Education: the research context

• Sociologists study many different issues in education, such as classroom interaction, pupil subcultures, teacher labelling, parental choice and so on
• There might be problems using covert participant observation to study pupil subcultures, simply because it would prove very difficult for a researcher to pass themselves off as a pupil
• There may be difficulties in using written questionnaires to discover the opinions of parents who are illiterate when studying parental attitudes to schooling
• Groups and settings in education whose distinctive characteristics may make them easy or difficult to study

  • Pupils
  • Teachers
  • Parents
  • Classrooms
  • Schools
• Studying young people vs studying adults

  • Power and status differences
  • Ability and understanding differences
  • Vulnerability differences
• Power and status


  Children and young people generally have less power and status than adults, which makes it more difficult for them to state their attitudes and views openly
• Power differences between adult researchers and young participants may remain even when using group interviews rather than formal one-to-one interviews
• Pupils who resent the power of teachers over them may be less likely to cooperate with research, but may feel empowered by participating and express their true feelings about school
• 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 make it more difficult to gain their informed consent as the sociologist may not be able to explain the nature of the research in words that young pupils can clearly understand
• 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
• There are age, class and ethnic variations in the kinds of language that pupils use, such as differences in speech codes, so it may be important to match the gender and ethnicity of the young person and the researcher
• Vulnerability and ethical issues

  Young people are often more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm than adults, which raises special ethical issues for the researcher
• It is not enough simply to obtain the informed consent of parents or teachers, as the young person too should be aware of what the research entails
• There are more 'gatekeepers' controlling access to pupils than there are for most other social groups, such as parents, heads, teachers, local authorities and school boards of governors
• Child protection laws such as the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act, 2006, require researchers to have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, which may delay or prevent researchers from carrying out their research
• 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
• Power and status of teachers

  Teachers have more power and status because of their age, experience and responsibility within the school, and the nature of the classroom reinforces their power
• Researchers may need to develop a 'cover' if they intend to carry out covert investigations, such as representing themselves as a supply teacher or classroom assistant, which gives them lower status within the school
• Impression management by teachers


  Teachers are used to being observed and scrutinised, and are often highly skilled at manipulating the impression that other people have of them
• Teachers may be reluctant to answer certain questions honestly due to concerns about how critical comments could affect their career prospects, but the researcher may be able to overcome this by using observational methods rather than direct questioning
• Head teachers may try to influence which staff are selected to be involved in the research in order to convey a favourable image of the school
• The classroom


  • A closed social setting with clear physical and social boundaries, and a highly controlled environment where behaviour may not accurately reflect what those involved really think and feel
• Teachers and pupils are very experienced at concealing their real thoughts and feelings from each other, and may conceal them from the researcher too
• Classroom


  • Unusual in being a dosed social setting with clear physical and social boundaries
  • Highly controlled setting - teacher and school control classroom layout, access, pupils' time, activities, noise levels, dress and language
• Young people rarely experience this level of surveillance and control in other areas of their lives
• The classroom behaviour that the researcher observes may not accurately reflect what those involved really think and feel
• 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
• Classroom


  • Fairly small, confined social space with room for perhaps thirty or so people
  • Comparatively simple social settings - just two social roles: teacher and pupil
• Gatekeepers


  Individuals who control access to the research setting, e.g. head teachers, teachers, child protection laws
• The more gatekeepers there are to a particular research setting, the more difficult it is for the researcher to obtain and maintain access
• Peer groups


  • Young people may be insecure about their identity and status, so may be more sensitive to peer pressure and the need to conform when in school-based groups
• It may be necessary 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
• In group interviews, the true attitudes of individual pupils may be hidden behind the dominant attitudes of the peer group
• Researching schools

  • Tens of thousands of schools of many different kinds in the UK
  • If using observational methods, the researcher is unlikely to have time to investigate more than a very few schools, risking unrepresentative research
• Large-scale surveys or official statistics

  May overcome the problem of unrepresentative research, but the researcher may lose the insight that can be gained from detailed observation of a single school
• The researcher studying schools would need only a few minutes to identify their research population - all the schools in a particular area - as the state publishes lists of schools, their locations and types
• Schools' own data


  • Education is closely scrutinised by the media, parents and politicians
  • Education system is highly marketised, with parental choice and competition between schools
  • There is a great deal of secondary data publicly available about schools, often produced by the schools themselves
• Schools' own data

  • Exam results and league tables
  • Figures on truancy and subject choices
  • Ofsted reports, government inquiries and school policy documents
  • Personal documents on individual students
• Schools are 'data-rich' places and researchers should be able to make use of some of these secondary sources in their research