Research characteristics

• There are five main groups and settings in education whose distinctive characteristics may make them easy or difficult to study.

  • Pupils
  • Teachers
  • Parents
  • Classrooms
  • Schools
• Considerations When Researching Pupils

  • power and status
  • ability and understanding
  • vulnerability and ethical issues
  • laws and guidelines (safeguarding act 2006); child protection laws
• Power and status

  Children and young people generally have less power and status than adults. This makes it difficult for them to state their attitudes and views openly, especially if they challenge those of adults.

  This is particularly true of schools, because they are hierarchical institutions that give teachers higher state and power over pupils. Teachers may sometimes even be able to use this power to influence which pupils are selected for research, for example in order to promote a good image of themselves or the school.
• P2 for Power and Status

  Formal research methods such as structured interviews or questionnaires tend to reinforce power differences. This is because it is the researcher and not the young person who determines what questions are asked and how answers should be formulated.
• P3 for Power and Status

  Pupils' attitudes towards the power and status differences between themselves and their teachers are also likely to affect how they relate to the researcher. For example, pupils who resent the power of teachers over them may be less likely to cooperate with research.
• Ability and understanding

  Pupils' vocabulary, powers of self-expression, thinking skills and confidence are likely to be more limited than those of adults - particularly when trying to express abstract ideas.

  Limitations in pupils' understanding also make it more difficult to gain their informed consent. This is because the sociologist may not be to explain the nature of the research in words that young pupils can clearly understand.
• P2 for ability and understanding

  Young people use language in different ways from adults, which makes the construction of appropriately worded questions particularly demanding. Younger children in particular are also likely to require more time than adults to understand questions.

  
  

  A young person's memory is less developed than that of an adult, so they may be unable to recall in detail relevant material when asked to do so by the researcher.
• Vulnerability and ethical issues

  Young people are often more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm than adults due to their limited power. The sociologists should therefore first consider whether the participation of young people in the research is actually necessary and whether they stand to benefit from it.
• P2 for vulnerability and ethical issues

  Given the vulnerability of school-age pupils, child protection issues are very important. For example, personal data should not be kept unless it is vital to the research. The researcher should also consider what form the participation will take and any stress that may result. For example, questioning young children for long periods of time would be considered inappropriate.
• Laws and guidelines

  In addition, child protection laws such as the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, operate a vetting and barring scheme on adults working in schools, which requires researchers to have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. This may delay or prevent researchers from carrying out their research.
• P2 for laws and guidelines

  One advantage of studying pupils is that, because they are legally required to attend school, sociologists will know where to find their target research group - unlike with some other social groups they might study.
• Considerations When Researching Teachers

  -power and status (teacher vs teaching assistant or supply)

  -impression management (attempting to manipulate the thoughts of others); used to being observed and may change behaviour
• Power and status(teachers)

  Teachers have more power and status because of their age, experience and responsibility within the school. They also have legal responsibilities and a duty of care towards the young people they teach .
• P2 for Power and status (teachers)

  The nature of the classroom reinforces the power of the teacher. Teachers often see it as 'my classroom', in which the researcher may be viewed as a trespasser. However teachers are not fully independent, even in 'their' classroom. Heads, governors, parents and pupils all constrain what teachers may do.
• P3 for Power and status (teachers)

  Researchers will need to develop a 'cover' if they intend to carry out covert investigations and this may mean representing themselves as a supply teacher or classroom assistant. Although this gives researchers access, these groups have a lower status within school and other teachers may not treat them as equals.
• Impression management

  Teachers are used to being observed and scrutinised, e.g. in Ofsted inspections. As a result, they may well be more willing to be observed by a researcher since it is something they are accustomed to experiencing.
• P2 for impression management

  However, because a major part of the teacher's role is to 'put on an act' for pupils and others, teachers are often highly skilled at 'impression management' - manipulating the impression that other people have of us . The researcher may therefore have to find ways to get behind the public face that teachers put on.
• Considerations When Researching Classrooms

  • general considerations ; controlled setting may not reflect true opinions+feelings
  • Peer groups
• Researching classrooms

