Experiments in educational research | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: 2 days ago
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time: 60–75 minutes
Experiments are one of the research methods AQA requires sociologists to examine, and Methods in Context requires you to consider how experimental research might be applied specifically to education. You therefore need to connect experimental research with educational settings, participants and processes, while considering practical, ethical and theoretical problems. The specification requires knowledge of experiments, research design and the factors affecting method choice, as well as the ability to apply methods to education. This Experiments in educational research A-Level Sociology revision page builds on researching education [Researching education] and observational research.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Apply experimental methods to educational issues identified in the AQA specification.
Explain how the educational setting can create practical problems for experimental research.
Explain ethical considerations associated with experimental research involving educational participants.
Analyse theoretical considerations affecting the usefulness of experiments.
Compare experimental research with other methods used to study education.
Evaluate the usefulness of experiments for different educational research situations.
Revision Notes 📚
Experiments in educational research A-Level Sociology revision: the specification boundary
AQA identifies experiments as one of the sources of data that students must examine. They are listed alongside questionnaires, interviews, participant and non-participant observation, documents and official statistics. AQA also requires students to study research design and the theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing the choice and conduct of research.
For Methods in Context, AQA states that students must be able to apply sociological research methods to the study of education.
The supplied specification does not divide experiments into named experimental subtypes or specify detailed experimental procedures. To remain within the stated specification boundary, this page therefore focuses on:
the use of experimental research in Sociology
its possible application to education
research design
practical considerations
ethical considerations
theoretical considerations
comparison with other specified research methods.
Detailed classifications or procedures that are not named in the supplied specification are not introduced here.
The wider planning decisions involved are covered in research design [Research design].
Applying experiments to the study of education
The education specification requires students to study:
differential educational achievement by social class, gender and ethnicity
teacher-pupil relationships
pupil identities
pupil subcultures
the hidden curriculum
the organisation of teaching and learning
educational policies, including their effects on access, experiences and outcomes.
An experimental research design might be considered where a sociologist wants to investigate a particular educational process under deliberately arranged research conditions.
However, the important Methods in Context question is not:
"Are experiments a good research method?"
It is:
How useful would experimental research be for investigating this particular educational issue, given the practical, ethical and theoretical considerations involved?
Experiments may therefore be more suitable for some educational questions than others.
Experiments and the organisation of teaching and learning
AQA specifically requires students to understand the organisation of teaching and learning.
This could provide a possible context for experimental research.
A sociologist might want to investigate whether differences in the organisation of an educational situation are associated with differences in what happens within that situation.
The usefulness of an experiment would depend on whether the educational process can appropriately be investigated through an experimental research design.
Potential usefulness
An experimental design allows the researcher to organise the investigation around a clearly defined sociological question.
This may make it possible to focus closely on the particular aspect of education being investigated.
Potential problem
Educational settings already contain:
pupils
teachers
social relationships
teaching and learning
existing institutional arrangements.
The sociologist therefore needs to consider whether deliberately arranging a research situation is practically and ethically appropriate within that context.
This is a key Methods in Context point because the problem arises from the educational setting, not simply from experiments in general.
Experiments and teacher-pupil relationships
AQA identifies teacher-pupil relationships as an important process within education.
Experimental research could potentially be considered where the sociologist wants to investigate a particular aspect of an educational situation involving teachers and pupils.
However, teacher-pupil relationships are social relationships involving participants' behaviour and interpretations.
This creates both theoretical and practical questions.
The researcher needs to ask:
Can the relationship be studied appropriately through an experimental research design?
Would arranging the research situation alter the educational process being investigated?
Does the experiment reveal what teachers and pupils themselves think their interactions mean?
Would another research method provide more appropriate evidence?
These questions create useful comparisons with interviews in educational research [Interviews in educational research] and observation in educational research [Observation in educational research].
Experiments and pupil identities
The specification includes pupil identities as part of relationships and processes within schools.
Identity concerns social experience and the ways pupils' identities relate to their educational experiences.
An experimental design might provide evidence about a particular aspect of an educational situation, but a sociologist must consider whether this provides sufficient evidence about identity itself.
A theoretical difficulty arises because the study of identity may involve understanding:
pupils' interpretations
social interaction
the meanings pupils attach to educational experiences.
An experimental design that does not investigate these meanings may therefore provide only one form of evidence.
This does not automatically make experiments unsuitable. It means their usefulness depends on the precise research aim.
Experiments and pupil subcultures
AQA also requires students to study pupil subcultures.
