topic 3 MIC education

Question 1

Using questionnaires in education

Practical issues (2)

Answer 1

• questionnaires are useful for gathering large quantities of basic information quickly and cheaply from large samples of pupils, teachers or educational settings
• they can be used to correlate factors such as achievement, attendance and behaviour with variables such ad type of school, school size, class size, class gender

Question 2

Using questionnaires in education

Sampling frames

Answer 2

Schools are a good source of ready-made sampling frames. They keep lists of pupils and staff and these can provide accurate sampling frames from which to draw a representative sample
-schools have ready-made opportunity samples of pupils and teachers e.g. resgisters

Question 3

Using questionnaires in education

Response rate

Answer 3

• response rates for questionnaires are generally low. However, when conducted in schools they are usually higher, because once a headteacher has put their authority behind the research, teachers and pupils may be obliged to cooperate
• also, pupils, teachers and parents are accustomed to completing school questionnaires, such as student satisfaction surveys

Question 4

Using questionnaires in education

researching pupils (3)

Answer 4

• children generally have a shorter attention span than adults and so a short questionnaire can be more effective than interviews.
• however, this limits the amount of information that can be gathered.
• pupils with poor literacy skills may be unable or unwilling to complete questionnaires

Question 5

Using questionnaires in education

operationalising concepts (2)

Answer 5

• turning abstract ideas as ‘deferred gratification’ into a measurable form is particularly difficult when researching pupils
• young people have a poorer grasp of abstract ideas, so they are less likely to understand some of the questions

Question 6

Using questionnaires in education

samples

Answer 6

-schools may not keep lists that reflect the researcher’s interests, e.g. the researcher may wish to investigate ethnicity or social class, but the school may not keep lists of pupils sorted by their ethnic origin or social background

Question 7

using questionnaires in education

validity

Answer 7

-the life experiences of children (especially primary age children) are narrower, so they may not actually know the answers to questions. consequently, questionnaires may be of little value

Question 8

using structured interviews in education

response rate (3)

Answer 8

• SIs have practical advantages, namely they usually take less time than USs and so they are less disruptive to schools’ activities
• therefore researchers are more likely to receive official support for the research
• the hierarchical nature of the school may then work in their favour and this may increase their response rate.

Question 9

using structured interviews in education

reliability

Answer 9

• SIs are easy to replicate

- therefore large-scale patterns in educational behaviour can be identified, e.g. in gender and subject choice

Question 10

using structured interviews in education

validity (2)

Answer 10

• as young people tend to have better verbal than literacy skills, interviews may be more successful tan questionnaires to gather valid data
• however, the formal nature of SIs (similar to exams, lessons and other controlled situations) means pupils are unlikely to feel as ease and therefore may be less forthcoming

Question 11

using structured interviews in education

ethical issues (2)

Answer 11

• parental permission may be required to interview children

- whether or not this is given depends partly on the sensitivity of the research topic

Question 12

using structured interviews in education

power and status differences (3)

Answer 12

• pupils and teachers are not equal in power and status and this affects their behaviour
• pupils often alter their responses to seek adult approval by giving untrue but socially acceptable answers
• children see adults as authority figures, so the researcher may come across as a ‘teacher in disguise’- this is particularly true in formal interview situations. This will reduce the validity of the interview data

Question 13

using structured interviews in education

question design (3)

Answer 13

• it is more difficult to create questions for use with young people because their linguistic and intellectual skills are not fully developed.
• As a result, they may not understand long, complex sentences or some abstract concepts
• in answers, they may have a more limited vocabulary and use words incorrectly. they therefore need more help and clarification- neither of which happens in SIs

Question 14

using UNstructured interviews in education

power and status inequality (3)

Answer 14

• UIs overcome barriers of power and status inequalities. Their informality can establish rapport more easily
• Labov’s research shows that USs can encourage interviewees to open up and respond more fully.
• This produces more valid data, which is particularly useful when dealing with sensitive topics

Question 15

using UNstructured interviews in education

practical issues (2)

Answer 15

• Pupils may be inarticulate or reluctant to take, so UIs can encourage interviewees to open up and respond more fully
• this produces more valid data, which is particularly useful when dealing with sensitive topics

Question 16

using UNstructured interviews in education

Validity (2)

Answer 16

• The difficulties in communicating with young people mean that UIs may be suitable, because the interviewer can clarify misunderstandings by explaining questions
• however, children may also have more difficulty in keeping to the point and may present contradictory or irrelevant responses

Question 17

using UNstructured interviews in education

Reliability (2)

Answer 17

• To put young people at ease, some interviewers try to maintain a relaxed atmosphere by nodding, smiling and making eye contact
• However, this cannot be standardised, so different interviewers may obtain very different results and this would reduce the reliability of the results

Question 18

using UNstructured interviews in education

Social desirability (3)

Answer 18

• pupils are accustomed to adults ‘knowing better’ and so may defer to them in interviews. -Children are more likely than adults to change their original answer when the question is repeated because they think it must have been wrong.
• Teachers may seek to protect their professional self image and so are likely to represent themselves in the most positive light. However, an UI allows researchers to probe behind the image.

