Methods in Context
Practical issues
time and money
requirements of funding bodies
personal skills and characteristics
subject matter
research opportunity
Ethical issues
informed consent
confidentiality and privacy
harm to research participants
vulnerable groups
covert research
Theoretical issues
validity
reliability
representativeness
methodological perspective
Lab experiments
HARVEY AND SLATIN
Used a sample of teachers. Each teacher was shown 18 photographs of hildren from different class backgrounds
The teachers were asked to rate the children on their performance
Found that lower class children were rated less favourably
This study indicates that teachers label pupils from different social classes and use these labels to pre-judge pupils' potential
ethical problems
Young people's vulnerability and their more limited ability to understand what is happening mean that there are greater problems of deception, lack of informed consent and psychological damage
practical problems
class size, type of school
It's impossible to control and identify all the variables that might exert an influence on teacher's expectations
small scale
artificiality
Participant Observation
Used photographs of fake pupils
Field experiements
ROSENTHAL AND JACOBSON
Carried out a research in a California primary school
Pupils were given an IQ test and teachers were told that it identified the 20% of pupils who were likely to "spurt" in the next year. In reality the test did no such thing and the pupils were selected at random
ethical problems
Deception
practical problems
Risk of changing the school's reputation
theoretical problems
reliability: unlikely that the original could be replicated exactly
validity: no evidence of teacher expectations being passed on through classroom interaction
Questionnaires
Operationalisation of concepts
Samples and sampling frames
Access and response rate
Pratical issues
Low response rates, however when conducted in schools, response rates can often be higher than in other areas
Questionnaires are useful for gathering large quantities of basic factual information quickly and cheaply
Particularly useful when researching sensitive educational issues (bullying)
Unsuitable for children
Anonymity
Positivists like them because they're quantitative
Structured observation
practical issues
Observations can be easily converted into quantitative data by counting the number of times each type of behaviour occurs
theoretical issues
Reliability: Easy to replicate
Validity: Interpretivists sociologists criticise structured observation of classroom interaction for its lack of validity
Interviews
Unstructured
Validity
Unstructured interviews can encourage interviewees to open up and respond more fully
Interviewer can clear up misundertandings by explaining qs
HIGH VALIDITY
Practical issues
They give time to work out their responses
Young pupils may find them too demanding
Reliability
Different interviews may obtain very different results
LOW RELIABILITY
Interviewer training
Structured
Practical issues
They take less time and so they are less disruptive to school's activities
Researchers more likely to receive support
Reliability
Easy to replicate
Validity
The researcher might come accross as "teacher in disguise" to children
Ethical issues
Parental permission may be required to interview children
Difficult to create questions for young people
Better method of obtaining valid answers, because they have better verbal skills
Quick, cheap and require less training
Easy for the observer to sit at the back of the classroom
ethical issues
Dis-empowering for teachers and pupils – The observer is detached and acts as an expert.
Observers come in without getting the consent of the pupils
The presence of a stranger is likely to affect teachers' and pupils' behaviour and reduce validity
Theoretical issues
Validity
Practical issues
It may take the observer weeks or even months to understand how a school functions
Less disruptive than INTERVIEWS, easier to gain permission
Recording observations can be problematic
Ethical issues
Pupils may not be able to give informed consent
Classroom observation usually has to be overt
A poor public image as a result of the research can damage a school's reputation and the education of its pupils
HAWTHORNE EFFECT
Unavoidable
Teachers may be suspicious of an observer in their classroom and alter their normal behaviour
Representativeness
Difficult for researchers to know if the behaviour they are seeing in schools is genuine
Can only be done at a small-scale, this makes representativeness virtually impossible to achieve using this method
Official Statistics
Practical Issues
Saves time and money
Allow to examine trends over time
However, the official definitions of key concepts and issues may differ from those that sociologists use
Theoretical
Representativeness
HIGHLY REPRESENTATIVE, they cover every pupil in the country
Reliability
Government's use the same collection process from year to year
However, they may change the definitions and categories
Validity
Interpretivists see them as socially constructed
Schools may manipulate their statistical records
Ethical Issues
Collected in the ‘national interest’ and so avoid the biases of private research
Enable us to check up on the performance of public bodies such as the police and schools, making sure tax payers’ money is spent efficiently
Documents
Practical issues
A large amount of information about education is publicly available
Ethical Issues
Not having the consent for using private documents
Theoretical Issues
Reliability
Accidental mistakes made when completing them makes them LESS RELIABLE
Validity
Schools want to present themselves in the most positive way and so they are LESS VALID
Documents can provide important insights into the meanings hled by teachers and pupils and therefore are HIGH IN VALIDITY
However, all documents are open to different interpretentions
Represenativeness
Not all behaviour is recorded and this REDUCES representativeness
Because some documents are legally required of all schools and colleges, they are LIKELY to be representative