The Aim of my study is to look into parents and childrens views on the eleven plus examination.

The particular issue that I have chosen is a very contriversal issue which is an advantage as parents in particular feel very strongly about the issue due to on going talks in education settings and in the media, this makes parents want to voice their opnions as it involves their childrens education and future.  The eleven plus is a very talked about topic however it is an extremely sensitive issue that needs to be handled with care especially with young children.  I went through various drafts of questionnaires before I had my final draft.   I had to make sure that none of the questions would offend a child in any way or that a question would suggest that a child should feel a certain way. An example of a question that may upset a child would be. Do you feel that you are a failure because you failed the eleven plus?.  This question could not be used, however I do want to get results from my questionnaire that may answer questions like that.  

After discussions with school principals I decided to re design my questionnaire for parents rather than children for two main reasons.  Parents know there children and would be able to write about experiences related to the eleven plus where as children of this age would be giving direct answers of yes or no and would not be going into detail as a result of mahybe feeling pressure to conform with their friends and write what they wrote. My second reasons for addressing the questionnaire to the parents was childrens rights, I was unable to give the questionnaire to the children without their parents permission due to it being a sensitive issue waiting for permission slips from each aprent would have been very time consuming.  The principals of both schools told me that if a parent was to complain about the content of the questionnaire it would be their responsibility as they gave me permission.  To overcome this problem I decided to address the questionnaire to the parents of the year 8 pupils.  My original research question was to look at childrens views on the issue so I still wanted to have some of their views included on the questionnaire, I designed a small section at the end of the parents questionnaire for the child to complete, designing it this way meant that the parent was able to see the content of the questionnaire and if they where not happy for their child to complete the remainder of the questionnaire it could be left blank.

To make sure my questionnaire results where valid and reliable I decided to send questionnaires out to both grammar schools, secondary schools and primary schools so I would have a wide range of views and opnions from children who had received different grades and are at different schools.  I began by designing a questionnaire for the year 8 questioonaires, before handing out the questionnaire I decided to e mail a copy of my questionnaire to each of the principals to make sure that they where happy with the content and that it would not cause offence. I waited for a confirmation and then I was able to leave the questionnaires into the school to the appointed year 8 teacher.  I enclosed a cover letter with each questioonaire explaining who I was and what my research was based on.  Each child was given a questioonaire by their year teacher to take home to their parents.  On the cover letter I decided to print a date by which the form had to be completed and returned to school, this was to ensure that all completed questionnaires where handed in by this date.  I decided to call a day later than this date incase there may have been a few late submissions.