Subcultures involve social relationships and processes between pupils.
A researcher considering an experiment would therefore need to judge whether an arranged research situation could provide useful sociological evidence about those processes.
For example, a question focused on a particular feature of pupils' behaviour might be approached differently from a question asking what belonging to a pupil subculture means to its members.
The second question is more directly concerned with participants' interpretations and may therefore lead the researcher towards another research method.
The key point is:
Different questions about the same educational topic may require different research designs.
Experiments and the hidden curriculum
The hidden curriculum is another specified educational process.
Experimental research might be considered if the sociologist wants to investigate a clearly defined aspect of educational experience.
However, the researcher needs to consider whether deliberately arranging research conditions can adequately represent the wider processes through which the hidden curriculum operates.
This creates an important theoretical question about the relationship between:
the research design
the educational context
the sociological process being investigated.
A method that isolates one aspect of education may provide focused evidence, while another method may reveal more about how processes operate in their wider social setting.
Experiments and differential educational achievement
AQA requires students to understand differences in educational achievement according to:
social class
gender
ethnicity.
Experimental research could potentially contribute to the investigation of particular educational processes connected with achievement.
However, an experiment and evidence showing broader patterns of educational achievement answer different questions.
A sociologist interested in the extent of differences between social groups might draw on quantitative evidence from other sources.
A sociologist interested in a particular educational process associated with those differences might consider a different research design.
This distinction helps prevent a common error:
A research method should not be chosen simply because the topic is "educational achievement". It must suit the exact sociological question being asked.
Experiments and educational policy
The AQA specification requires students to understand educational policies and their significance for:
the structure of education
the role of education
access to education
educational experiences
educational outcomes.
Experimental research may have limited usefulness for some questions about broad policy structures or outcomes because these questions may require evidence extending beyond an individual research situation.
However, a researcher might consider an experimental design when investigating a more specific educational process.
The suitability of the method therefore depends on whether the researcher is studying:
broad social patterns and structures, or
a more focused educational situation.
This demonstrates why choosing methods for researching education [Choosing methods for researching education] requires comparison rather than memorising one "best" method.
Experiments as primary research
When a sociologist carries out an experiment specifically for their own research project, the resulting evidence is primary data.
This differs from secondary data, which already exist before the researcher's particular investigation.
AQA requires students to understand both:
primary and secondary data
quantitative and qualitative data.
These distinctions should not be confused.
Distinction | What it concerns |
Primary and secondary data | Whether the evidence is collected for the particular research project or already exists |
Quantitative and qualitative data | The nature of the evidence produced |
The way an experiment is designed will influence what kind of evidence the sociologist obtains.
Practical considerations in experimental educational research
AQA requires students to understand practical considerations influencing:
choice of topic
choice of method
conduct of research.
In Methods in Context, these considerations must be connected specifically to education.
Arranging research within an educational setting
Educational research takes place within institutions that already have their own:
teaching
learning
relationships
organisation.
A sociologist considering experimental research therefore needs to decide whether the proposed research can practically operate within that setting.
For example, a design requiring a particular educational situation to be arranged may need to fit around the existing organisation of teaching and learning.
The practical issue is not simply "experiments can be difficult".
The applied point is:
Can this particular experimental investigation be carried out appropriately within this educational setting?
Access to relevant participants
An educational experiment may require involvement from participants relevant to the research question.
Depending on the topic, these might include:
pupils
teachers
both teachers and pupils.
Research into teacher-pupil relationships, for example, requires access to the people involved in those relationships.
A design that cannot include appropriate participants will have limited usefulness.
Matching the research design to the educational issue
The experimental design must actually investigate the issue the sociologist wants to understand.
For example, a narrowly focused design may provide evidence about one part of an educational process but not about:
pupils' wider experiences
the meanings participants attach to their actions
broad patterns of educational achievement.
This is a practical and theoretical issue at the same time.
Conducting the research alongside education
The researcher must consider the relationship between conducting sociological research and the ordinary educational processes already taking place.
The key question is whether the experiment can be carried out in a way that makes the resulting evidence useful for the particular research aim.
These considerations are developed more generally in practical considerations in sociological research [Practical considerations in sociological research].
Ethical considerations in educational experiments
AQA explicitly requires students to understand ethical considerations influencing the choice and conduct of research.
Experiments in education may create ethical questions because they involve real participants within educational settings.
Effects on participants
The researcher must consider how the research may affect the people involved.
This is especially important where the proposed investigation concerns:
pupils
teachers
relationships between participants
educational experiences.
