Application of Research Methods

Application of Research Methods

1. Unstructured Interviews to study anti-school subcultures

   • subculture is a group who share ideas & behaviour patterns which are different from the mainstream culture. So anti-school subculture are a group who have a negative idea of education & behave accordingly
   • Willis' study of pupil subcultures & Labov's linguistic deprivation study both used unstructured interviews
   • Advantages
     • students who are part of anti-school subculture amy not want to talk about school lives, this method enables a rapport to build up with students, potentially giving greater insight into thoughts & feelings
     • may be a sensitive subject for pupils in ati-school subculture, method good for investigating sensitive issues as don't have to stick to fixed questionnaire so gain change approach to gain trust of students & make them feel comfortable
     • unstructured interviews are likely to offer greater validity than questionnaire as give researcher change to adapt questioning to subject, e.g. if a student struggles to understand a question the researcher can explain it
     • Anti-school subcultures can cause disruptive behaviour, students encourage each other to misbehave, method mean can be interviewed away from peer pressure, giving more time to reflect on issue & give valid response
   • Disadvantages
     • method is very time consuming, so researcher may have to use smaller sample therefore data may not very very reprasentative
     • interviewer effects could influence data making it less valid, e.g. students could give answer they think interviewer wants or answers that presents their behaviour in a better light
     • produces qualitative data, so comparison between other students ideas would be more difficult, also hard to reproduce data so less reliable
     • students with a negative attitude to school may also have a negative attitude to interviewer as another adult related to school, so may not express true feelings or even lie making data less valid

2. Covert participant observation to investigate labelling

   • researcher gets involved with people they're studying
   • the people being studied don't know why researcher is there
   • Advantages
     • teachers often label students unknowingly, so may not mention in interview or questionnaire, this method allows researcher to observe labelling in natural real life setting
     • by observing covertly, prevents teachers from deliberately not labelling students whilst researcher is there
   • Disadvantages
     • misleading teachers is deception which is ethically wrong, also hard to find good enough cover explanation to access school, even if successful using a cover is ethically questionable also
     • researcher may become too familiar with teachers & struggle to analyse objectively, may even start labelling students themselves so stop recognising teachers are doing it
     • research couldn't be repeated, so isn't reliable as other research methods e.g. questionnaires, method also uses small sample so data is less reprasentative

3. Closed questionnaires to find out about parental attitudes

   • parental attitudes can be positive or negative
   • advantages
     • method can be used to collect a large amount of data quickly, lots of parents can be surveyed so results more reprasentative
     • parents may be more honest about their attitudes towards education if they can complete a private questionnaire, rather than talk to someone, e.g. if attitude is negative may be unwilling to speak about it in person
     • study can be easily repeated = more reliable, could be useful to investigate changes in attitudes over time
   • Disadvantages
     • respondents often lie about true attitudes so data less valid
     • closed questions don't allow respondents to explain their answer, so may not be suitable method for researching attitudes which are often complex
     • if parents associate questionnaire with school, researcher may answers all show positive attitude, this would skew sample making it less representative therefore less valid

4. Official statistics to study mixed-ability teaching

   • mixed-ability classes is a way to organise teaching, doesn't divide based on ability
   • Advantages
     • hard statistics are reliable source of secondary data, as they're objective, schools can't change them to portray mixed-ability teaching in positive or negative way
     • statistics can be easily compared as they're quantitative data, e.g. outcomes of such classes could be compared for different genders, age groups & schools as well as over time
   • Disadvantages
     • if soft statistics are used, researcher should be careful data is valid, could've been adjusted by schools e.g. to exaggerate successes of mixed-ability teaching
     • official statistics don't offer much insight into reasons behind achievement as other methods like unstructured interviews
     • selective schools, the variation in mixed classes would be less than at non-selective schools, this could skew data