SCLY2 Education with Research Methods: Answering Methods in Context Q5

20% of your whole mark for the paper comes from this essay question and it is a tricky one! This question requires you to APPLY your knowledge of research methods to a particular issue in education, this year’s examiners report from AQA states that still, many students are failing to apply the strengths and limitations of the given method to the particular issue presented in the item and that many responses are simply ‘methods essays.’When answering this question there are 3 aspects to consider:

Ø Choose your method

Ø DO NOT disregard the bit of the item that relates to the method you haven’t chosen! You will find that this will give you tips for evaluation.

Ø Do not be afraid of the item, the item is your friend, interpret it don’t rewrite it.

Investigating anti-school subcultures (Study)

Some pupils (Theme) share sets of values and behaviour patterns that are in opposition to those expected by schools. Sociologists refer to these as anti-school subcultures.

Some sociologists use group interviews (Method 1)to investigate anti-school subcultures. These largely unstructured interviews may give younger pupils, in particular, greater confidence when responding to a researcher’s questions because they are being interviewed together with their peers. However, peer group pressure may distort pupils’ responses. Furthermore, there are problems of time and access when it comes to gathering a group of pupils together for research purposes.

An alternative research method is to use non-participant observation (method 2) to investigate anti-school subcultures. It allows researchers to see how pupils actually behave, rather than simply hearing how they claim to behave. However, it may be particularly difficult for researchers to observe pupil behaviour in a covert manner. There are also particular ethical problems associated with observing pupils, especially younger ones.

Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of one of the following methods for investigating anti-school subcultures:

EITHER group interviews

OR non-participant observation.

With this question, highlighted in bold is a) The study b) The theme and c) The choice of method

Many students are afraid of the Item, The Item is your friend, use it! The item gives you a vital steer in how to answer the question and can be especially useful if you are unsure of what the question is asking you to do.

For example:

Ø If you choose Group Interviews the item here is telling you that they may give greater confidence to younger pupils because they are being interviewed by their peers.

Ø DO NOT just re-write this, you need to expand on it to demonstrate that you are able to interpret the material used from the item and elsewhere.

Ø So ask yourself, ‘WHY do they give younger pupils greater confidence?’

A strength of using group interviews with pupils is that, as they are with their peers they will feel more confident than if in a one to one situation with an interviewer, especially due to their age and vulnerability, they may feel daunted if they were interviewed more formally.

Ø Another tip here is to never discount the part of the Item that does not apply to the method you have chosen as you may find tips here to evaluate the method you have chosen.

For example:

Ø The 2^nd part of the Item is telling you that Non-Participant Observation allows us to see how pupils actually behave, for example if a Sociologist posed as a teacher to observe pupils this may make the study more valid than using group interviews, however there are many more ethical issues associated with this and an advantage of a group interview is that the Sociologist may combine both interview and observation by looking how the pupils behave towards one another during the interview.

This exam question is marked L1, L2 and L3 response, you can use this method to check your response.

L1 When using group interviews with pole dancers they may feel under pressure to conform to the answers their peers give.

So you see, anyone can be affected by peer pressure.

L2 When using group interviews with pole dancers to investigate anti school subcultures one problem the Sociologist may face is that ‘peer group pressure may distort their response.’

L3 For example…they may feel pressured into agreeing with them especially if their responses could affect their ‘status’ within school, this could affect the validity of the answers given.

Does this make sense with the word ‘Pole Dancer’

Not at all!! So…. It’s a L3 response.

In Summary

1. Choose your method

2. Look at the theme

3. Look at the study

4. Use the Item, take each point and add your own material DO NOT re-write it

‘Item B states…. In addition/for example….’

5. Use all of the item not just the bit that relates to your chosen method

6. Perhaps a good conclusion would be one that discusses using a mixture of methods or ‘Triangulation.’

REMEMBER: This is a methods essay NOT an education one, you do not need lengthy descriptions for example, of studies that relate to education, however it may be a good idea in this question in particular to use Willis’ Learning to Labour as an example of a group interview but in relation to its use as a method NOT the study itself.

LASTLY: APPLY APPLY APPLY – All examples should be related to the material in the Item and Education, NOT methods in general.

You can use the sheets to revise the issues associated with the various different themes

experiments.docx

interviews.docx

observations.docx

official_statistics.docx

questionnaires.docx

themes_general_issues.doc