Research Methods: Research Design (AQA GCSE Sociology): Exam Questions

What term is commonly used by sociologists to describe whether a researcher’s findings truly measure what they set out to measure?

Item C

Poverty rates by family type and UK country (2022/23)

Source: Adapted from Social Metrics Commission data (2024)

From Item C, examine one weakness of using quantitative data to research poverty.

What term is commonly used by sociologists to describe information that is presented in numerical form?

Item C

Becky Francis studied the ways in which gender affects students learning in school. Her research involved three different London secondary schools. The schools were all mixed-sex, with a large majority of working-class pupils. Francis used observation to record classroom interaction and student behaviour during GCSE lessons. She also carried out individual interviews.

Francis observed two top set lessons and two lower set lessons in both English and Maths in each school. She was unable to accurately record all the interaction because of the sheer noise levels in some of the classes. This limited the classroom observation.

In the majority of the lessons observed, boys dominated the classroom interaction. They were louder, and more disruptive than the girls and took up more of the teachers’ attention.

Source: Francis, B, The Impact of Gender Constructions on Pupils’ Learning and Educational Choices, 2005.

From Item C, examine one weakness of the research.

What term is commonly used by sociologists to describe data that accurately reflects the wider population being studied?

Item A

In 1974, Ann Oakley collected information from 40 married women who had one child or more under the age of 5. All of the women were British or Irish born and aged between 20 and 30 years old. Half of her sample were working class and half were middle class. All of the women lived in the London area.

Oakley found greater equality in terms of the allocation of domestic tasks between married couples in the middle class than in the working class. However, in both social classes, she found little evidence of their husbands sharing the housework. Only 15% had a husband who shared domestic work to a significant level.

Source: Oakley, A, The Sociology of Housework (1974)

From Item A, examine one weakness of the research.

Item C

Many sociologists are concerned about the relatively poor performance of working class pupils when compared to their middle class peers. According to a study by the universities of Leicester and Leeds middle class pupils do better because parents put more effort into their children’s education. The researchers suggested that policies aimed at improving parental effort could be effective in increasing children's educational attainment. Effort was measured using indicators of a student's attitude, such as the answers given by 16-year-olds to questions including whether they think school is a "waste of time'', and teachers' views about students' laziness. Other factors studied were the parents' interest in their children's education, measured by, for example, whether they read to their child.

The research, Must Try Harder, used the National Child Development Study, which follows individuals born in a given week in 1958 throughout their lives.

From Item C, examine one weakness in the research.

Item C

The sociologist Steve Craine studied the lives of 39 unqualified urban school leavers, 19 males and 20 females, over a ten year period between 1980 and 1990. As a youth worker he was familiar with the area in which these young people lived and he used both his own observations and interviews in his research.

Craine looked at how these young people’s lives developed and how they made choices about what to do next. Many of the members of this group failed to secure long-term employment. They experienced regular cycles of unemployment, government schemes and work in the informal economy. Some individuals became involved in criminal activities. Only those who received appropriate support from professionals or family members were able to escape this cycle.

From Item C, examine one strength of the research.