SCLY2 Exam Tips and Questions

SCLY2 – Exam Tips and Questions

Remember the exam is on BOTH Education AND Research Methods!!

General Guidelines

1. READ the questions very carefully.

2. Read the items clearly. Highlight any key words.

2. Do the correct sections (education and research methods)

3. Look at how many marks the question is worth and answer accordingly.

4. In 12 and 20 mark questions, remember to evaluate and analyse:

This means link back to the Q (use the words of the Q) and examine the good and bad points of theories/policies, etc.

5. Link in any Items you have been given.

Essay Technique (20 mark Qs):

1. Plan your essay (bullet points/mind map, etc)

2. Introduction – define any key words and say what the question is asking in your own words.

3. Arguments that support the question

4. Arguments that are against the question

5. Any other relevant info.

6. Remember to EVALUATE and ANALYSE

7. Conclusion and answer the question directly.

6. In the Methods in Context question – make sure you LINK the research method to the topic of the question (see separate guidance on these Qs).

EDUCATION

Education - Small Mark Questions

For the Education part of the unit, you will have the following small mark questions:

2 marks
6 marks
12 marks

Your answer to the 12 mark question needs to be a MINI ESSAY! So…you need to describe and evaluate theories (briefly) within your answer to these questions.

Education Small Mark Qs

You will have a 2 mark, a 6 mark and a 12 mark Q for Education, as well as an essay.

2 mark Qs:

Explain what is meant by the term ‘ethnocentric curriculum’. (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by the term ‘vocational’ education. (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by the term ‘cultural capital’. (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by the term ‘compensatory’ education. (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by ‘equality of opportunity’ (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by ‘social solidarity’ (2 marks)
Explain what is meant by the term ‘labelling’. (2 marks)

6 mark Qs:

Suggest three ways in which Marxists see school as being similar to the world of work.

(6 marks)

Suggest three reasons for boys’ educational under-achievement. (6 marks)
Suggest three reasons for gender differences in subject choice. (6 marks)
Suggest three material factors that might cause working-class educational underachievement. (6 marks)
Suggest three factors that may explain gender differences in subject choice (6 marks)
Suggest three ways in which school prepares pupils for work (6 marks)
Suggest three examples of ways in which school is organised that may be ethnocentric.(6 marks)

12 mark Qs:

Outline some of the ways in which the labelling process may lead to educational under-achievement for some pupils. (12 marks)
Outline some of the ways in which cultural deprivation may lead to educational under- achievement for working-class pupils. (12 marks)
Outline some of the policies introduced by governments to create an education market in the United Kingdom. (12 marks)
Outline some of the reasons why different pupil subcultures exist in schools (12 marks)
Outline some of the factors within the education system that may have contributed to improvements in girls’ achievement. (12 marks)

Education – Essay Questions (20 marks)

Basic Theories

If you are given a question on Marxism, feminism or functionalism, you will need to refer to all of the other theories too.

E.g.

“Assess the functionalist view of education”:

In this question, you will need to discuss Marxism and feminism to get A02 marks, by comparing theories

“Assess the view that the function of education is to maintain capitalism”:

This question refers to the Marxist view that education maintains capitalism. However, to get high marks you need to criticise this view by referring to functionalism and feminism.

“Assess the view that the main function of education is to integrate individuals into society’s shared culture”:

This question refers to a functionalist idea. So…in this essay you should talk about functionalism, but also compare functionalism to Marxism and feminism (for Evaluation marks)

“Assess the view that the main function of the education system is to reproduce and legitimise social inequalities.”

Another Marxism question. The clues are in the words ‘legitimise’ and ‘social inequalities’.

Social Class

Anything that talks about ‘home factors’ means things that happen at home – e.g. material deprivation (lack of things at home –computers, etc.), language, cultural deprivation. Anything that talks about ‘school factors’ means things like labelling, setting and streaming (ie. things that happen at school). You should talk about BOTH in essays like the following, to get A02 marks:

“Examine the ways in which factors and processes within the school help to create social class differences in educational achievement.”

In this essay, you should talk about school factors (setting, streaming, labelling), but the EVALUATE by saying that home factors have an influence on social class differences in educational achievement.

You could also link in interactionism (labelling theory) by saying that students being labelled has a bigger impact on their educational achievement – this could be done as an evaluation point to the studies you have discussed about social class.

“Examine the ways in which factors and processes within the school help to create social class differences in educational achievement.”

Gender

When looking at questions on gender, examine the following ideas:

In the past, girls weren’t as successful as boys and were discriminated against (gendered language in books, lower 11+ pass rates, etc.)
There have been (and probably still are) gender specific subjects (e.g. girls take Health and Social Care; boys take Sciences and Maths)
Girls now have overall better GCSE and A Level results BUT all students are doing better and some girls are failing
Do teachers treat girls and boys in a different way? (do girls get less attention than boys?)

“Examine the reasons why females now tend to achieve more than males in the education system.”