An experimental design cannot be evaluated only by asking whether it might produce useful data.
The sociologist must also ask whether conducting the research in that way is ethically appropriate.
Arranging educational situations for research
Where experimental research involves deliberately arranging a research situation, the researcher needs to consider the ethical consequences for those participating.
For example, a sociologist cannot treat an educational process purely as a methodological problem while ignoring how the research affects pupils or teachers.
This means ethical considerations may limit what a researcher can appropriately investigate experimentally.
Research into identities and relationships
Experimental research connected with:
pupil identities
pupil subcultures
teacher-pupil relationships
may involve aspects of participants' social experiences.
The researcher must therefore consider whether the way the study is designed and conducted is appropriate to the people and relationships being researched.
Ethics are part of research design
Ethical considerations should not be added as an isolated list at the end of an answer.
They may influence whether the researcher chooses an experiment in the first place.
This is why AQA links ethical considerations explicitly to:
method choice
research topic
conduct of research.
The general debate is developed further in ethical considerations in sociological research [Ethical considerations in sociological research].
Theoretical considerations in experimental research
Theoretical considerations concern what kind of sociological knowledge the researcher believes is useful and how society should be investigated.
AQA specifically requires students to understand:
positivism
interpretivism
their relationship with sociological methods
the nature of social facts.
These issues are particularly important when evaluating experimental research.
Positivism and experiments
A positivist approach emphasises the systematic study of social patterns and social facts.
An experimental research design may therefore appeal to a researcher who wants a clearly organised investigation of a particular sociological question.
In educational research, a positivist may value an experiment where it produces evidence that can be systematically examined.
However, the researcher must still ask whether the experimental situation provides useful evidence about education outside the particular research design.
A method does not become valuable simply because it appears systematic.
Interpretivism and experiments
Interpretivism places greater emphasis on understanding social action through the meanings and interpretations of participants.
This may create theoretical problems for some experimental educational research.
For example, if a sociologist wants to understand:
what pupil identity means to pupils
how pupils interpret a subculture
how teachers and pupils understand their relationship
then an experimental design may not necessarily provide enough evidence about those meanings.
An interpretivist might therefore prefer a research method that gives participants greater opportunity to express their interpretations.
Social processes and arranged research situations
Another theoretical question is whether the educational process investigated under an experimental research design gives an adequate understanding of that process within wider educational life.
AQA requires research design and its strengths and limitations to be integrated throughout Sociology.
Students should therefore ask:
Does the experimental research design help the sociologist understand the educational process they are actually interested in?
This is more useful than simply stating that positivists "like experiments" and interpretivists "do not".
The wider theoretical debate is covered in theoretical considerations in sociological research [Theoretical considerations in sociological research].
Experiments and quantitative research
AQA requires knowledge of quantitative and qualitative methods of research.
An experimental study may be organised to generate evidence that can be systematically compared, which may suit a research question focused on patterns.
However, the specification does not state that all experimental evidence must take one particular form.
You should therefore concentrate on the research question:
Does the researcher need numerical evidence?
Does the researcher need participants' meanings?
Does the researcher need evidence about social interaction?
What research design provides that evidence most appropriately?
This keeps the focus on method choice rather than memorised labels.
Comparing experiments and observation
Experiments and observation can both be applied to educational processes, but they represent different research designs.
Experimental research | Observational research |
Research is organised around an experimentally arranged investigation | Research focuses on observing behaviour, interaction or processes |
May focus closely on a particular research question | May investigate educational interaction as it occurs |
Practical and ethical questions arise from arranging the research situation | Practical and ethical questions arise from observing participants and settings |
May not provide complete evidence about participants' meanings | May also fail to reveal meanings without additional evidence |
Suppose the research question concerns teacher-pupil relationships.
An experiment may investigate a particular aspect of an arranged educational situation.
Observation may instead examine interactions within the educational setting.
Neither automatically provides a complete understanding of how teachers and pupils interpret the relationship.
The methods therefore provide different forms of evidence.
Comparing experiments and interviews
Interviews collect participants' accounts, whereas experimental research focuses on evidence produced through an experimental research design.
This distinction matters when the topic involves meaning.
For example, a sociologist asking:
How do pupils interpret their identities within education?
may find interview evidence especially relevant because the question directly concerns participants' meanings.
By contrast, a sociologist investigating a more narrowly defined process may consider an experimental design.
The question should determine the method, rather than the researcher choosing a method first and then trying to make the educational topic fit it.
