Methods in Context: Using Methods in Education Research

Methods in Context: Using Methods in Education Research

Methods in Context is a distinctive feature of the AQA Sociology specification. It asks you to evaluate how well a particular method works when used to study a specific aspect of education. This requires you to apply your knowledge of methods to the specific characteristics of educational settings.

The Unique Characteristics of Education as a Research Context

Schools as Institutions

• Schools are hierarchical organisations with clear authority structures (head teachers, senior leaders, teachers, pupils)
• Gatekeepers (head teachers, governors, local authorities) control access — they can refuse researchers or limit what they observe
• Schools operate on a timetable with fixed periods — this structures when and how research can take place
• Safeguarding requirements mean all researchers need DBS checks and adult supervision when working with children
• Schools are subject to Ofsted inspection — they may be reluctant to allow research that could reveal problems

Pupils as Research Subjects

• Children and young people are vulnerable — they have less power than adult researchers
• Pupils may feel compelled to participate because teachers or head teachers have agreed on their behalf — genuine informed consent is difficult
• Younger children may not fully understand what research involves — the issue of competence to consent
• Pupils may give answers they think the teacher or researcher wants to hear — social desirability bias
• Age, maturity, and literacy levels affect which methods are appropriate — a questionnaire designed for adults may be incomprehensible to Year 7 pupils
• Power dynamics: pupils are used to being told what to do by adults — they may not feel free to refuse or withdraw

Teachers as Research Subjects

• Teachers are busy professionals — they may not have time to participate in lengthy interviews or allow observation to disrupt their lessons
• Teachers may feel threatened by observation — it resembles Ofsted inspection — and alter their behaviour (Hawthorne effect)
• Teachers may present an idealised version of their practice rather than reality — particularly if the research could affect their career
• Professional solidarity: teachers may close ranks and refuse to discuss problems openly

The School Environment

• Classrooms are relatively closed settings — this makes observation feasible but also means the presence of a researcher is highly visible
• The peer group is powerful — pupils may behave differently in front of their friends (bravado, conformity to peer norms)
• Schools are diverse — private schools, academies, comprehensives, and primary schools are very different contexts

Applying Specific Methods to Education

Questionnaires in Education Research

Practical Issues:

• Can be distributed to large numbers of pupils quickly through schools — a captive audience
• Schools can provide a sampling frame (class registers, year group lists)
• Young children may struggle with literacy — the questionnaire must be age-appropriate
• Can be completed during lesson time (but this requires teacher cooperation)
• Low cost and easy to administer

Ethical Issues:

• Informed consent from both parents AND pupils is needed — schools often send consent letters home, but low return rates create bias
• Pupils may feel pressured to participate because the teacher has distributed the questionnaire — not genuinely voluntary
• Anonymity is important — pupils may fear their answers will be seen by teachers

Theoretical Issues:

• Positivists favour questionnaires for their reliability and generalisability
• Interpretivists argue that pre-set questions cannot capture the complexity of pupils' educational experiences
• Questions may reflect the researcher's assumptions rather than pupils' perspectives — low validity
• Pupils may not take questionnaires seriously — ticking randomly or giving joke answers

Example Study: Archer (2010) used questionnaires alongside interviews to study working-class pupils' aspirations — the mixed-methods approach balanced reliability with validity.

Unstructured Interviews in Education Research

Practical Issues:

• Time-consuming — each interview takes 30–60 minutes, limiting sample size
• Require a private space in school — difficult to find
• Must be scheduled around the timetable — pupils miss lessons, which teachers may resist
• Building rapport with young people requires skill — age, gender, and ethnicity of the interviewer matter

Ethical Issues:

• Easier to obtain informed consent because the researcher can explain the purpose face-to-face
• Pupils may disclose sensitive information (bullying, abuse, family problems) — the researcher has a duty of care to report safeguarding concerns, which conflicts with confidentiality promises
• The power imbalance between adult researcher and child interviewee may inhibit honest responses

Theoretical Issues:

• Interpretivists favour unstructured interviews because they allow pupils to express their experiences in their own words — high validity
• Allow the researcher to explore unexpected themes and probe deeper
• But findings are difficult to generalise from small samples
• Interviewer bias: the researcher's reactions and follow-up questions shape the data

Example Study: Willis (1977) used informal group interviews with "the lads" to understand their counter-school culture — the informal style enabled them to speak freely, producing rich, valid data about their real attitudes.

