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AQA A-Level Sociology 7192
Education
Topic overviewThe role and functions of educationClass differences in educational achievementLabelling, subcultures and processes within schoolsGender and educational achievementEthnicity and educational achievementSelection and marketisationPrivatisation and vocational educationEducational policy, equality and globalisation
Methods in Context
Theory and Methods
Culture and IdentityOptional topic
Families and HouseholdsOptional topic
Topic overviewFunctionalist views of the familyMarxist and feminist views of the familyThe New Right, postmodernism and family policyMarriage, cohabitation and divorceFamily diversity and the personal life perspectiveConjugal roles and domestic labourPower relationships and domestic violenceThe social construction of childhoodBirth rates and death ratesFamily size and the ageing populationMigration and globalisation
HealthOptional topic
Work, Poverty and WelfareOptional topic
Beliefs in SocietyOptional topic
Topic overviewIdeology and science as belief systemsFunctionalist views of religionMarxist and feminist views of religionReligion as a force for social changeChurches, sects, denominations and cultsNew religious movements and New Age movementsReligion, gender, ethnicity, age and social classSecularisationBelieving without belonging and postmodern religionGlobalisation, fundamentalism and religion worldwide
Global DevelopmentOptional topic
The MediaOptional topic
Stratification and DifferentiationOptional topic
Crime and Deviance
Topic overviewFunctionalist, strain and control theories of crimeSubcultural theories of crimeInteractionism and labelling theoryMarxist and critical theories of crimeLeft and right realismGender and crimeSocial class, white-collar and corporate crimeEthnicity, policing and the criminal justice systemGlobalisation and crimeThe media, crime and fear of crimeMoral panics and the deviancy amplification spiralGreen crimeState crime and human rightsDenial, neutralisation and prosecuting state crimeSituational and environmental crime preventionRealist crime control, surveillance and the panopticonPunishment, sentencing and the criminal justice systemVictims and victimologyCrime prevention strategies and their limits
Methods in Context
- 3 subtopics
- 7 things to know
- Paper 1
What Methods in Context covers
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.
The 3 subtopics
Each one has its own page.
- Access, gatekeepers and research ethics in schoolsHead teachers as gatekeepers, parental consent, the adult-child power imbalance, and covert work in schools.Open →
- Choosing methods for research in schoolsAdapting questionnaires, interviews and observation to pupils, and the constraints the timetable imposes.Open →
- Data, theory and validity in educational researchOfficial statistics, documents, longitudinal studies, and how positivists and interpretivists approach schools differently.Open →
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Your recallNot started
Evaluation
What practical constraints does a school impose on research with pupils?
Evaluation
How can group interviews and the presence of an observer reduce validity?
Study
Which topics in educational research require particular care?
Study
What do positivist approaches to educational research aim to identify through quantitative methods?
Process
What are the limits of official statistics and longitudinal studies in educational research?
Process
Why can a school-based sample be biased, and why may teachers give guarded accounts?
Take Methods in Context further
The same content, four other ways.
Commonly confused
Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.
Interpretivist methods in education vs Positivist methods in education
Interpretivist methods in education: qualitative methods, used to understand the meanings pupils attach to schooling. Positivist methods in education: quantitative methods such as large-scale surveys and statistical analysis of attainment data.
Gatekeeper vs Informed consent
Gatekeeper: someone whose permission is needed to reach pupils, such as a head teacher. Informed consent: the agreement of a participant who has been told what the research involves.
Practical issue in research vs Ethical issue in research
Practical issue in research: a constraint of time, cost, access or timetable that limits what can be done. Ethical issue in research: a question of consent, harm or deception raised by how the research is conducted.
Questions from this topic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
Who are the key gatekeepers that researchers typically need permission from to access schools for educational research?
Model answer
Headteachers, governors, and local authorities.
- 2
Why must researchers obtain informed consent from parents or guardians rather than directly from children when studying minors?
Model answer
Because children cannot legally consent for themselves.
- 3
How might the power imbalance between adult researchers and child participants affect the validity of research data?
Model answer
Children may give answers they think adults want to hear rather than their true views, reducing validity.
- 4
Why is covert observation considered more ethically problematic in schools than in adult settings?
Model answer
Because deceiving children is considered more problematic than deceiving adults.
- 5
How might teachers acting as gatekeepers bias research samples in educational studies?
Model answer
They may influence which pupils researchers can access, potentially biasing samples towards more cooperative or articulate students.
- 6
What factors about the researcher might cause pupils from different social class backgrounds to respond differently?
Model answer
The researcher's perceived status and manner of communication.
What is inside Levo
Six ways to work the same material.
Methods in Context revision questions
- What does Methods in Context cover in AQA A-Level Sociology?
- 3 subtopics: access, gatekeepers and research ethics in schools, choosing methods for research in schools and data, theory and validity in educational research. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
- How is Methods in Context organised?
- By the AQA 7192 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.
Every question in Methods in Context, on a schedule.
Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.
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