Comparing experiments and questionnaires
Questionnaires provide responses from participants, while experiments organise research around an experimental design.
A questionnaire may be particularly useful where researchers want to compare participants' reported experiences.
An experiment may offer a more focused investigation of a particular research situation.
Both methods still raise:
practical considerations
ethical considerations
theoretical considerations.
Neither should be evaluated outside the educational context.
Comparing experiments with documents and official statistics
AQA also identifies documents and official statistics as sociological sources of data.
These involve secondary evidence rather than a new experimental investigation by the sociologist.
For a question about broad patterns in educational achievement, existing evidence might help establish the nature of those patterns.
Experimental research may instead contribute to an investigation of a particular educational process.
This distinction becomes important in the next lesson, documents and official statistics in educational research [Documents and official statistics in educational research].
Potential strengths of experiments in educational research
Because the supplied specification names experiments but does not prescribe a fixed list of advantages, strengths should be derived from the particular research design and context rather than memorised as universal claims.
A focused research question
Experimental research can be organised around a clearly defined educational issue.
This may be useful where the sociologist wants evidence relating to one particular aspect of education.
Primary data
A sociologist conducting their own experiment collects evidence specifically for the research project.
The research can therefore be designed around the particular educational question.
Systematic investigation
An experimental research design may suit a sociologist seeking systematic evidence about a particular social process.
This connects with positivist approaches to sociological methods.
Comparison with other evidence
Experimental findings can be considered alongside evidence from other research methods.
This may be valuable because education involves patterns, experiences, relationships and meanings that may not all be captured by a single research method.
Potential limitations of experiments in educational research
Educational settings are socially complex
Education involves existing social relationships and institutional processes.
An experimental research design focusing on one aspect of education may therefore provide only a partial picture of the wider social process.
Arranging the research may be practically difficult
The sociologist needs to determine whether the proposed experiment can actually be carried out within the educational setting and with the participants required.
Ethical considerations may restrict research
The involvement of pupils, teachers and educational relationships means that the possible usefulness of an experiment must be balanced against ethical considerations.
Participants' meanings may not be fully investigated
Where the research question concerns identity, subcultures or people's interpretations of educational relationships, experimental research may provide insufficient evidence about meanings.
This can create a particular theoretical limitation from an interpretivist perspective.
The method may not suit broad social patterns
An experiment into a particular educational situation does not automatically establish the wider distribution of educational achievement by class, gender or ethnicity.
Other evidence may be required for those questions.
Applying experiments to different educational research questions
A useful revision technique is to begin with the educational question rather than the method.
Research question A: What patterns exist in educational achievement by social class?
Experimental research may not, by itself, provide the broad evidence required to establish the overall pattern. Other sources may be more directly useful.
Research question B: How do pupils understand their identities within education?
An experimental design might investigate one aspect of educational experience, but an interpretivist researcher may value methods that investigate pupils' meanings more directly.
Research question C: How do teachers and pupils interact within teaching and learning?
An experiment could potentially investigate a particular arranged educational situation. Observation might instead provide evidence about interaction as it occurs.
Research question D: How does an aspect of educational organisation affect pupils' experiences?
An experiment may be considered where the question can appropriately be investigated through a focused experimental research design. However, practical and ethical issues remain central.
The lesson is simple but crucial:
There is no research method that is automatically appropriate simply because the topic is education.
Building a strong Methods in Context paragraph
A useful structure is:
Identify a feature of experimental research.
Apply it to the exact educational issue.
Explain why this creates a strength or problem.
Connect it to a practical, ethical or theoretical consideration.
Judge its effect on the usefulness of the experiment.
For example:
Method feature: the research is organised around a specifically arranged experimental investigation.
Educational context: the sociologist is investigating an aspect of teacher-pupil relationships.
Application: this may allow the researcher to focus closely on a particular feature of an educational situation.
Evaluation: teacher-pupil relationships are also shaped by wider social interactions and by the meanings teachers and pupils attach to them.
Judgement: the experiment may therefore provide useful evidence about a narrowly defined process but may be less useful on its own for understanding the relationship as a whole.
This is much stronger than writing:
Experiments are scientific, therefore they are good.
The second statement is too generic and does not apply the method to education.
Making a reasoned judgement about experiments
The usefulness of experiments depends on the sociological question being asked.
They may be more useful where:
the researcher has a clearly focused educational question
an experimental research design can be conducted appropriately
the evidence produced matches the research aim
the practical and ethical requirements can be addressed
systematic investigation is important to the researcher's theoretical approach.