Participant Observation in Education Research

Practical Issues:

• Schools are relatively accessible compared to many research settings — researchers can become classroom assistants, supply teachers, or learning mentors
• A structured timetable provides regular opportunities for observation
• The researcher's presence is visible in a classroom — hard to be unobtrusive
• Time-consuming: building trust with pupils and teachers takes weeks or months
• The researcher must fit into the school's existing roles and routines

Ethical Issues:

• Covert observation in schools is particularly problematic because pupils are children — they cannot consent to being studied without their knowledge
• Overt observation is more ethical but may cause the Hawthorne effect
• Observing lessons may reveal poor teaching or pupil misbehaviour — should the researcher intervene?
• Loyalties: the researcher may become close to certain pupils or teachers, creating bias

Theoretical Issues:

• Interpretivists favour observation because it reveals how education really works "on the ground" — high validity
• Allows the researcher to see things that participants themselves may not articulate (taken-for-granted behaviours, subtle discrimination)
• But data is subjective — two observers might interpret the same lesson differently
• Low reliability: cannot be replicated exactly
• Going native: the researcher may lose objectivity, particularly if embedded for a long period

Example Study: Lacey (1970) conducted long-term participant observation in a grammar school, observing how streaming created pro-school and anti-school subcultures — observation allowed him to see polarisation as it happened.

Official Statistics in Education Research

Practical Issues:

• Readily available, free, and cover the entire school population (e.g., DfE performance tables, FSM data)
• Allow identification of large-scale patterns (class, gender, ethnic differences in achievement)
• Already collected — no need to design research instruments or gain access
• Can be analysed at national, regional, and school level

Ethical Issues:

• Generally few ethical concerns — data is anonymised and already in the public domain
• However, using ethnic or class categories can reinforce stereotypes if not handled carefully

Theoretical Issues:

• Positivists value official statistics for their reliability and representativeness
• Interpretivists argue they are socially constructed — they reflect the categories and decisions of those who produce them:
• School exclusion rates reflect teacher labelling as much as actual misbehaviour (Gillborn and Youdell, 2001)
• GCSE results are shaped by entry policies (Foundation vs Higher tier decisions)
• FSM eligibility is a crude proxy for social class — not all poor families claim FSM
• Statistics tell us what is happening but not why — they lack verstehen

Experiments in Education Research

Practical Issues:

• Lab experiments are rarely used in education — you cannot randomly assign children to different schools or teaching methods for ethical and practical reasons
• Field experiments are more feasible: Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) randomly told teachers that certain pupils were "spurters" — a field experiment within a real school
• Natural experiments can occur when policy changes affect some schools but not others (e.g., comparing schools that adopted academisation with those that did not)

Ethical Issues:

• Experiments that deliberately disadvantage some pupils are ethically unacceptable
• Rosenthal and Jacobson's study is ethically questionable — teachers were deceived, and pupils in the non-selected group may have been disadvantaged by lower expectations
• Children cannot be treated as experimental subjects in the same way as adults

Theoretical Issues:

• Positivists value experiments because they can establish causation (if we change X, does Y change?)
• Interpretivists argue that the artificial conditions of experiments reduce validity — behaviour in an experiment may differ from real life
• The Hawthorne effect is a particular risk — pupils and teachers who know they are being studied may change their behaviour

Structuring a Methods in Context Answer

The AQA question is worth 20 marks (approximately 30 minutes). Use this structure:

1. Brief introduction: identify the method and the issue being studied

2. Apply PET to the specific context:

• Practical: How does the school setting affect the feasibility of this method? Consider access, gatekeepers, time, the age of participants
• Ethical: What specific ethical issues arise from using this method with pupils/teachers? Consider consent, vulnerability, power
• Theoretical: Does this method produce valid/reliable data in this context? Link to positivism/interpretivism

3. Use specific studies as examples (AO2)

4. Brief conclusion: overall, is this method well-suited to this context?

Exam Tip

The most common error is writing a generic methods answer that ignores the education context. Every point must be linked to the specific characteristics of schools, pupils, and teachers. Ask yourself: "Would this point be different if I were studying a factory or a hospital?" If the answer is yes, you are on the right track. If no, you are being too generic.