Methods in context refined Flashcards
(10 cards)
Secondary data-
Secondary sources are data collected by someone else for their own purpose but is available for others to use like official statistics. Can be quantitative and qualitative. data.
How- Efficient way to gather information already been collected, cheap do not need to spend any money when trying to accumulate information. Documents on education are easily accessible due to government policies emphasizing parental choice. Documents in the public domain so no permission needed.
How- The researcher has no control over how that data was produced, may not be looking at the same thing the sociologist want it for. Governments collect statistics for their own policy purpose and so these may not be the same as those of sociologists needs. The state may not collect statistics on ___ which sociologists are interested in but instead on pupils entitled to free school meals.
How- Interpretivists question the validity of educational statistics argue they are socially constructed. schools can manipulate data like attendance figures redefining poor attenders as being on study leave want to keep a positive image to maintain their funding and support. Not all information will be documented to keep a positive image this makes it less representative.
Secondary data real life experiences
Gillborn- study the lives of students experiences in two secondary schools that gave multiculture education high priority study 11 to 16 year olds to see schools role in developing and supporting anti racial values he used secondary data he had gathered from previous research where he had obtained into information from semi structured interviews observations and documents.
-Ethical considerations of re-use especially sensitive data about race and school experiences may raise ethical concerns if not consented for secondary use. Especially relevant when dealing with young people aged 11–16.
+Since the original data came from semi-structured interviews and observations, it likely contained detailed qualitative insight into students’ experiences. This allows for a deeper understanding of how anti-racist values are communicated and experienced in school settings.
Interviews
A qualitative method where researchers ask questions to individuals or groups to gather in-depth information and insights (Structured, unstructured, semi structured)
How- Flexibility & Rich Data Interviews allow researchers to ask follow-up questions, adapt to unexpected answers. They provide detailed qualitative data that surveys often overlook. For young children there are ethical issues which may cause them to be distressed so researchers should be more sensitive and understanding.
Who- Legally required to go to school sociologist know where to find there research target group.
How- Unstructured interviews can take a long time to conduct. Participants may not have time to take part in interviews. Access and response rate to schools may be reluctant to allow sociologist to conduct interviews during lesson time due to the disruption.
Who- Children have less status and power difficult to state their view openly especially if they contradict an adults. Teachers can influence pupils their views may not be representative. Structured interviews reinforce power difference as questions already decided by someone in power.
How- Cost going to different schools. Difficulty to access schools security/ safe gaurding
Who- Young people have less linguistic and intellectual skills than adults which create problems for interviewers. Young people may be more reluctant to talk. Have more limited vocabulary short attention span and read body language differently to adults. These factors may lead to misunderstanding and incorrect answers which undermines the vitality of the data.
Interviews real life experiences
Willis you want to see education from the child’s point of view he supported Marxist views that education was conflict he studied working class boys in the Midlands and found that they were disruptive and had anti school subcultures concluded schools aren’t working well at teaching children socialization he used various methods to collect data to make is research valid as kept boys would act up to live up to stereotype. WC choose to fail rather than the education system failing them. Benefited capitalism due to lack of meritocracy. Researcher bias theoretical issues.
-Willis held Marxist views, which may have influenced how he interpreted the boys’ responses. This can affect the objectivity and reliability of the data.
+Rich, qualitative data semi-structured interviews allowed Willis to probe responses and adapt questions based on answers. This led to insights about anti-school subcultures and working-class identity that a questionnaire could never capture.
Questioners
A research method used to collect data in the form of a list of questions (Close ended, opened end)
How- Compared to interviews, questionnaires save time for both researchers and respondents. They can be completed at the participant’s convenience and do not require scheduling individual meetings, making them ideal for studies with tight deadlines. Fewer ethical issues and other research methods interviews may ask intuitive or sensitive questions but respondents are under no obligation to answer them.
Who- Legally required to go to school sociologist know where to find there research target group.
How- Questionnaires cannot be changed once they have been finalised so they can’t decide to explore new areas they come across during research. Data tends to be limited and superficial they need to be daily brief since most respondents are unlikely to complete or return questions with long answers.
Who- Children have less status and power difficult to state their view openly especially if they contradict an adults. Teachers can influence pupils their views may not be representative. Structured interviews and questionaries reinforce power difference as questions already decided by someone in power.
