Researching Schools (AQA A Level Sociology): Revision Note

The focus of educational research

• Sociologists are interested in how education contributes to inequality and shapes the experiences and outcomes of different social groups

• Educational research often explores

  • behaviour

  • achievement

  • identity

  • access to opportunity

Key areas of focus

• Social class, gender, and ethnicity

  • Examines how structural inequalities shape academic achievement, treatment by teachers, and access to resources

  • Focuses on intersectionality and how these factors compound disadvantage

• Teacher expectations and labelling

  • Investigates how teacher perceptions affect student identity, self-fulfilling prophecies, and performance

  • Often explored through classroom observations and interviews with pupils and teachers

• Pupil subcultures

  • Looks at how students form pro-school or anti-school subcultures and how these influence attitudes to learning and achievement

  • Explored through ethnographic studies or group interviews

• School organisation and policy

  • Evaluates the impact of streaming, setting, league tables, marketisation, and curriculum changes on equality of opportunity

  • Researchers might analyse school documents, conduct interviews, or compare official statistics

• Home background and parental influence

  • Considers how material deprivation, cultural capital, language use, and parental involvement shape a child’s success in school

  • Often examined using surveys, interviews, and official data

Educational settings/contexts and participants studied

• Sociologists explore these issues across different settings or contexts, each offering unique opportunities and challenges:

• Schools

  • Studied to compare how school type, leadership, and policy affect outcomes

  • Practical access is possible but often restricted by gatekeepers like headteachers

• Classrooms

  • Used for observations of real-time interactions between pupils and teachers

  • However, researcher visibility and time constraints can impact validity

• Playgrounds and corridors

  • These are key informal social spaces where school life unfolds outside of formal teaching

  • They offer rich insight into how students express identity, negotiate peer relationships, and resist or conform to school norms

• The staff room

  • Studied for a behind-the-scenes look at how school culture operates among staff

  • Offers valuable insight into the hidden dynamics of schooling that aren't always visible in classrooms or formal policies

• Teachers

  • Research focuses on expectations, labelling, and classroom practices

  • Social desirability bias and power dynamics may limit honest disclosure

• Students

  • Provide insight into experience, peer relationships, and identity

  • Peer influence and comprehension issues (especially among younger pupils) can affect data validity

• Parents

  • Explored to understand how home background shapes educational outcomes

  • Harder to access and often affected by non-response or social desirability bias

Issues in researching schools

• Schools are a unique research setting with clear boundaries, gatekeepers, and power hierarchies

• Sociologists must carefully consider practical, ethical, and theoretical challenges when choosing how to research this context

• Different methods offer different advantages and limitations:

  • Observation provides rich insight, but may be limited to a small number of schools

  • Questionnaires allow large-scale data collection but may lack depth and detail

Practical issues

• Access and gatekeepers

  • Gaining access typically requires permission from headteachers or local authorities

  • Some schools may refuse or restrict access due to time pressures or concerns about reputation

    • E.g., researchers might be kept away from poorly behaved classes

• Safeguarding requirements

  • A DBS check is needed for any research involving one-to-one contact with pupils

• Time constraints

  • Research must fit around the school’s strict timetable, holidays, and exam periods, limiting flexibility

• Ready-made data and sampling frames

  • Schools offer access to valuable secondary data (e.g., exam results, attendance, subject choices)

  • Researchers can also use existing registers of pupils and staff to select a sample

• Researcher identity

  • The age, gender, ethnicity or perceived status of the researcher may affect how staff and students respond

    • E.g., a researcher of a different gender in a single-sex school may struggle to build rapport

• Language and communication

  • Younger pupils may struggle to understand complex questions, making interviews or questionnaires less effective unless adapted for their age and ability

Ethical Issues

• Informed consent

  • For pupils under 16, consent must be obtained from parents/guardians and the pupils themselves

  • Researchers must ensure pupils understand their rights and the nature of the research

• Sensitivity and harm

  • Topics like bullying, family background, or exclusion may be emotionally distressing

  • Researchers must avoid causing psychological or educational harm

• Confidentiality and anonymity

  • Pupils may be reluctant to disclose honest views if they fear teachers will find out

  • Researchers must emphasise anonymity, especially when dealing with sensitive topics

• Power imbalances

  • Pupils may view the researcher as a teacher or authority figure

  • Teachers may see the researcher as an inspector, especially if observation is used

  • These dynamics can intimidate participants and affect the honesty of responses

Theoretical Issues

• Validity

  • Pupils may offer socially desirable answers or say what they think adults want to hear

  • The presence of a researcher may lead to the Hawthorne effect, especially during observation

• Reliability

  • Methods like unstructured interviews or observations are hard to replicate due to differences in school cultures or individual behaviour

• Representativeness

  • Studies often involve a small number of schools, limiting the generalisation of findings to the wider population

  • Some groups (e.g., truants or excluded pupils) may be harder to access, introducing sampling bias