They may be less useful where:
the research concerns broad educational structures or patterns
participants' meanings are central
the educational process cannot appropriately be investigated through an arranged research situation
practical or ethical considerations make the design unsuitable.
The strongest conclusion is therefore conditional:
Experiments may be useful for investigating clearly defined aspects of education, but their value depends on whether an experimental design can appropriately represent the educational process being studied and whether the resulting evidence fits the researcher's practical, ethical and theoretical requirements.
This reasoned comparison is exactly the skill developed further in choosing methods for researching education [Choosing methods for researching education].
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Experiment | A research method identified by AQA as one of the sources of sociological data. The supplied specification does not give a more detailed procedural definition. | Apply experimental research to a particular educational investigation and evaluate its usefulness. |
Research design | The way a sociological investigation is planned to answer its research question. | Explain whether an experimental design suits the particular educational issue. |
Primary data | Data collected specifically for the researcher's own investigation. | Explain that a sociologist conducting their own experiment generates primary evidence. |
Quantitative data | Numerical sociological data. | Consider whether an experimental design produces evidence useful for identifying or comparing patterns. |
Qualitative data | Non-numerical data concerned with qualities, meanings and experiences. | Compare experimental evidence with research into participants' interpretations. |
Practical considerations | Factors affecting whether and how sociological research can be carried out. | Apply to the educational setting, participants and conduct of the experiment. |
Ethical considerations | Issues concerning the responsible conduct of sociological research involving people. | Explain why experimental research involving educational participants may be limited by ethical concerns. |
Positivism | An approach emphasising systematic investigation of social patterns and social facts. | Explain theoretical reasons why systematic experimental evidence may be valued. |
Interpretivism | An approach emphasising the meanings people attach to social action and experiences. | Evaluate whether an experiment provides enough understanding of pupils' or teachers' interpretations. |
Social facts | Social phenomena treated as realities beyond individual people and capable of sociological investigation. | Link to positivist approaches to sociological research. |
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Introducing experimental types that are not named in the supplied specification
Why this is incorrect: The provided AQA specification requires students to examine experiments, but it does not subdivide them into named experimental types.
How to improve: Keep the focus on experimental research, research design and its practical, ethical and theoretical usefulness in education unless further AQA source material specifically supports additional terminology.
Mistake: Writing a generic answer about experiments
Why this is incorrect: Methods in Context requires students to apply sociological research methods to education.
How to improve: Explain why each methodological feature matters for the particular pupils, teachers, relationships or educational process in the question.
Mistake: Saying experiments are automatically the best method because they are systematic
Why this is incorrect: AQA requires students to examine the strengths and limitations of research design. A systematic design may still provide the wrong kind of evidence for a particular sociological question.
How to improve: Ask whether the experimental evidence actually answers the educational research question.
Mistake: Ignoring participants' meanings
Why this is incorrect: Some specified educational topics involve identities, subcultures and social relationships. These may involve participants' interpretations of their experiences.
How to improve: Consider whether an interpretivist researcher would need additional evidence about those meanings.
Mistake: Treating ethics as separate from experimental design
Why this is incorrect: AQA specifically states that ethical considerations influence both method choice and the conduct of research.
How to improve: Explain how ethical concerns may affect whether the proposed educational experiment can be carried out at all.
Mistake: Assuming one method must be superior
Why this is incorrect: Experiments, questionnaires, interviews, observation, documents and official statistics can provide different kinds of sociological evidence.
How to improve: Compare methods according to the exact research aim and make a conditional judgement.
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Identify one research method, other than experiments, that AQA requires sociologists to examine. (1 mark)
Question 2
Explain one reason why data collected by a sociologist through their own experiment would be primary data. (2 marks)
Question 3
Outline two educational issues identified in the specification that might form the context for experimental research. (4 marks)
Question 4
A sociologist is considering an experiment to investigate an aspect of the organisation of teaching and learning.
Explain one practical problem the sociologist should consider when designing this research. (4 marks)
Question 5
A sociologist wants to use experimental research to investigate teacher-pupil relationships.
Explain one ethical consideration and one theoretical consideration that may influence the research. (6 marks)
Question 6
A researcher is interested in pupil identities.
Explain one reason why an experiment might provide useful evidence and one reason why an interpretivist sociologist might prefer another method. (6 marks)
Question 7
A sociologist wants to investigate pupil subcultures.
