Primary Methods Used to Investigate Education (AQA A Level Sociology): Flashcards

Student questionnaires have high reliability because their standardised format allows replication across year groups, classes and schools.

Parent questionnaires can collect quantitative data on class and ethnic differences in the level of support parents give their children.

Bicknell found these parents used terms such as 'maths tutor' and 'learning coach', showing how they viewed their role in education.

False.

The volunteer approach meant the views of less-engaged parents were absent, limiting representativeness.

Sylva et al. measured the 'Home Learning Environment', such as home reading and cultural outings, and correlated it with later Key Stage scores.

Middle-class parents are more likely to return questionnaires, making the results less representative.

Educational terminology can cause problems in parent questionnaires because parents who are unfamiliar with school language may misunderstand it, and there is no chance to clarify it.

Positivists favour structured (formal) interviews, which are quick, comparable and produce quantitative data.

Interpretivists favour in-depth interviews because probing follow-ups generate rich qualitative insight into teachers' meanings and motives.

Lupton found that staff were guarded and image-conscious, presenting themselves in ways that protected their school's reputation.

Becker found that teachers judged pupils against a class-based 'ideal pupil', so working-class pupils were labelled negatively.

True.

This role conflict can reduce the validity of interview data from teachers.

Staff lists provide a clear sampling frame for researchers who want to interview teachers.

Interviews with parents provide first-hand insight into how the home, family and school interact.

Bicknell uncovered hidden attitudes and specific support strategies that shaped children's educational achievement.

Gewirtz, Ball and Bowe gained insight into how parents interpret league tables and make school-choice decisions.

False.

Parent interviews can be conducted flexibly, by phone, video call or home visit, to fit parents' schedules.

Parent interviews can be used alongside surveys to clarify or deepen understanding of quantitative findings.

Educational jargon may intimidate working-class parents in interviews, reducing the depth of their answers.

Rapport helps parents feel heard, especially in informal interviews.

Researchers usually favour informal, semi-structured interviews to put pupils at ease and boost validity.

Willis uncovered a counter-school culture, as the 'lads' spoke candidly about breaking rules and skipping lessons.

False.

Group interviews help some pupils feel comfortable, but peer pressure can make others reluctant to speak honestly or show off to impress.

It is hard to generalise because Willis used a small, single-school sample that omitted girls' and minority experiences.

Attrition bias is when participants drop out between waves of a longitudinal study, skewing the sample, e.g. the least engaged pupils in Archer et al. (2013).

Pupils might censor their answers because the interviewer's adult status leads them to tailor responses to what they think is expected.

Researchers most often use non-participant observation to study teachers and students in the classroom.

Covert observation is rarely used in schools because it is unethical to mislead children and teachers, and researchers can seldom disguise their age or role as pupils.

False.

Headteachers are unlikely to authorise covert research, and informed consent is difficult to secure retrospectively.

Observation can uncover informal racism or sexism among staff and pupils that is not captured in official data.

Observation can reveal the hidden curriculum by exposing the unspoken messages about hierarchy, conformity and values conveyed through school routines.

Positivists favour structured observations because they use predefined categories to produce quantitative, comparable data on classroom behaviour.

In a structured observation, teacher-pupil interactions are tallied at specific time intervals.

Francis followed up with pupil and teacher interviews because her tally did not explain why boys received more negative attention than girls.

Galton et al. used a pre-coded observation schedule to tally teacher talk, pupil talk and whole-class, group and individual work.

True.

Standardised schedules can be replicated by other researchers, so different observers can check the findings.

Structured observations have low validity because ticking pre-defined categories can miss pupils' meanings, intentions and social context.

Gatekeeping is when a person such as a headteacher controls access to a school, restricting who or what a researcher can observe.

Interpretivists favour unstructured observations because they give access to the meanings that teachers and pupils give to situations.

Lacey showed that streaming produced pro- and anti-school subcultures among the boys at Hightown Grammar.

False.

Unstructured observation usually covers a small number of pupils or classes, as in Lacey's single-school study, which limits representativeness.

Keddie revealed that teachers' casual comments and simplified curriculum material conveyed low expectations, reinforcing working-class disadvantage.

Unstructured observation can generate new hypotheses for future structured studies or surveys.

Experiments explore cause-and-effect relationships in education, e.g. between teacher expectations and pupil performance.

Stereotype threat research tests whether drawing attention to a student's ethnicity or gender affects their test performance.

False.

Laboratory experiments are preferred by positivists for their emphasis on objectivity, reliability and identifying causal relationships.

Harvey and Slatin found that teachers rated working-class and some minority pupils as less able.

False.

Using photographs lacks ecological validity, as there was no real teacher-pupil interaction.

In Chaikin et al., the high-expectancy group used more eye contact and positive body language than the low-expectancy group.

False.

The participants were university students, not trained teachers, and the setting was artificial, which limits real-world relevance.

School variables that are hard to isolate in experiments include class size, school ethos and streaming.

Experiments with young pupils raise concerns about informed consent because pupils may not fully understand the nature of the research.

The Hawthorne effect may distort results if teachers or pupils know they are being studied.

After eight months, the 'spurters' gained more IQ points, supporting the self-fulfilling prophecy.

The study raises the ethical issue that non-spurters received less teacher attention and may have been disadvantaged educationally.

False.

Only a minority of academy chains significantly outperformed other schools, which shows how natural experiments can evaluate policy.

Field experiments have higher ecological validity because their realistic setting reflects everyday school life.

Field experiments are difficult to replicate because each school context is unique.

Causal inference is harder in field experiments because many variables are uncontrolled, e.g. pupil background or the timetable.