Education Research Challenges

Gatekeepers such as heads steering the researcher away from sensitive situations.

Exam results and league tables.

It is difficult to observe whether parents help children with their homework.

Because the researcher may be of a different sex from the pupils.

By encouraging parents to see themselves as consumers, for example in choice of school.

Non-participant observation

A correlation between personality traits valued by employers like docility, passivity and obedience to high scores at school.

Postal questionnaires

A correlation between material deprivation and achievement.

Brochures, prospectuses and planning reports.

To minimize the influence of peer pressure and the need to conform.

Teachers may be seen as having a hierarchical power relationship with students, which could affect the validity of the data collected.

They worried that it would be dangerous, negatively affect discipline, and be bad for classroom relationships, and that children are not competent to judge teachers.

Schools are required to collect data on pupil attendance, achievement, and other information, which can be useful to sociologists studying educational inequality and student outcomes.

The teacher-pupil dynamic can influence the data collected through teacher-pupil interactions, as pupils may conceal their true thoughts and feelings from teachers, and teachers may also present a biased view of their relationships with pupils.

Working-class parents may be less likely to return questionnaires, making the research findings unrepresentative.

They allow participants to respond in their own words, providing richer and more detailed data.

By labelling some pupils as 'spurters', they showed that this could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy, where teachers' expectations influenced student performance.

It allows the researcher to immerse themselves in the research setting and gain a deeper understanding of the context.

Middle-class parents may be more likely to participate in educational research and be more proactive in their children's education.

The challenge is the power difference between adult teachers and young participants, which can be addressed by using methods like group interviews.

It is important because pupils' vocabulary, powers of self-expression, thinking skills and confidence are likely to be more limited than those of adults.

The key ethical issue is the vulnerability of young people, and it can be addressed by obtaining informed consent from parents, teachers, and the young person, and ensuring that personal data is only collected when necessary.

The researcher must consider whether the participation of young people is necessary and whether they will benefit from it, because young people are vulnerable and their rights need to be protected.

Researchers can overcome these limitations by explaining the research in a way that is clear and understandable to pupils, and by seeking consent from parents and teachers as well.

It is important because power dynamics can influence the responses of pupils and affect the validity of the data.

Teachers can 'put on a show' to create a good impression, which is a challenge for researchers because teachers are experienced and used to being inspected and scrutinised.

The classroom has clear boundaries and restrictions on access and behaviour, making it a less open setting for researchers.

Establishing trust and rapport is essential because young people are vulnerable, and matching the gender of the young person and the researcher can help achieve this.

Teachers have legal responsibilities and a duty of care towards their students, and are not fully independent, which can affect their interactions with researchers.

It is cheap and easy because someone else has already produced the information.

Official Statistics and Documents

It may not provide exactly the information that sociologists need.

Time and Money

It can affect the type of method used, with those having more access to resources having more options.

Theoretical, practical, and ethical considerations

It may need more money and resources.

It may be cheaper and require fewer resources.

To ensure that the data collected is accurate and reliable.

It may not provide exactly the information that sociologists need.

Key considerations include obtaining informed consent, ensuring child protection, and being mindful of power dynamics.

Informed consent ensures that participants are aware of the purpose, risks, and benefits of the research and can make an informed decision to participate.

Participant observation allows for rich, in-depth data collection and provides insight into social dynamics and cultural norms.

Researchers need to consider issues such as informed consent, child protection, and vulnerability, and take steps to ensure the well-being and safety of child participants.

Unstructured interviews allow for flexibility and in-depth exploration of topics, providing rich, qualitative data.

The power dynamic challenge is that teachers have status and power over pupils, which can affect the data collected. Researchers can address this by using methods such as group interviews.

Child protection is a crucial consideration, and it's important because young people are more vulnerable to physical and psychological harm than adults.

Researchers can overcome the limitations by wording their questions carefully to ensure pupils understand the nature of the research.

The key ethical issue is obtaining informed consent, and researchers can address it by gaining consent from parents, teachers, and the young person, and ensuring that the young person is aware of what the research entails.

It's important because power dynamics can affect the reliability and validity of the data collected, and researchers need to be aware of these dynamics to ensure that the data is unbiased.

The study involves carrying out an experiment on subjects without their knowledge or consent.

Power dynamics can influence the data collected and the relationships between researchers and participants.

Protecting their vulnerability and ensuring their rights are respected.

To ensure the participants feel comfortable and provide accurate information.

Protecting the participants' rights and ensuring their informed consent.

Informed consent and child protection are crucial considerations. Young people may not fully understand the research or may be vulnerable to coercion, so it is essential to ensure their participation is voluntary and that they are protected from harm.

Participant observation can provide in-depth, naturalistic data, but it requires careful consideration of informed consent and potential vulnerability of participants, especially in schools where power dynamics may be an issue.

The classroom setting can impact researchers' access and behavior, as they may be seen as authority figures or outsiders, and must consider issues of power, vulnerability, and informed consent.

Establishing trust and rapport is essential to ensure that young people feel comfortable and willing to participate in the research, and can help to build relationships and ensure informed consent.

A key ethical issue is protecting pupils from potential harm or exploitation, and researchers can address this by ensuring informed consent, maintaining confidentiality, and being aware of power dynamics.

Informed consent is crucial to ensure that participants are aware of the study's purpose, methods, and potential risks, and can make an informed decision about their participation.

Researchers should be aware of the potential effects of their study on participants, such as psychological damage or police intervention, and take steps to prevent and anticipate any harm, such as obtaining informed consent and ensuring confidentiality.

