Methods in Context | AQA A-Level Sociology (7192)
Methods in Context
- 28 questions
- 3 subtopics
- Paper 1: Education with Methods in Context
- Paper 1
Methods in Context is examined on Paper 1.
It asks how the standard research methods behave when the setting is a school and the participants are children, which is where questions of access, consent and validity become sharpest.
Sample questions from Methods in Context
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Access, gatekeepers and research ethics in schools
How might the power imbalance between adult researchers and child participants affect the validity of research data?
Show the answer
Children may give answers they think adults want to hear rather than their true views, reducing validity. -
Access, gatekeepers and research ethics in schools
What factors about the researcher might cause pupils from different social class backgrounds to respond differently?
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The researcher's perceived status and manner of communication. -
Choosing methods for research in schools
How does the school timetable create practical constraints on educational research?
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It limits when and for how long researchers can access pupils without disrupting education. -
Choosing methods for research in schools
How might group interviews with pupils reduce the validity of research findings?
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Peer pressure effects may occur where dominant individuals influence others' responses. -
Data, theory and validity in educational research
What problem do longitudinal studies in education face regarding their sample?
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Sample attrition as pupils move schools or drop out. -
Data, theory and validity in educational research
What do positivist approaches to educational research aim to identify through quantitative methods?
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Patterns and correlations.
The 3 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Access, gatekeepers and research ethics in schools | Head teachers as gatekeepers, parental consent, the adult-child power imbalance, and covert work in schools. | 8 |
| Choosing methods for research in schools | Adapting questionnaires, interviews and observation to pupils, and the constraints the timetable imposes. | 9 |
| Data, theory and validity in educational research | Official statistics, documents, longitudinal studies, and how positivists and interpretivists approach schools differently. | 11 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
AQA A-Level Sociology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,116 questions with their answers.