“Examine the ways in which boys’ and girls’ experiences in school shape their identities and achievements”

Ethnicity

In any question on ethnicity and education, you should refer to class (and you can refer to gender too), as the ethnic groups who do worse tend to be working class (for example Bangladeshi and Pakistani students). Students who do well tend to be from middle class backgrounds (Indian and Chinese students).

In terms of ethnicity, language of students can be a barrier to learning, but most studies show that it’s not a big barrier and is usually overcome by high school anyway…so don’t just say students from minority ethnic groups don’t do well because they can’t speak English!!! It’s more complex than that.

As for social class, ‘home factors’ in an exam Q refer to the background of the students (language, culture, etc.), whereas ‘school factors’ refer to school (racism in school, teachers labelling students, etc.)

Example questions:

“Assess sociological explanations of ethnic differences in educational achievement.”

“Assess sociological explanations for the educational achievement of children from different minority ethnic groups.”

“Examine the ways in which processes within schools may contribute to educational under-achievement among some ethnic groups.”

Relationships and Processes in Schools

This refers to:

Pupil subcultures
Hidden curriculum
Labelling theory
Setting/streaming vs mixed ability groups

Although there are no specific past questions on this topic, you can refer to it in other exam Qs, as this means ‘SCHOOL FACTORS’, so you may look at this topic in questions on gender, ethnicity, social class, etc.

Social Policy

If you get a question on competition or parental choice of schools, they are probably talking about Conservative Party policy. You must remember to EVALUATE one party’s policy and compare it with others (e.g. Labour Party/Liberal Democrats). For example…

“Assess the extent to which policies of encouraging competition between schools and increasing parental choice have improved the achievement of working-class pupils.”

In this essay, you should describe the policies of the Conservative/New Right (who like competition between schools) and criticise it (good/bad points). You could then link in class, by talking about how it might be home factors that impact on achievement of working class pupils. You could then discuss policies of other parties, as long as you link it to the question (e.g. “Labour Party supporters would disagree with this policy because….Instead, the Labour Party introduced….”).

Another example question:

“Examine some of the government policies that have been introduced since 1988 in order to raise achievement in education.”

RESEARCH METHODS EXAM Qs

Essay Qs – 20 marks

Assessing the Methods:

i. Strengths and Limitations Qs:

You may get questions that ask you to assess strengths and limitations of different methods. In these questions, you need to keep using the words ‘strength’ and ’limitation’. To evaluate well, you could explain how a strength is also a limitation and vice versa. For example “A strength of using closed questionnaires is that you can get responses from a large number of people. On the other hand, interpretivists would argue that this is not a good thing – you will have responses from lots of people, but not in depth, valid responses.”

Example qs:

Assess the strengths and limitations of different forms of observation in sociological research.

ii. ‘Examine the problems’ Qs:

In these questions, you need to explain the problems of a research method. To EVALUATE, you need to suggest ways that these problems can be overcome. For example…”A problem of using postal questionnaires is the low response rate. However, this can be overcome by offering some form of incentive or reward for filling the questionnaire out and returning it.”

Example qs:

Examine the problems that sociologists may encounter when using postal questionnaires in

their research.

Examine the problems that some sociologists may find when using participant

observation in their research.

iii. ‘Assess the usefulness of..’ Qs:

In these questions, keep using the word ‘useful’!! For example…’”observation is useful to use because it can show people’s reaction in their natural environment. However, observation is not useful because…”

Example qs:

Assess the usefulness of different types of interview in sociological research.
Assess the usefulness of different forms of secondary data in sociological research.
Assess the usefulness of official statistics in sociological research.
Assess the usefulness of postal questionnaires in sociological research.

iv. Factors affecting research design Q

In other words, what do you need to think about when you are doing/planning sociological research?

Make sure you read the Q properly…sometimes Qs ask you to talk about research TOPIC, sometimes METHOD and sometimes BOTH – answer the Q you have been given!

The examiner wants you to talk about PET here (practical, ethical and theoretical) – make sure you talk about all 3 to enable you to get A02 marks.

Practical = is the research going to be time consuming? Will it cost a lot of money? Will you be able to access the people you want to research? Will you be able to get funding for the research?
Ethical = is the research morally OK? Have you got informed consent? Are you invading people’s privacy? Will the respondents be in danger of physical or psychological harm? Will the researcher be in danger?
Theoretical = which theory are you working in (e.g. if you are an interactionist, you are highly unlikely to use statistics) – interpretivist/positivist? Do you want your research to be valid or reliable or both?

For example, in this Q…

Assess the claim that a sociologist’s choice of research method is mainly influenced by practical factors

…you need to discuss the practical factors and then you need to say that ethical and theoretical factors are also important. In the conclusion you need to come to a decision on which one you think influences the choice of method the most.

Other eg Q:

Assess the claim that a sociologist’s choice of research method is primarily influenced by theoretical factors.
Examine the factors that influence a sociologist’s choice of research method.
Examine the view that theoretical issues are the most important factor influencing sociologists’ choice of research methods. (20 marks)

Research Methods – Small mark Qs

You should have one 2 mark Q and two 4 mark Qs in the exam.

