vocabulary and skills are more likely to be limited compared to an adults
• sociologists will have to take care in the wording of questions so pupils will understand
• harder to gain informed consent as they limit understanding
• memory is less developed so cannot recall information

Question 5

how do laws and guidelines affect pupil research?

Answer 5

• child protection laws prevent researchers from doing research
• eg. safeguarding vulnerable groups act 2006

Question 6

how does power and status affect researching teachers?

Answer 6

• teachers have more power than pupils in school
• nature of a classroom reinforces power
• researchers may have to have a cover to gain the teachers’ trust by being a supply teacher

Question 7

how does impression management affect researching teachers?

Answer 7

• teachers are used to being observed by ofsted so more willing to be observed by a researcher
• impression management means putting on an act so the researcher has to find ways to get behind the public face they put on
• researchers won’t be able to see how they are backstage like in the staffroom

Question 8

what are the 4 points to consider researching pupils?

Answer 8

• laws and guidelines
• vulnerability
• ability and understanding
• power and status

Question 9

what are the 2 points of researching teachers?

Answer 9

• power and status
• impression management

Question 10

what are the 2 points of researching classrooms?

Answer 10

• gatekeepers
• peer groups

Question 11

how do gatekeepers affect researching classrooms?

Answer 11

• classrooms are controlled by many gatekeepers
• for example teachers headteachers and chld protection
• the more gatekeepers there are, the more difficult it is to have access to it

Question 12

how do peer groups affect researching classrooms?

Answer 12

• young people may be insecure about their identity and status
• so in groups like classes and friendship groups they may be more pressured to conform
• may be necessary to supervise pupils when filling in questionnaires to avoid influence on answers

Question 13

what are the 4 aspects of researching schools?

Answer 13

• schools’ own data
• the law
• gatekeepers
• school organisation

Question 14

how does the schools’ own data affect researching them?

Answer 14

• there is a lot of secondary data about schools which makes them data rich
• however some data is confidential or schools lie about data
• schools may change curriculum to make them seem better

Question 15

how does the lawof attending school affect researching schools?

Answer 15

• the law requires young people to go to school
• researchers know where everyone is however some teachers may say they are disrupting education and refuse to be researched

Question 16

how do gatekeepers affect researching schools?

Answer 16

• governers and headteachers are gatekeepers who have power to refuse the researcher access to the school
• some situations may be off limits and they may steer you towards better things and avoid things like classes where the teacher has bad classroom control

Question 17

how does school organisation affect researching it?

Answer 17

• many schools are single sex so if the researcher is a different gender they will stick out of the crowd and become suspicious
• schools timetables may affect the researcher’s time for example holidays and exam season
• size and complexity can make it hard to understand and remember everything

Question 18

what 3 things can parents influence what goes on in education?

Answer 18

• how they bring up their children
• involvement in school
• marketisation policies see them as consumers so have a choice in schools

Question 19

how does access to parents affect researching them?

Answer 19

• most parent child interaction takes place at home
• parents are only at school when it is parents evening
• schools cannot share information of parents’ contact details and addresses