  The classroom is unusual in being a closed society with clear physical and social boundaries. Although not as closed as a prison or psychiatric ward, e.g the classroom is less open than many other settings, such as leisure centres or shops.
• P2 for researching classrooms

  The classroom is also a highly controlled setting. For example, the teacher and the school control classroom layout and access, as well as pupils' time, activities, noise levels, dress and language while they are in the classroom. Young people rarely experience this level of surveillance and control in other areas of their lives.
• P3 for researching classrooms

  As a result, the classroom behaviour that the researcher observes may not accurately reflect what those involved really think and feel. Furthermore, in classroom interactions, teachers and pupils are very experienced at concealing their real thoughts and feelings from each other - another example of impression management - and they may conceal them from the researcher too.
• Peer groups

  Young may be insecure about their identity and status. Therefore, when in school-based groups such as classes and friendship groups, they may be more sensitive to peer pressure and the need to conform. This may affect the way they respond to being researched.
• P2 for Peer groups

  It may therefore be necessary for example to supervise pupils when they are filling in questionnaires, especially if this is done in class, in order to prevent peers from influencing one another's answers. Similarly, in group interviews, the true attitudes of individual pupils may be hidden behind the dominant attitudes of the peer group.
• Considerations When Researching Schools

  • schools own data ; data may be falsified or confidential
  • gatekeepers ; have the power to refuse access into the school
  • school as an organisation; may be hard for researchers to blend in
• Schools own data

  There is a great deal of secondary data publicly available about schools, often produced by the schools themselves. This includes exam results and league tables; figures on truancy and subject choices; Ofsted reports; government inquires and school policy documents etc.

  
  

  Schools are therefore 'data-rich' places and sociologists may be able to make use of some of these secondary sources in their research. However, school records are confidential and so researchers may not be to gain access to them.
• P2 for schools own data

  Other school data may pose particular difficulties. For example, schools with a truancy problem may falsify their attendance figures in order to present a good image and not deter applications. Similarly, although schools have a legal duty to record all racist incidents, there may be a tendency to downplay such incidents so as to maintain a positive public image.
• Gatekeepers

  Head teachers and governors are gatekeepers who have the power to refuse the researcher access to the school. They may do so if they believe that the researcher will interfere with the work of the school or undermine teachers authority.
• P2 for Gatekeepers

  According to Meighan and Harber heads sometimes view research negatively. For example, heads' reactions to a research project that Meighan wanted to carry out consulting pupils about teaching included the following views:

  • it would be bad for classroom relationships
  • Discipline would be adversely affected
• P3 for Gatekeepers

  So situations and school settings may be 'off limits' to a researcher - for example, head teachers' interviews with parents. Beynon and Atkinson note that gatekeepers such as headteachers often steer the researcher away from sensitive situations, such as classes where the teacher has poor classroom control.
• Considerations When Researching Parents

  • general considerations; how they bring up their children can affect their education; may be impacted by factors such as class, gender, ethnicity…
  • access to parents ; hard to gain access maybe ; questionnaires and letters aren't guaranteed to reach them
• Researching parents

  Parents can influence what goes on in education, for example:

  • By how they bring up their children
  • By their involvement in school through parent-teacher contacts, parent governors, attendance at parent's evenings and so on
  • Marketisation policies encourage parents to see themselves as consumers, e. in choice of school.
• P2 for researching parents

  The class, gender and ethnicity of parents may all affect how willing or able they are to participate in research. E.g. pro-school middle-class parents may be more likely than W/C parents to return questionnaires about their children's education and this will make the research findings unrepresentative.
• P3 for researching parents

  Parents may engage in impression management, presenting themselves to researchers in a positive light by exaggerating their involvement in their children's education. For example, they may lie about whether they attend parents' evenings or how often they read to their children. If so, this will result in invalid data being gathered.
• Access to parents

  Most parent-child interaction takes place in the home. As a private setting often close to researchers, this presents particular difficulties. For example, while classroom interactions between teachers and pupils can often be observed easily, there are few opportunities to observe whether parents help children with their homework.

  
  

  Since parents are unusual in that they are for the most part physically located outside school. This may make them more difficult to contact and research.