Explain two ways in which experiments and observation might provide different evidence about this educational issue. (6 marks)
Question 8
Item A
A sociologist wants to investigate an aspect of teacher-pupil relationships. The researcher is considering an experimental design because it could provide a focused investigation of a particular educational situation.
However, teacher-pupil relationships form part of wider social interaction within education, and teachers and pupils may attach different meanings to those interactions. The researcher must also consider whether the experiment can be conducted practically and ethically within an educational setting.
Using material from Item A and your knowledge of research methods, evaluate the strengths and limitations of using experiments to investigate teacher-pupil relationships. (20 marks)
Answers and indicative mark scheme
Question 1
Award 1 mark for one appropriate research method or source specified by AQA:
questionnaires
interviews
participant observation
non-participant observation
documents
official statistics.
Question 2
Award up to 2 marks.
A suitable answer would explain that the sociologist is collecting the evidence specifically for their own research project, so it is primary rather than pre-existing secondary data.
Question 3
Award up to 2 marks for each appropriate educational issue, to a maximum of 4 marks.
Possible answers include:
teacher-pupil relationships
pupil identities
pupil subcultures
the hidden curriculum
organisation of teaching and learning
differential achievement by social class
differential achievement by gender
differential achievement by ethnicity
educational policies and their effects.
These are all within the education content specified by AQA.
Question 4
Award up to 4 marks for a developed and applied practical consideration.
Indicative content could include:
the research has to operate within an existing educational setting
teaching and learning are already organised social processes
the sociologist therefore needs to consider whether the proposed experimental situation can actually be arranged appropriately
if the design cannot fit the educational context, the evidence may not answer the intended research question effectively.
A strong answer should remain focused on the organisation of teaching and learning, rather than discussing experiments generically.
Question 5
Award up to 3 marks for the ethical consideration and 3 marks for the theoretical consideration.
Indicative ethical content:
teachers and pupils are real participants in an existing social relationship
the researcher must consider the effects of arranging an experimental study involving that relationship
ethical issues may therefore affect whether and how the experiment can be conducted.
Indicative theoretical content:
teacher-pupil relationships involve social interaction and interpretations
an experimental design may provide focused evidence about a particular situation
an interpretivist researcher may question whether it provides enough evidence about what teachers and pupils believe the interaction means.
Question 6
Award up to 3 marks for each developed point.
A possible strength:
the experiment could organise the investigation around one clearly defined aspect of educational experience
this might produce evidence specifically relevant to that research question.
A possible interpretivist criticism:
pupil identity involves meanings and interpretations
experimental evidence may not allow pupils themselves to explain those meanings
an interpretivist may therefore prefer a method such as an interview where participants' interpretations are more directly investigated.
Question 7
Award up to 3 marks for each developed difference.
Indicative content:
An experiment investigates a particular pupil-subculture issue through an experimentally arranged research design, whereas observation provides evidence by observing social interaction.
Observation might reveal interaction within pupil groups as it occurs, while an experiment might focus more narrowly on one particular aspect of the research question.
Neither automatically reveals what membership of the subculture means to pupils, so a researcher concerned with meanings might require another form of evidence.
Question 8
A strong response should evaluate experiments specifically in relation to teacher-pupil relationships rather than presenting a generic list of advantages and disadvantages.
Indicative content could include:
experiments are a research method explicitly named in the AQA specification
an experimental design can focus the investigation on a clearly defined aspect of teacher-pupil relationships
evidence can be collected specifically for the research project, making it primary data
a systematic design may appeal to a positivist approach
teacher-pupil relationships form part of wider social interaction, so a narrowly arranged research situation may provide only partial evidence
teachers and pupils may interpret the same interaction differently
an interpretivist may therefore question whether experimental research adequately investigates participants' meanings
practical considerations arise because research must operate within an existing educational setting
access to appropriate teachers and pupils is relevant to the usefulness of the research
ethical considerations arise from experimentally researching people and relationships within education
observation could provide different evidence about teacher-pupil interaction
interviews could provide different evidence about how teachers and pupils interpret the relationship
the usefulness of the experiment ultimately depends on the precise research question and the type of evidence required.
A high-level response should continually connect the methodological issue to teacher-pupil relationships, analyse practical, ethical and theoretical considerations and reach a conditional judgement.
A suitable conclusion might argue that experimental research can be useful for a focused investigation of a clearly defined aspect of teacher-pupil relationships, particularly where systematic evidence is required. However, it may be less useful on its own where the sociologist wants to understand the wider relationship or the meanings teachers and pupils attach to their interactions.
Comments