Methods in the context of education

Parents

Teachers

Pupils

Practicalities

Ethicalities

Theoretically

Schools

Classroom

Challenges:

access & gatekeepers, hard to access school groups, schools hard to enter
sampling and sample frame access, normally confidential
captive population, some info such as FSM may not be given over
operationalisation, can be a challenge to do simply by guessing info e.g. class
rooms in which to conduct interviews, getting questionnaires back in etc

Positives:

captive population, easy to find lots of the same people in one area, organised into year groups / sets if you manage access, schools do have info on things
operationalisation, some accessible lists / samples

Challenges:

informed consent & parental consent, need but could damage experiment, deceive
confidentiality & anonymity, may be legally obligated to break this
sensitivity, harm & trauma, children as a protected group
protection of children & vulnerable adults
post-research consequences, dont want to damage relations inside the school
honesty
if researcher achieved in education, may be hard to sympathise with children that didnt

validity
objectivity
reliability
representativeness

Challenges:

right-answerism, teachers, pupils and parents, pupils also feel authority as important so want to appeal to
literacy & language, English as a second language, words people may not know, pupils with learning difficulties
social desirability, wanting approval from authority
front stage behaviour, all an act in classroom
detachment / Rapport / going native, need to avoid for objectivity
the Hawthorne effect
ventsehen, can you truly understand life of a pupil
operationalisation, hard to decide certain things e.g. class as parents income
objectivity lost due to senstive to pupils
representativeness for generalisability difficult, large population
researchers need to be aware of taken-for-granted assumptions they make about education
need to make sure to avoid political issues / contributing to this debate

Practical:

Advantages:
takes very little time to identity & sample / captive population
schools very data-rich due to legal framework e.g. must collect attendance
lots of secondary data e.g. ofsted
law requires young pupils to attend
Challenges:
gatekeepers may block access to pupil lists, school stats (legal duty of care)
Roland Mieghan and Clive Harber, heads sometimes view research negatively
school timetable impact when carried out
size and complexity, have to work out everything

Ethical:

Advantages:
Challenges:
researchers are part of the hierarchy, power imbalance
single sex schools if interviewer the other sex

Theoretical:

Advantages:
large scale surveys / official stats are more representative
Challenges:
you may lose insight and depth with large scale
stats can be falsified by schools e.g. attendance in school with truancy problem, or may downplay events to maintain public image
offical statistics on examination performance may portray the school as improving but really there has been curriculum changes e.g. entering pupils into easier qualifications

Practical:

Advantages:
captive population, easy to identity abilities and ages etc
easy to observe, small social setting, simple interactions
Challenges:
gatekeepers of teachers (lack of access, teachers protective over)
different peers in different lessons, cannot observe all so cannot compare behaviour

Ethical:

Advantages:
teachers can look out for pupil sensitivity & make sure they're okay
observing means no direct interactions, less pressure on pupils
Challenges:
protection of children
post-research consequences
covert vs overt observation, deceive pupils / teachers

Theoretical:

Advantages:
easy to observe, straight forward (only 2 roles of pupil and teacher)
increasing validity, everything firsthand
lack of Hawthorne effect as teachers used to being observed
Challenges:
controlled environment, different behaviour in different rooms
Hawthorne effect
artificiality (pupils not say truth infront of teachers & teachers guide away/to from certain classrooms)
peer groups impact behaviour, individual pupils behaviour impacted by this

Practical:

Advantages:
can wait outside schools / supermarkets, opportunity sampling
school may have list of contact info
Challenges:
difficult to find a sample / schools won't give out info, not a captive population
may not complete if doesnt benefit them / their children
midde class parents more likely to return questionnaires than working class

Ethical:

Advantages:
parents are unlikely to be as vulnerable as pupils
Challenges:
might feel like parenting / child is being judged, protective over children
issue of guilty knowledge & confidentiality
need parental consent

Theoretical:

Advantages:
Challenges:
cannot pick & choose parents to get a representative sample (lack of variety)
relying on transparency of parents as cannot observe
social desirability & pressure management (front-stage behaviour)
second hand info, only know what teacher / child tell then

Practical:

Advantages:
dont need to clarify terminology (as often)
captive population, sample easily
used to people coming in and out of their school (e.g. Ofsted), may allow
Challenges:
teachers busy, interviews are time consuming, may be willing to do questionnaires
may block access to classrooms, see researches as judgemental, teachers as gatekeepers

Ethical:

Advantages:
teachers (when studying them) not a vulnerable group
teachers are more confident & have been trained on data protection, safeguarding etc
Challenges:
dilemma between deceiving teachers & doing research, telling true aim & being declined or behaviour change (covert vs overt)
confidentiality, teachers may tell guilty knowledge or not be able to

Theoretical:

Advantages:
teachers are articulated, can understand question, less likely to give confused answers
can study staffroom, backstage
observational methods may prevent lack of honesty over questions
Challenges:
may not gain access to staffroom, and newcomer may raise suspicion
front-stage behaviour & Hawthorne effect if observing, less valid
using statistics doesnt show the full picture
head teachers may influence teachers behaviour
teaches used to being observed / watched by visitors so can practice front-stage behaviour
may not be honest, fear of loosing job

Practical:

Advantages:
research such as face-to-face interviews researcher can clarify Q's
Challenges:
need a DBS check due to Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006
vocal & self-expression can be limited, abstract ideas such as symbolic capital many pupils may not understand (long time to tailor research properly)
pulls may need more time to answer & use their own language
more gatekeepers (safeguarding)
may need researcher to match gender, ethnicity etc of pupil
only in school in term time & school days

Ethical:

Advantages:
easy to go into schools after DBS check
Challenges:
pupils may only agree as an adult is asking; pressure
research is authority figure (shifted power dynamic)
guilty knowledge, anonymity & confidentiality
children are vulnerable, sensitivity, secondary victimisation
try minimise stress or psychological harm
hard to get fully informed consent, lack of understanding
due to ethnical concerns companies like UNIFEC have special codes of practice for researching young people

Theoretical:

Advantages:
researcher can gain trust of pupils, especially face-to-face, increases validity
looking at a cross-section of pupils allows representativeness
Challenges:
info less reliable, pupils memories less developed, less detail
right-answerism, people think it is disciplinary or HW
teachers can control pupils (hierarchy)
teachers may select only best pupils to be interviewed, validity

Positives:

reliability possible as can replicate at other schools

tend to be experiments or observations

opposite to pupils

observational methods, uniquely to investigate more than a few, unrepresentative

large-scale surveys or official stats, help representative but lose detail

Malcom and Hill, young people are different to adults because of
1) power and status
2) ability and understanding
3) vulneravility