2 mark Qs:

Explain what is meant by a ‘snowball’ sample
Explain what is meant by a ‘longitudinal’ survey
Explain what is meant by a ‘pilot study’
Explain what is meant by ‘validity’
Explain what is meant by ‘primary’ data
Explain what is meant by ‘operationalise’
Explain what is meant by the term ‘interview schedule’.

4 mark Qs:

Suggest two problems with ‘joining in the activities of the group under study’ when carrying out sociological research
Suggest tworeasons‘why some sociologists find officialstatistics useful’ in their research
Suggesttwo disadvantages of using interviews that are ‘informal andin-depth’ in sociological research
Suggest twodisadvantages of ‘using questions with fixed response categories’ in
sociological research
Suggesttwo advantages of carrying out overt rather than covertobservation in sociological research
Suggest two factors that may influence a sociologist’s ‘choice of topic to be investigated’
Suggest twoproblems sociologists may encounter when using ‘media reports’ in theirresearch
Suggesttwo reasons why some sociologists prefer to collect and useprimary data in their research
Suggest two ‘ethical issues’ that sociologists might take into account when choosing aresearch method
Suggest twoadvantages of using personal and historical documents in sociologicalresearch
Suggesttwo disadvantages of using ‘official statistics created bygovernment agencies’ in sociological research
Suggest two disadvantages of ‘covert participant observation’
Suggest two factors that may influence a ‘sociologist’s selection of research method’
Suggest two disadvantages of carrying out field experiments
Suggest one advantage and one disadvantage of using life histories in sociological research
Suggest two disadvantages of ‘covertly observing members of a social group’
Suggest two disadvantages of personal documents in sociological research.
Suggest two reasons why sociologists sometimes use a pilot study as part of their research. (4 marks)
Suggest two problems of using official statistics in sociological research. (4 marks)

Help for the Methods in Context Questions

Example Question
This question requires you to apply your knowledge and understanding of sociological research methods to the study of this particular issue in education.
Read Item B below and answer the question that follows.
Item B
Investigating teachers’ attitudes towards minority ethnic group pupils
Gillborn and Youdell (2000) claim that some teachers hold ‘racialised expectations’.
In other words, they expect different attitudes, behaviour and results from pupils from
different ethnic backgrounds. As these expectations are likely to be transmitted to
pupils, they may well contribute to ethnic differences in pupils’ achievement.
Some sociologists use participant observation to study teacher interaction with pupils
from different ethnic backgrounds. This has the advantage of the researcher seeing
how teachers actually treat their pupils. However, there are problems in using this
method, both because teachers have a professional duty to treat all pupils fairly and
because the classroom is a relatively ‘closed’ social setting.
An alternative research technique is to use anonymous self-completion questionnaires
with both teachers and pupils. With these, teachers are less likely to disguise their true
feelings in order to protect their professional image. However, the sensitive nature of
teacher attitudes towards pupils from different ethnic groups may still cause research
problems.
Q: Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of one
of the following methods for investigating teachers’ attitudes towards minority ethnic
group pupils:
EITHER participant observation
OR questionnaires.

Help

This question requires you to APPLY your knowledge – ie. you need to use your brain! It might not necessarily include things we have done in lessons – use your knowledge and your common sense!
The first thing you need to do is to really think about the Q. I would start by planning your essay. Planning this essay is the key to doing well on it. Do this by:
Noting down some ideas about the topic. For the question above, this means ‘teachers’ attitudes towards minority ethnic groups’.
Think about how you might research these ideas using ONE of the research methods
Think about whether these are strengths or limitations – you could highlight or underline these

Marking

These essays are marked in levels:
Level 1 response – only refers to education or only refers to research methods
Level 2 response – applies the research method generally to education
Level 3 response – applies the research method specifically to the topic in the Q (in the Q above, that means ‘teachers’ attitudes towards minority ethnic groups’)

Example of an essay plan

Using the question above, I am going to pick participant observation.

Ideas about topic (teachers’ attitudes towards minority ethnic groups)
Labelling of ethnic minority students – e.g. Afro-Caribbeans are labelled as aggressive
Racism of teachers
Ethnic minority students in lower sets (Jayleigh study)
Teachers assume ethnic minority students can’t speak English
Link between these topics and research method (participant observation (PO))
Can use PO to observe in the classroom – research in the field/real life situation
However, teachers may behave differently and not overtly and obviously label ethnic minority students when observed (Hawthorne Effect) - especially if the research is overt and the teachers know the topic that is being researched (informed consent)
On the other hand, teachers may label and behave in a racist way without even realising it, which will be picked up in observation
How can we measure the effect of labelling and whether it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy long term (ie. in terms of GCSE results for ethnic minority students)
(Strengths in green, Limitations in red)

Questions:

Assess the strengths and limitations of one of the following methods for investigating the role of linguistic deprivation in educational underachievement:
EITHER self-completion questionnaires
OR unstructured interviews. (20 marks)