Researchers should take special care when working with vulnerable participants, such as children, by obtaining informed consent, ensuring confidentiality, and providing information in a language they can understand, due to their vulnerability and potential exploitation.

Confidentiality and privacy of participants are essential to maintain trust and protect their rights, and researchers can ensure it by keeping personal information confidential and respecting their privacy.

Organisations such as UNICEF, Barnardo's, and the National Children's Bureau have developed special codes of practice, which take the British Sociological Association's research guidelines further in terms of protecting the rights of children.

Covert research involves hiding the researcher's identity and purpose, which can compromise informed consent and trust, but it may be justified in certain circumstances, such as studying secretive groups, where obtaining informed consent is impossible.

Researchers should consider whether the participation of young people is necessary and whether they stand to benefit from it, and it is important to ensure that the benefits of participation outweigh any potential risks or harm.

It is essential to establish trust and rapport because of children's vulnerability, and matching the gender of the young person and the researcher can help achieve this.

A key consideration is obtaining informed consent, and it can be addressed by ensuring that children understand the research process and its potential risks and benefits.

Children are considered vulnerable because of their age, inexperience, and dependence on others, and the implications of this vulnerability are that researchers must take extra precautions to ensure their protection and well-being.

It is often impossible or unethical to control the variables

It is impossible to control variables that acted in the past rather than the present.

Informed consent, which may be difficult to obtain from certain groups.

The Hawthorne effect occurs when people change their behavior because they know they are being studied, which can affect the results.

Milgram lied to his subjects about the purpose of the research, which is generally considered wrong.

It is difficult to investigate large-scale social phenomena using experimental methods.

Power dynamics can influence the behavior of participants and affect the results.

Ensuring their protection and considering their vulnerability.

It is essential to ensure that participants understand the nature and purpose of the research.

Considering their vulnerability and ensuring their protection.

It can be a useful way to contact a sample of people who might be difficult to find or persuade to take part.

It may lead to a biased sample if the clusters are not representative of the parent population.

Because it involves selecting from those individuals who are the easiest to access.

Interpretivists prioritize gaining valid data and an authentic understanding of social actors' meanings, whereas positivists prioritize discovering general laws of behavior.

Because it can be difficult to obtain a representative sample, especially when studying hard-to-reach populations.

It is often quicker and cheaper than assembling a random sample.

The sample is unlikely to be representative of the target research population.

Because they prioritize gaining valid data and an authentic understanding of social actors' meanings over discovering general laws of behavior.

They were pretending to be mentally ill, and the hospital staff treated them as if they were mentally ill.

The flaw was that it might not have been the 'schizophrenic' label that caused the hospital staff's behavior, but some other factor that the researchers had not controlled.

Field experiments are often considered unethical because they involve carrying out an experiment on subjects without their knowledge or consent.

To see what effect labeling has on achievement, by manipulating teachers' expectations about children's abilities.

Field experiments are more 'natural' and realistic, and avoid the artificiality of laboratory experiments.

The more realistic the situation, the less control the researcher has over the variables that might be operating.

It was an experiment conducted in a real-world setting (a mental hospital), with the researchers pretending to be mentally ill, and observing how the hospital staff treated them.

The hospital staff treated the pseudopatients as if they were mentally ill, even after they began acting normally.

Questionnaires are a detached and objective form of research, allowing for minimal personal involvement with respondents. Researchers prefer them because they can collect information from a large number of people, making the results more representative of the wider population.

Questionnaires need to be brief, as respondents are unlikely to complete and return a long, time-consuming questionnaire, limiting the amount of information that can be gathered.

Questionnaires pose fewer ethical problems because respondents are under no obligation to answer sensitive or intrusive questions, and researchers can guarantee anonymity and informed consent.

Questionnaires can collect information from a large number of people, making the results more representative of the wider population.

Researchers should ensure informed consent, guarantee anonymity, and make it clear that respondents have a right not to answer any questions.

It is important to consider the limitations of questionnaires because they may not provide in-depth or nuanced data, and may be limited in their ability to capture complex phenomena.

Respondents may be unlikely to complete and return long or time-consuming questionnaires, leading to low response rates and biased samples.

Questionnaires can collect information from a large number of people, making the results more representative of the wider population, and allowing for more accurate generalisations about the population.

The comparative method is carried out only in the mind of the sociologist and does not involve actually experimenting on real people.

To identify two groups of people that are alike in all major respects except for the one variable being studied.

Emile Durkheim's study of suicide, where he compared the suicide rates of Catholics and Protestants.

It avoids artificiality, it can be used to study past events, and it poses no ethical problems.

It gives the researcher even less control over variables than do field experiments.

To discover cause-and-effect relationships.

It involves identifying two groups of people that are alike in all major respects except for the one variable being studied, and then comparing the two groups to see if the one difference between them has any effect.

It allows researchers to study past events without the need for laboratory experiments.

The power dynamic between teachers and pupils, and can be addressed by using group interviews.

Limited vocabulary, thinking skills, and confidence, and researchers can use simple language and provide explanations to help pupils understand.

To protect pupils from potential harm and ensure they understand the research and its implications.

The potential for physical and psychological harm, and the need for child protection and informed consent.

By using simple language, providing clear explanations, and obtaining consent from parents and teachers as well.

The potential for power imbalance and exploitation, and addressing it by being aware of these dynamics and taking steps to mitigate them.

To ensure data is not biased by the power imbalance between teachers and pupils, and to ensure pupils' voices are heard.

The need to protect them from harm and ensure informed consent, to prioritize their safety and well-being.