Types of Methods

Types of Methods

1. Participant Observation

   • Overt: Know being obs & why
     • Covert: Don't know beings obs, 'undercover' - false identity & role
   • Combined with e.g. unstruc int or formal questionnaires
   • Qualitative
   • Interpretivists
     • Favour; obs interactions & meanings not possible with quant
   • Positivists
     • Non-pp struc obs
       • Record on schedule when pre-determined behav type performed; count to prod quant data
   • Examples
   • Strengths
     • Theoretical +
       • High validity
         • Direct obs = no lying or uncertain of own behav
         • Natural settings
           • No Hawthorne
           • Context
           • Fuller immersion
         • Est relationships + rapport = deeper insight
         • Verstehen: personal authentic data
         • No pre-set q = open-minded + flexibility
     • Practical +
       • Only way to gain access
       • Build rapport = more likely reveal info
     • Ethical
       • Speak for self instead of led/inf by researcher
   • Weaknesses
     • Theoretical -
       • Low reliability
         • Cannot replicate
           • Dependent on personal skills etc.
       • Low representativeness
         • Usually snowball sampling
         • Hard to effectively obs large groups
       • Lacks objectivity
         • Researcher subjective; bias; sympathy - omit neg
       • Hawthorne effect
         • Mainly overt
         • Cannot keep up for long
       • Structural POV:
         • Ignores wider struc inf; only gives partial view/perspec
     • Practical -
       • Time consuming & expensive
         • Built trust + rapport
       • Obs & personal skills not possessed by all
       • Difficulty gaining & maintaining contact/access
       • Hard balance between involvement & objectivity & no bias
       • Difficulties leaving esp covert
         • Lying = unethical
         • Hard to adjust back to normal life
         • Closeness/bonds
       • Covert: difficult to keep up act; rely on memory; cannot ask naive q
       • Personally stressful & demanding
     • Ethical -
       • Covert: deceived = no informed consent
         • Immoral to lie e.g. reason leaving
       • Deviant groups = illegal acts to maintain cover
       • Moral/legal duty to report = reveal cover

2. P.E.R.V.E.R.T

   • Practical: Time, £, difficult to analyse, int training
   • Ethical
   • Reliable
   • Validity
   • Evidence of studies
   • Representativeness
   • Theoretical

3. Documents

   • Edu in the past; stereotyping in school books; official curriculum; registers; reports
     • Streaming - comp class sizes, mat dep & achievement
   • Useful source of info about policies e.g. gov regulations & guidance issued to schools
     • Insight into reasons for policies
     • Ofsted, indiv pupil reports
   • Letters, diaries, biographies; public records e,g, census data, court notices, prison records & mass media output
   • Advantages
     • Practical
       • Lot of public info that's easy to access
         • School policies, websites, pupil reports
     • Ethical
       • No ethical issues with public documents in public domain
       • Issues with priv documents
         • Teacher diaries, pupil books
     • Reliable
       • Direct comparisons can be made over time e.g. attendance reg
         • Accidents when completing can reduce reliablility
   • Disadvantages
     • Credibility
       • Schools want to present self positively to parents
         • Reflect biases of those in power
     • Representativeness
       • Not all behav recorded e.g. racism; personal documents only personal opinion
       • Some docs required from all schools legally
         • Could be outdated
     • Validity
       • Some docs open to personal interpretation
       • Can prov insights into indiv meanings

4. Questionnaires

   • Class & achievement; parental attitudes; subject choice; mat dep
   • Bowles & Gintis
     • Measured student personality traits using q; compared with students school grade avg & exam scores
       • Correlation between personality traits valued by employ (passiv/obed) & high scores at school
   • Chubb & Moe
     • Survey of parental attitudes to schooling
       • Surveys: fixed list of q (written questionnaire or int)
     • Wanted to make generalisaton about parents views on how schools should be run & choice
     • Weakness: interpretivists - fixed list of q's imposes researchers meanings & limits ans
       • = Results suiting New Right perspec
   • Sewell
     • 150 black 15yrs pupils q in 5 diff schools
     • 80% said peer group pressure to do bad in edu was biggest barrier to learning
   • Advantages
     • Practical
       • Large quantities of info quickly & cheaply for large no.
       • Can draw correlations
         • e.g. achievement, attendance & behav against school size, class size, no of staff
     • Researching pupils
       • Short attention span = more effective than long int
         • Limits amount of info gathered
     • Ethical
       • Informed consent
       • Treats as equals
   • Disadvantages
     • Low literacy probs
     • Operationalising concepts
       • Abstract ideas into measurable form difficult
       • Young = poor grasp of abstract ideas & limited understanding
     • Validity
       • Narrower life exp so unable to ans q
       • Easy to lie

5. Experiments

   • Teacher expectations; classroom interaction; labelling pupils
   • Rosenthal & Jacobsen
     • Field
       • Allowing manip of real, naturally occurring social situ to discover cause & effect relationships
     • Manip classroom interaction by labelling pupils to see if created SFP
     • Cannot control all V leading to 'spurting' so cannot be certain of true cause
   • Advantages
     • Application in class
       • Classroom = clear space/time boundaries so easier to = control
     • Reliability
       • Simple & easy to repeat; schools = similar features
   • Disadvantages
     • Ethical probs
       • Young more vulnerable & less understanding so less able to give informed consent
     • Limited application
       • Small scale & examining single aspect of behav
         • Larger issues e.g. social class & achievement cannot be studied
     • Controlling all V
       • Large, complex instit & many v affect behav of both e.g. school type
         • Impossible to identify & control all v on e.g. teacher expec

6. Structured Interviews

   • Class & achievement; mat dep & achievement; parental choice of schools
   • Advantages
     • Response rate
       • Less time than unstruc therefore less disruptive of school activities; more likely receive official support
     • Reliability
       • Easy to rep so large scale behav patterns identified e.g. gender & sub choice
     • Validity
       • Young = better verbal than literacy skills = better than written q
       • Formal nature means less likely feel at ease therefore less forthcoming
   • Disadvantages
     • Question design
       • More difficult for young because undeveloped ling & intellectual skills
       • May not understand long, complex sentences or abstract ideas
         • More clarification
     • Ethical
       • Requires parental permission
     • Power & status differences
       • Pupils and teachers unequal power; pupils alter responses to give untrue but socially acceptable ans for approval
       • Researcher = 'teacher in disguise'
         • Reduces validity