Question 19

using UNstructured interviews in education

Interviewer training (2)

Answer 19

• Unstructured interviewing of young people requires more training than interviewing adults.
• Interviewers need to be trained not to interrupt children’s answers, to tolerate ling pauses and to avoid repeating questions, since this may make children change their original answer for fear that it was wrong

Question 20

Using structured observations in education

Practical issues (3)

Answer 20

• As a relatively closed physical and social environment, the classroom is well suited to SO.
• It is relatively easy for an observer to sit at the back of a classroom recording behaviour into set categories. The short duration of most lessons also means that the observer does not fatigued
• The relative simplicity of SO methods in the classroom means that they are quicker, cheaper and require less training that many other methods. However, some schools situations often involve too many different behaviours to be satisfactorily categorised

Question 21

Using structured observations in education

Reliability (3)

Answer 21

• The range of classroom behaviours (of both teachers and pupils) is relatively limited and therefore is a limited number of behaviour categories can be established for use in the observation
• It is therefore easy to replicate classroom observations
• SO also generates categories ignores the meanings that pupils and teachers attach to it

Question 22

Using structured observations in education

Validity (2)

Answer 22

• Interpretivists criticise SO of classroom interaction for its lack of validity
• Simply counting classroom behaviour and classifying it into a limited number of pre-determined categories ignores the meanings that pupils and teachers attach to it

Question 23

Using structured observations in education

Observer presence (2)

Answer 23

• The presence of a stranger, probably non-participant, observing behaviour using a checklist can be off-putting (and certainly difficult ti disguise) in a school.
• This is likely to affect teachers’ and pupils’ behaviour and reduce validity

Question 24

Using participant observation in education

Validity (3)

Answer 24

• PO is more likely yo overcome the problem of status differences between pupils and researcher, thus allowing the researcher to gain acceptance by pupils, resulting in more valid dat
• Nether-less, both teachers and pupils are skilled at altering their behaviour when being observed in those in authority.
• This makes it difficult for researchers to know if the behaviour they are seeing in schools is genuine

Question 25

Using participant observation in education Practical issues (3)

Answer 25

- Schools are complex places and it may take an observer weeks or even months to understand how a school functions. - However, classroom observation may be less disruptive than interviews, so it may be easier to gain permission to observe lessons than to interview pupils and teachers. - Nevertheless, observation is restricted by the school timetable, holidays, the head teacher’s control over access. There is not much privacy in school-they are very busy places, so recording observations can be problematic

Question 26

Using participant observation in education Ethical issues(2)

Answer 26

- Pupils are more vulnerable than adults and may not be able to give informed consent. This means that classroom observation normally has to be overt. - There are also greater ethical issues when dealing with schools in terms of protecting the school’s identity. A poor public image as a result of the research can damage a school’s reputation and the education of pupils

Question 27

Using participant observation in education The Hawthorn Effect (3)

Answer 27

- Most observation has to be overt- there are few ‘cover’ roles the researcher can adopt because he or she stands out as being much older than the pupils. - The Hawthorne Effect is therefore unavoidable to some degree. - Teachers may be suspicious of an observer in their classroom and alter their normal behaviour

Question 28

Using participant observation in education Representativeness (3)

Answer 28

- PO of schools and classrooms can be carried out on a very small scale - The education system is vast, with over 35,000 schools and colleges - This makes representativeness virtually impossible to achieve using this method

Question 29

Using official statistics in education Representativeness (3)

Answer 29

- Some OS on education can be highly representative, e.g. all state schools have to complete a school census three times a year. - It would be impossible for researchers to collect this quantity and range of data themselves. - These statistics cover virtually every pupil in the country, so they are highly representative

Question 30

Using official statistics in education Reliability (3)

Answer 30

- The government uses standard definitions and categories in the collection of educational statistics - The same collection process is replicated from year to year, allowing direct comparisons to be made, e.g. of exam performance. - However, governments may change the definitions and categories, e.g. several definitions of ‘value added’ have been used to measure school performance. This reduces reliability

Question 31

Using official statistics in education Validity (3)

Answer 31

- Interpretivists challenge the validity of educational statistics, seeing them as socially constructed, e.g. pupil attendance, teachers and pupils. - Schools may manipulate their statistical records because there is pressure on them to present themselves positively in order to maintain their funding and parental support. - This undermines the validity of the statistics. However, some educational statistics are less open to manipulation

Question 32

Using official statistics in education Practical issues (3)

Answer 32

- The government collects statistics from every school in the country. This saves sociologists time and money, as well as allowing them to make comparisons - Statistics also allow us to examine trends over time. Governments are interested in many of the same educational issues as sociologists, e.g. racism in schools, so the stats produced by the gov are likely to be very useful to researchers - However, the official definitions of key concepts and issues may differ from those that sociologists use

Question 33

Using documents in education Practical issues (2)

Answer 33

- Because most education is run by the state and because schools and colleges compete with each other for ‘customers’, a large amount of information about education is made publicly available. - This includes school policy statements, local authority guidelines and websites.

Question 34

Using documents in education Ethical issues (2)

Answer 34

- There are a few ethical issues concerns with public documents produced by schools because they have been placed in the public domain. - There are more ethical problems with using personal documents such as school reports, pupils’ workbooks etc

Question 35

Using documents in education Reliability (2)

Answer 35

- Many school documents e.g. attendance registers, are in a systematic format and so researchers can draw direct comparisons - However, accidental mistakes made when completing these documents reduce their reliability

Question 36

Using documents in education Creditability (2)

Answer 36

- Public documents give the ‘official’ picture of what is happening in a school or college. - In an education market, schools want to present themselves in the most positive way and so many documents are constructed with a parental audience in mind. - This makes them less believable and less valid

Question 37

Using documents in education Representativeness (3)

Answer 37

- Because some documents are legally required of all schools and colleges, they are likely to be representative - However, not all behaviour is recorded and this reduces the representativeness - Personal documents produced by pupils or teachers are often less representative because they are collected in an unsystematic way

Question 38

Using documents in education Validity (3)

Answer 38

- Documents can provide important insights into the meanings held by teachers and pupils and can therefore be high in validity - However, all documents are open to different interpretations. - Age and other differences between the researcher and pupils and mean that the researcher cannot be sure that their interpretation of the meaning of pupils’ personal documents is accurate