Topic 3 - Experiments - Methods In Context Flashcards
(13 cards)
What did Harvey and Slatin’s laboratory study consist of and what did it find out ?
-Harvey and slatin used laboratory experiments to see whether teachers had preconceived ideas about pupils from different social classes
-Harvey and Slatin used a sample of 96 teachers , each teacher was shown 18 photographs of children from different social backgrounds
-to control other variables the photographs were equally divided in terms of gender and ethnicity
-the teachers were asked to rate the children on their performance , parental attitudes to education , aspirations and so on
-Harvey and Slatin found that lower class children were rated less favourably , especially by more experienced teachers
-teachers based their ratings on the similarities they perceived between the children in the photographs and children they had taught
-this study indicates that teachers label pupils fm different social classes and use these labels to pre judge pupil’s potential
What did Charkin et al laboratory experiments consist of and what did it find out ?
-Charkin used a sample of 48 university students who each taught a lesson to a 10 year old boy to show how expectations are passed on to pupils through non verbal communication
-one third (the high expectancy group) were told the boy was highly motivated and intelligent
-one third (the low expectancy group) were told that he was poorly motivated with a low IQ
-One third were given no information
-Charkin et al videoed the lessons and found that those in the high expectancy group made more eye contact and gave out more encouraging body language than the low expectancy group
What did Masons laboratory experiment study and what did it find out ?
-Mason looked at whether negative or positive expectations of pupils had the greater effect
-teachers were given positive , negative or neutral reports on a pupil
-the teachers then observed a video recording of the pupils taking a test , watching to see if any errors were made
-finally, They were asked to predict the pupils end of year attainment
-mason found that negative reports had a much greater impact than the positive ones on the teachers expectations
Was there ethical problems of Harvey and slatin , Charkin et al and masons study , if so which ones ?
-laboratory experiments that don’t involve real pupils have fewer ethical problems than those that do . Neither mason nor Harvey and slatin used real pupils , so no child suffered any negative effects
-however , Charkin et al used real pupils so this raises ethical concerns , young people’s vulnerability and their more limited ability to understand what is happening means that there are greater problems of deception , lack of informed consent and psychological damage , these ethical problems are a major reason why laboratory experiments play only a limited role in educational research
What is meant by the narrow focus of laboratory experiments ?
-lab experiments usually only examine one specific aspect of teachers expectations , such as body language , this can be useful because it allows the researcher to isolate and examine this variable more thoroughly
-however means that teachers expectations aren’t seen within the wider process of labelling and the self fulfilling prophecy
How can Charkin et als study be criticised due to the narrow focus ?
-For example , Charkin et al identified the existence of positive and negative body language , they didn’t examine how it might then affect the pupils’ performance
What are some practical problems in conducting experiments on teachers expectations in schools ?
-schools are large and complex institutions in which many variables may affect teacher expectations
-for example , their expectations may be influenced by a wide range of variables , such as class size , streaming , type of school and so on
-in practice , it is impossible to identify , let alone control all the variables that might exert an influence on teachers expectations
Using Harvey and slatin and Charkin et al , how are their lab experiments artificial ?
-Charkin used university students rather than real teachers
-Harvey and slatin used photographs of pupils rather than real pupils
-its unlikely that university students behave in the same way as experienced teachers and teachers expectations are based on more than just pupils appearance , for example , behaviour , accent and impressions of parents may all play a part
What was Rosenthals and Jacobsons field experiment on and what did it find ?
-Rosenthals and Jacobson carried out their research in a Californian primary school , pupils were given an IQ test and teachers were told that this had enabled the researchers to identify the 20% who would spurt ahead , in reality the test did not such thing and the pupils were in fact selected at random
-the aim was to see if the teachers expectations had any impact on the pupils achievement
-over the first 8 months , pupils gained on average 8 IQ points but spurters gained 12 IQ points
What are the ethical problems of field experiments in educational settings such as in Rosenthals and Jacobsons study ?
-for example , in Rosenthals and Jacobsons study although the 20% of the spurters benefited from the study , the remaining 80% didn’t , so some may have been held back educationally because they received less attention and encouragement from teachers
-Rosenthal and Jacobson had to deceive the teachers to get true findings , had the teachers had known the true nature of the IQ test and the purpose of the research , it would have been impossible to plant these expectations in their minds and the experiment would have failed its purpose
Did Rosenthals and Jacobsons study have good reliability or a little bit good and bad ?
-Rosenthals and Jacobsons research design was relatively simple and therefore easy to repeat , within 5 years of the original study , it had been repeated no less than 242 times
-However , given al the many differences between school classes for example in terms of age of pupils , teaching style and so on it’s unlikely that the original can be repeated exactly
Why did Rosenthals and Jacobsons study lack validity and how does Claiborn support this view ?
-Rosenthal and Jacobson claimed that teachers expectations were passed on through differnces in the way they interacted with pupils . However , the researchers didn’t carry out any observation of classroom interaction , so they had no data to support this claim
-later studies that did use observation , such as Claiborn found no evidence of teachers expectations being passed on through classroom interaction
How is the broader focus of Rosenthals and Jacobsons field experiment a strength of their study ?
-Rosenthal and Jacobsons research design did look at the whole labelling process from teachers expectations through to the effects on the pupils , rather than just examining a single element in isolation
-their study was longitudinal , which allows them to identify trends over time
