Using questionnaires to investigate education

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  • Created by: Ali682
  • Created on: 11-03-19 14:37
Operationalisation of concepts
Operationalising concepts involves turning abstract ideas into a measurable form. This can be particularly difficult when creating a questionnaire for pupils. Because their grasp of abstract concepts is generally less than that of adults,it may be
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Operationalisation of concepts (2)
it may be difficult to turn sociological ideas such as 'deferred gratification' or 'cultural capital' into language that pupils will understand. This may produce answers that are based on respondents' misunderstanding of what the questions mean.
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Samples and sampling frames
Schools routinely keep lists of pupils, staff and parents. These can provide accurate sampling frames from which the sociologist can draw a representative sample. Schools also have ready-made opportunity samples of pupils and teachers.
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Samples and sampling frames (2)
However, schools may not keep lists that reflect the researcher's interests. For example, the sociologist may wish to take a representative sample of pupils of a particular ethnic group but the school may not keep lists of pupils sorted by
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Samples and sampling frames (2)
ethnic origin, so there is no sampling frame available from which to draw the sample. Even where the relevant sampling frame does exist, schools may deny access to such confidential information.
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Samples and sampling frames (3)
Distributing questionnaires in schools is a fairly easy way to access a large number of potential respondents.However, the researcher will first need the school's permission to give them out. Parents are harder than pupils or teachers to locate and
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Samples and sampling frames (4)
contact so using the school to distribute questionnaires is an effective way to overcome this situation. Younger children in particular are more open to peer group pressure and it is difficult to prevent pupils who are completing questionnaires
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Samples and sampling frames (5)
A questionnaire that does not involve the researcher being present when when it is completed may help to overcome the problem of status differences between adult researchers and younger respondent.
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Access and response rate
Response rates for questionnaires are often low.Schools may be reluctant to allow sociologists to distribute questionnaires because of the disruption to lessons that it may be cause or because they object to the researcher's chosen topic.
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Access and response rate (2)
For example some schools might object to questionnaires about under-age sexual activity. However when questionnaires are conducted in schools response rates can often be higher than in other areas. This is because once the head has given consent and
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Access and response rate (3)
put their authority behind the research, teachers and pupils may be under pressure to cooperate.
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Access and response rate (4)
Similarly, the head may authorise time to be taken out of lessons so that the questionnaires can be completed. The higher response rate may produce more representative data from which generalisations can be drawn.
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Access and response rate (5)
Another reason why response rates might be higher is that pupils, teachers and parents are accustomed to completing questionnaires issued by the school, such as student satisfaction surveys. On the other hand, teachers are often busy to complete a
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Access and response rate (6)
lengthy questionnaire and this may reduce the response rate.
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Practical issues
Questionnaires are very useful for gathering large quantities of basic factual educational information quickly and cheaply. For example Michael Rutter (1979) used questionnaires to collect large quantities of data from 12 London secondary schools.
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Practical issues (2)
From this Rutter was able to correlate achievement, attendance and behaviour with variables such as school size, class size and number of staff. It would have been very difficult to do this with more labour-intensive methods such as interviewing.
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Practical issues (3)
However the data generated by questionnaires if often limited and superficial. In Rutter's study the data provided correlations between variables such as class size and achievement but not explanations for these correlations.
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Practical issues (4)
There are particular problems in using questionnaires to study children. Written questionnaires involve participants being able to read and understand the questions. Thus they are unsuitable for those who cannot read.
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Practical issues (5)
Children generally have a shorter attention span than adults and so questionnaires need to be relatively brief if they are to stand a chance of being completed. This limits the amount of information that can be gathered.
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Practical issues (6)
Children's life experiences are narrower and their recall different from those of adults. This may mean that pupils, particularly those of primary school age, do not actually 'know the answers'. Consequently questionnaires may be of little value.
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Practical issues (7)
Schools have very active informal communication channels. Word of the researcher's presence may spread rapidly on the 'grapevine'. If the questionnaire is delivered class by class its purpose and questions may become known throughout the school long
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Practical issues (8)
before all pupils or teachers have been given it. This may affect the responses given by later participants and so reduce the validity of the data. Teachers are well-educated professionals who will almost certainly have had experience of completing
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Practical issues (9)
questionnaires.They may well be able to analyse the pattern of questions and recognise the researcher's aims and intentions. They may then adjust their answers accordingly. This will result in invalid data. Teachers are very busy professionals and
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Practical issues (10)
may not cooperate fully if the questionnaire is a lengthy document that will take long time to complete.
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Anonymity and detachment
Questionnaires can be particularly useful when researching sensitive educational issues such as bullying, where their anonymity may overcome pupils' embarrassment or fear of retribution from bullies.
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Anonymity and detachment (2)
As a result, response rates may be higher and pupils may be more likely to reveal details of their experience of being bullied. This may produce more valid data than would a face-to-face structured interview, for example. However much depends on
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Anonymity and detachment (3)
whether pupils are reassured that their anonymity will be safeguarded. Yet this reassurance may be difficult to achieve with such a detached method as a questionnaire, where there is little or no personal contact with the researcher.
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Anonymity and detachment (4)
Interpretivist sociologists emphasise the importance of developing rapport with research participants and so they reject questionnaires as a means of researching pupils. Because of the lack of contact with respondents makes rapport difficult to
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Anonymity and detachment (5)
establish, young people may be less likely to give full and honest responses. Questionnaires are formal, official-looking documents and pupils may equate them with school and teacher authority especially if they are completed in class like a test.
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Anonymity and detachment (6)
As a result some pupils particularly those in subcultures may refuse to cooperate or to take the activity seriously. This will result in incomplete or invalid data.
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Anonymity and detachment (7)
Compared with face-to-face forms of research such as interviews, it is easy to make questionnaires anonymous. As a result teachers may feel able to set aside concerns about their careers and so give more honest answers to sensitive questions.
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Card 2

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Operationalisation of concepts (2)

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it may be difficult to turn sociological ideas such as 'deferred gratification' or 'cultural capital' into language that pupils will understand. This may produce answers that are based on respondents' misunderstanding of what the questions mean.

Card 3

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Samples and sampling frames

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Card 4

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Samples and sampling frames (2)

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Card 5

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Samples and sampling frames (2)

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