Secondary Methods Used to Investigate Education (AQA A Level Sociology): Flashcards
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Define official statistics.
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Define official statistics.
Official statistics are secondary, quantitative data collected by government departments and public bodies, such as the Department for Education.
Why do positivists use official statistics to study education?
Positivists use official statistics because they reveal large-scale trends and are seen as objective, reliable and representative.
What did Gillborn and Mirza (2000) find about Indian pupils?
Gillborn and Mirza found that Indian pupils outperformed White pupils in 80% of LEAs, showing the value of representative data.
True or False?
All LEAs provided ethnic breakdowns of results for Gillborn and Mirza (2000).
False.
31% of LEAs lacked ethnic breakdowns, raising concerns about the reliability and consistency of official statistics.
Datasets such as the School .................... are representative because they cover entire school populations.
Datasets such as the School Census are representative because they cover entire school populations.
Why are official education statistics seen as reliable?
Official education statistics are seen as reliable because they are collected using standardised methods each year, allowing comparisons over time.
Why might schools manipulate attendance or exclusion data?
Schools might manipulate attendance or exclusion data for marketing or accountability purposes.
Which groups of pupils may be missing from education data?
Education data may be incomplete or unavailable for private school pupils and home-educated children.
True or False?
Using official statistics to study truancy avoids issues of consent.
True.
There is no direct contact with participants, so researchers can study sensitive topics such as truancy and exclusions without risking psychological harm.
How do interpretivists view official statistics?
Interpretivists see official statistics as socially constructed and shaped by institutional interests.
Official statistics reveal what happens in education but not ........ it happens.
Official statistics reveal what happens in education but not why it happens.
Why might rigid categories in official statistics be a problem?
Rigid categories in official statistics might be a problem because categories such as fixed ethnic labels may not reflect individual identities or changes in social definitions.
How can official statistics help evaluate education policies?
Official statistics help evaluate education policies by identifying trends and tracking their impact over time.
Define public documents.
Public documents are documents produced by schools, local authorities and the Department for Education, e.g. Ofsted reports and school policies.
What did Gillborn (1995) use school policies and staff guidelines to analyse?
Gillborn used school policies and staff guidelines to analyse how racism was officially addressed.
Define personal documents.
Personal documents are documents created by individuals such as pupils, teachers or parents, e.g. notes passed between pupils.
True or False?
Positivists prefer personal documents for their insight into meaning.
False.
Positivists prefer public documents for their standardised, objective content; interpretivists prefer personal documents.
Why might school policies be a weak guide to what happens in schools?
School policies may be a weak guide to what happens in schools because they may not reflect actual practice: what is written does not guarantee that it is implemented.
What did Gewirtz et al. (1995) find in school brochures?
Gewirtz et al. found that schools promoted themselves to attract 'ideal' middle-class pupils, revealing a hidden class bias.
Documents are useful for ...................... research, such as tracking policy changes over time.
Documents are useful for historical research, such as tracking policy changes over time.
What did Hey (1997) find about girls' use of notes in class?
Hey found that girls used notes to resist school norms and express emotions.
True or False?
Hey's (1997) use of girls' notes raised no ethical issues.
False.
Many notes were collected without consent, e.g. from bins, raising issues of privacy and confidentiality.
Pupils' notes have high validity because they capture real, ...................... interactions.
Pupils' notes have high validity because they capture real, spontaneous interactions.
Why do public documents pose minimal ethical risk?
Public documents pose minimal ethical risk because there is no need for consent or direct contact with participants.
Why might a school prospectus give a biased picture?
A prospectus may give a biased picture because schools present an idealised or misleading image of themselves.
True or False?
Personal documents are usually representative of all pupils.
False.
Personal documents are often unrepresentative, reflecting a small number of individuals or unusual cases.
What can reduce the reliability of school records such as attendance registers?
Deliberate falsification or administrative errors, e.g. off-rolling pupils, can reduce the reliability of school records.
Why are documents less assumption-laden than structured methods?
Documents are less assumption-laden than structured methods because they can reveal themes the researcher had not anticipated.
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