Who- Pupiles vocab and thinking skills may be limited to an adults especially when talking about abstract ideas.
Questioners real life experiences
Ritter used questionnaires to collect large amount of data for 12 secondary schools in London. He wanted to student the correlation between achievement attendance and behavior against other variables like schools size and staff numbers. Lack of depth and detail.
-Questionnaires are limited in the kinds of answers they can produce often short, tick-box responses. This means they don’t explore why students behave a certain way or how school factors affect them emotionally or socially.
+Can collect data from a large number of schools more representative. Rutter used questionnaires in 12 schools, covering many students and staff. This makes findings more generalizable across the education system.
Experiments
Lab experiments carried out in controlled lab conditions. Field experiments Carried out in the subject natural setting. Quantitative data
How- Highly reliable other researchers can easily replicate it positive this favourite because it uses scientific method. Experiments in sociology involve controlled studies where researchers manipulate variables to observe their effects on human behavior. These can be laboratory experiments (highly controlled)
Field experiments (real-world settings favoured by interpretivist high ecological validity. Demand characteristics are less likely.
Who-
How- Artificial environment that lacks ecological validit. Potential ethical issues Hawthorn effect. Artificially of lab experiments my only tell us a little about real world education. Focus on short-term behaviors, making it difficult to study long-term social processes.
Who- Ethical problems- Children today have more rights than in the 1960s and the legal duty of care that school has today means such experiments are unlikely to be carried out. Field experiments work best when those who are involved do know this requires deception. Deception, lack of informed consent, and potential psychological harm can be problematic.
How- Less control over extraneous variables low reliability ethical issues. Practical problems school are large and complex institutions many variables that may affect teachers education; class size, streaming, type of school it’s impossible to control and identify all the variables.
Who- Experiments that use real people raise ethical concerns. Due to Younger peoples vulnerabilities, limited ability to understand what is happening means higher chance of deception lack of informed consent. 
Experiments real life experiences
Charkin et al- conducted research with a sample of 48 uni students who each taught a lesson of 10 boys 1/3 of them were told the boys were highly motivated and intelligent 1/3 were told that they were poorly motivated and lacked ability and 1/3 were given no information to his research found from recording their lessons that those who had high expectations of the groups made more eye contact and used encouraging language download of lower expected groups they’re supported labeling theory’s.
-Lacks ecological validity. The study involved university students teaching unfamiliar boys in a controlled setting not a real classroom with long-term teacher-pupil relationships. So the results may not reflect how real teachers behave in actual school settings.
+High control over variables. Controlled what the student teachers were told about the pupils (motivated, unmotivated, or neutral). This allowed them to isolate the effect of expectations on teacher behaviour making the results more reliable.
Observations-
A research method where researchers watch and record social interactions and behaviors (Covert, Overt)
How- Easier to get permission to observe lessons then to interview people in teachers. Provide rich, in-depth qualitative data, allowing researchers to capture real-life interactions and behaviors in their natural settings. Gives us understanding of the world wide of social factors.
How- This method enhances validity and offers insights that other research methods may miss. Ethical Considerations trust between researchers and participants, encouraging honest participation.
How- Observations can lead to things being seen or heard that can get people in trouble the research would be obliged to report wrongdoing. Breaks trust the people had in the researcher and will no longer want to cooperate with their research. School work hard to protect its people
Who- Limited ability to give informed consent of peoples means that observations normally must be known. Ethical issues.
Observations real life experiences
Wright- Did a study in four city primary schools found teachers seemed to be committed to treating all students equally that there were still discrimination in the classroom teachers use simple language for Asian students. Teachers stereotypes resulted in other pupils being hostile and isolating Asian pupils. Black Caribbean students were badly behaved but teachers didn’t consider they could be victims of racism black students were told off for shouting out the right answer whereas white students weren’t. She concluded that although schools may appear committed to values of equality but they don’t always practice it in the right way.
-Subjective interpretation Wright’s own background or beliefs may have influenced how she interpreted what she saw or heard. This can lead to researcher bias, particularly in a qualitative study.
+Reveals hidden forms of discrimination. Observations exposed subtle but important ways teachers treated students differently like using simplified language or disciplining unfairly. Unnoticed in official school data or questionnaires.
