Education context

• Schools - practical strengths

  • Easy to get info on research population due to published information for the public
  • Captive population makes targets easy to locate
• Schools - practical weaknesses

  • Info on specific schools may be hidden
  • Schools may change curriculums to appear to be achieving higher
  • Legal safeguarding duties limit access
  • Holidays and exams limit availability
  • Size and complexity effects time taken to complete research
• Schools - ethical weaknesses

  • Sensitive topic may cause distress
  • Anti-school subcultures may be involved in illegal activity
  • Consent
• Schools - theoretical weaknesses

  • Not visiting a varied amount of schools damages the representativeness
  • Same-sex schools effects generalisability
• Classrooms - practical strengths

  • Only 2 social groups (teacher an the pupils) makes it straight forward to observe
• Classrooms - practical weaknesses

  • Fairly small and confined space with room for no more than 30
  • Access gatekept
  • Peer pressure or dominant voices may hide true feelings
• Classrooms - theoretical weaknesses

  • Controlled setting may effect behaviour and may not be representative
• Parents - practical strengths

  • Schools can help researcher contact them with emails and giving kids letters to bring home
• Parents - practical weaknesses

  • Not a single homogeneous group
  • Diversity effects how willing they are to participate (MC more likely to fill in questionnaires)
  • Difficult to contact and reach out to without school's help
  • Kids may not give parents letters or may not hand answered ones back into the school
• Parents - ethical weaknesses

  • Sensitive issues are less likely to gain parental permission
  • Researching pupil's homes may seem invasive
  • May offend parent's way of raising their children
  • They may be afraid of the researcher reporting behaviour to social services
• Parents - theoretical weaknesses

  • MC parents may lie to sound better
  • WC parents may lie due to being ashamed
  • Diversity means not reliable (Repeated)
  • Some schools may have more diverse backgrounds, effecting generalisability
• Pupils - practical strengths

  • Because they are legally required to attend school, it makes theme easier to find
• Pupils - practical weaknesses

  • Hierarchy of adults and kids may make some pupils not co-operative
  • Pupils have limited vocab and might struggle to express their thoughts
  • Pupils have worse memories
  • Diversity may make it hard for certain researchers to connect to kids (MC white man vs WC black boy)
  • Cannot keep them for long periods of time
  • Adults may gatekeep them
• Pupils - ethical weaknesses

  • Limitations in pupil understanding makes it harder to gain consent because they might not be able to explain what the research is asking of them
  • More vulnerable to physical and phycological harm
• Pupils - theoretical weaknesses

  • Teachers may pick certain pupils to get involved to present the school better, effecting representativeness
  • Group interviews cause peer pressure and effects validity
  • Students have different and unique experiences which effects reliability
• Teachers - practical strengths

  • As professionals, they are likely to be sympathetic and co-operative to educational research
  • Willing to be observed due to experience with Ofsted
• Teachers - practical weaknesses

  • Over-worked so less likely to be co-operative with more stress
  • May be reluctant to answer honestly to protect their job
  • Goffman - teachers put on an act which ruins observations
• Teachers - ethical weaknesses

  • May need to invade personal spaces, like the staff room
  • Revealing unintended prejudice may cause stress
• Teachers - theoretical weaknesses

  • Headteacher may influence which staff are selected to be involved, damaging representativeness
  • Underplaying or protecting information may effect validity
  • Specific teachers actions may not be repeated by others, effecting reliability