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MiC: Using questionnaires in education (Sampling and sampling frames…
MiC: Using questionnaires in education
Operationalising concepts
Due to their age, children have limited understanding of difficult language.
-Therefore, trying to turn an abstract term into something they can understand can be tricky.
E.g. material deprivation means poverty
-Therefore children may misunderstand the question which decreases validity
-Researcher has to simplify the issue so much, it loses sociological value
DEFINITION: Involves turning abstract ideas into a measurable form, particularly difficult when creating a questionnaire for pupils. So ore difficult to turn sociological ideas into language they can understand. May produce answers based on respondents' misunderstanding of meaning of question.
Sampling and sampling frames
Schools keep lists of pupils, staff, and parents. So provide accurate sampling frames from which the sociologist can draw representative sample. Also made opportunity samples, for example in classes/teaching departments.
Schools may not keep lists that reflect the researchers interests.
E.g. the sociologist may want to take a representative sample of pupils from a particular ethnic group but the school may not have keep lists of pupils sorted by ethnic origin. Meaning there would not be a sampling frame available to draw the sample from.
The school may deny access to such confidential information as the children are protected by law
Distributing questionnaires in schools fairly easy way to access a large number of potential respondents. Although researcher needs schools/parents permission.
Parents are hard to get hold of and contact - contacting through a school is a good way to locate them (parents are generally willing to help school
Parents harder to locate than pupils/teachers, using school to distribute questionnaires is an effective way to overcome this difficulty. Parents generally willing to help school.
Younger kids may feel peer pressure to answer in a particular way - either to be cool (discussed with peers) or to give socially desirable responses because worried teachers will read them. This decreases validity
If researcher not present - can't explain any terms to students/answer any questions they might have. Decreases validity.
Practical Issue
Very useful for gathering large quantities of basic factual educational information quickly/cheaply. Enables you to correlated achievement, attendance, behaviour, with variables such as school/class size, number of staff. Very difficult to do this with more labour-intensive methods such as interviewing/observation.
Data generated by questionnaires often limited/superficial. Data provides correlations, but not explanations of them.
Access + Response rate
Response rates often low, may be reluctant to let sociologists distribute questionnaires because of lesson disruption or they may object to researcher's topic. Eg, under-age sexual activity.
When conducted in schools response rates can be higher because once consent is given, teachers/pupils under pressure to cooperate from the head.
Similarly, head may authorise time out of lessons to complete them. Higher response rate may produced more representative data where generalisations can be drawn.
Response rates might also be higher because teachers/parents accustomed to completing questionnaires issued by the school. Eg, student satisfaction surveys.
However, teachers often too busy to complete a lengthy questionnaire, this then may reduce response rate.
Anonymity + Detachment