research methods with MIC

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  • Created by: kira-mai
  • Created on: 26-04-18 11:44

Researching parental attitudes to education

  • parents with a poor personal experience of education may identify the researcher with the school and refuse to participate.
  • questions about the support they givve their children may be seen as 'getting at' them and trying to portray them as a bad parent leading to them refusing to particpate or changing their answers.
  • if the researcher can gain the parents trust, they may be more willing to talk as it gives them an opportunity to speak about their feelings towards the school.
  • parents arent easily contacted, except through school, so the researcher is dependent on the head's cooperation.
  • another way of contacting parents is through the schools parents association. however the MC parents are more likely to get involved. this means it reduces representativeness, and cant be used if specifically studying wc achievement etc.
  • issues such as truancy or parental support are sensitive. parents may get defensive about their role, lie or exaggerate.
  • parents are used to receiving communications from the school, they may see it as a useful aspect of their relationship with school.
  • some parents have literacy or language problems or may find it difficult to articulate their feelings.
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researching material deprivation and underachievem

  • a school may welcome research that seems to put the responsibility for poor results on to pupils home background, as it shifts the blame away from the school.
  • parents in low-income families may fele they are being blamed for their childrens failure and may not cooperate - especially if the researcher comes across middle class.
  • alternatively, if the researcher can gain their trust, parents may be more willing to talk as it can been seen as a way of getting additional help.
  • there is no agreement about the particular material items whose lack may result in failure.
  • the proportion of people eligible for free school meals is a general indicator of material circumstances of pupils. this data is connected nationally, which enables sociologists to make correlations between poverty and achievement.
  • pupils may not actually know what the material circumstances of their family are, or feel embarrassed talking about living in a low income household.
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investigating teachers expectations of pupils

  • teachers have a professional duty to treat all pupils fairly and may face disciplinary action if they are seen to be doing otherwise - they are likely to concea negative expectations from researchers.
  • the main way teachers expectations ar transmitted is through classroom interaction, and is relatively easy to see what is going on in such a small social space.
  • on the other hand, expectations can be transmitted in many other ways. this means that the researcher also need to look at setting and streaming, teacher - teacher interaction, written reports, target exam grades, information to parents etc.
  • teachers and pupils may be unaware of how teacher expectations are operating, so directly questioning them may not be effective.
  • some pupils may be unwilling to talk about their perceptions of teacher expectation in fear of getting into trouble.
  • heads may be concerned that the researcher will create an impression that the school has a problem with negative teacher expectations and thus not allow any research.
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investigating anti-school subcultures

  • members of the subcultures are more likely to trauntand their absence from school makes it harder to get in contact with them.
  • the researcher may be seen as an  authoritative figure that pupils with anti - school subcutures may be unwilling to rspond openly
  • if the researcher can gain their trust, they may be willing to talk about their feelings.
  • operating in an education marketwhere the schools public image is so important , the teachers may refuse the researcher access  for risk in putting the school in a bad light with a problem with anti school subcultures
  • the group nature of sub cultures means that peer pressure is much more likely to influence the responses making it difficult for the researcher to discover indepent variations in attitudes.
  • it may be hard to gain parental consent for the research because they wont want their child to be portrayed as anti school.
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investigating racism within schools

  • racism is potntially  a breach in the law, so teachers, pupils and parents are likely to be particularly careful about displaying racist attitudes to a researcher
  • teachers are bound by a code of professional conduct forbidding them to display racist attitudes, making it harder to get behnd public 'front ups'
  • schools are legally required to record any racist incidents and can provide researchers with relevant statistical evidence
  • there is no easily acceptable official definition of a racist incident and some teachers may feel they have had sufficient training to be able to identify one.
  • the group nature of some racist behaviour means peer pressure is likely to influence the responses of individual pupils making it more difficult  for a researcher to uncover individual variations in attitudes.
  • it may be hard to obtian parental consent for research because they dont want their child identified as exhibiting racist behaviour.
  • victims of racism may be unwilling to indentify themselves for fear of further abuse. alternatively they may welcome the opportunity to share their experiences with a supportive outisder.
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investigating gender and subject choice

  • subject choice and gender are relatively straigtforward concepts to operationalise.
  • schools record subject choice by gender through a simple count of who does what subjects that is difficult for schools to falsify.
  • unlike some educational issues, subject choice and gender arent viewed as sensitive and access to that information is unliekly to be restrcited.
  • as all schools collect fata on gender and subject choice, researchers can carry out large scale research relatively easily.
  • schools, however dont carry out research on the meanings behind subject choice
  • teachers wish to maintian a prodessionall image of treating boys and girls equally so are unliekyl to achnowledge that they may channel pupils into gendered subject choices
  • the process of making a subject choice isnt easily observed.
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investigating how schooling can reinforce gender i

  • the gender of the researcher is likely to play an important part. male pupils or teachers may play up to or patronise a female researcher, while femal pupils may feel intimidated by a male researcher
  • some cases of gender identity reinforcement, such as verbal abuse are explicit and direct whereas others are more subtle and indirect leaving them open to different iterpretations
  • some teachers and governors may feel that researching the issue could lead to increased gender stereotyping by drawing attention to it.. as a result they may refuse research
  • peer group pressure is an important part of the process of reinforcing gender identities. this creates difficulties for the researcher who will have to find ways to uncover individual variations in attitudes within peer group.
  • those involved in the process of reinforcing gender identities may not be aware of what they are dooing, so there may be little point in askiing them about the issue.
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investigating meritocracy in education

  • schools wish to project an image of offering equal opportunity to all their students. head teachers are unlikely to welcome research that would undemrine this image.
  • teachers may be unwilling to reveal anything about their school that contradicts the meritocratic image.
  • the state education system produces a great deal of  statistical data about examination results, pupils on free school meals, gender and ethnicity. this is highly relevant to the study of meritocracy.
  • much of this official data doesnt relate directly to meritocracy. it doesnt specifically reveal links between parents social class and educational outcomes.
  • similar data for private schools is less readily available
  • some important groups within education, parents and pupils inparticular, may not be aware of the degree of  inequality in their educational experiences, so it may be pointless asking them about it.
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investigating the repreoduction of class inequalit

  • since schools dont track and record the careers of ex pupils, there is no ready made data for the researcher to use.
  • contacting former pupils may be difficult because any addresses the school may hold for them may be out of date, and because researchers may not be given access to this information anyway.
  • fee paying schools often have old boy/girl associations through which contact with former pupils could be made.
  • former pupils now in working class jobs may feel they are being viewd as a failure or being patronised by a middle class researcher
  • schools may be defensive about the occupational futures of their pupils for fear of being seen as having failed them.
  • former pupils may not know why they get working class jobs or see them in very simple terms such as not working hard at school.
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investigating how middle class parents 'play the s

  • some of the ways they play the system verge on illegality - for example giving a false address so as to be in the preferred schools catchement area. parents are unlikely to trust a researcher enough to disclose such activity.
  • pupils may have little awareness of how their parents succeeded or failed in getting them into a particular school.
  • some of the ways are hidden from the public view, for example, having friends in teaching profession who can give them advice on admissions. it may be difficult for the researcher to uncover these hidden processes.
  • it is an il defined idea.what does playing the system include? is buying a house near a good school playing the system or making a good family decision?
  • most schools wish to represent themselves as having fair admissions policies and as welcoming all applicants, so they not welcome research that suggests otherwise.
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