I also plan to emphasize the importance of ethics in my research using Webers concept Verstehen, meaning ‘empathy’; I would want pupils to be comfortable talking about fairly sensitive issues regarding the family. From this, I hope to create a rapport between the interviewee and me, which will be free from factors such as the ‘Interviewer effect’ or the ‘loaded question’. In particular I want to note body language expressed by the interviewee, because physical movement during restricted speech emphasized the point of the speech itself. I will aim to ask questions that could provoke the pupils’ thoughts;
Do you think that what you’re learning is important?
Why do you think you’re learning in the first place?
Although the interviews are unstructured, I’ll aim to keep questions the same, to try and keep results reliable.
I aim to use methods that are as free from bias from either party, as practically possible in order to increase validity and reliability of my research. I also aim to collect qualitative data because it’s the typical data collection form that interpretivists take.
I will firstly aim to undertake a Pilot Study of 3 pupils in comparison to 3 teachers. This will enable me to recognise and eliminate potential ethical and practical problems, so my interviews will be more successful for the real study.
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Context and concepts
Basil Bernstein researched forms of speech code with working and middle class school children, and how it relates to educational attainment. He feels that speech is an important medium of learning and education; for him, there is a direct correlation between social class and language. Bernstein narrowed the forms of verbal code to ‘Restricted’ and ‘Elaborated’, but for my piece of research I will focus more on restricted codes.
He effectively said that restricted code is a form of ‘shorthand speech’, this form of code was characterised as ‘short, grammatically simple, often unfinished sentences.’ He also found that restricted forms of speech code were associated with not just school children, but also in the family and in particular, the working class family.
Relating back to my aim, I will specifically take into account the linguistic codes that Bernstein suggests and assess for myself the impact and relationship between restricted codes and underachievement. I want to investigate verbal communication skills and the affect achievement on oral tests, and if verbal skills affect writing skills; i.e, the ability to convey words or meanings.
Howard Becker investigated the idea of the ‘Ideal Pupil’ and the ‘Labelling Theory’. He took a positivist approach and in the 1970’s, studied teachers from Chicago. He saw that these teachers had set an ‘Ideal Pupil’ standard whereby pupils were evaluated and classified in terms of how close they are to the ‘ideal pupil’. The standard was based on the ability to follow instructions, general appearance, and oral presentation (linking back in with Bernstein’s approach). Becker found that pupils from a middle class background fitted this standard closer than pupils who were from a working class background; Becker thought that working class children were then automatically at a disadvantage at school. He also used the labelling theory, which suggested that children who had a label applied to them behaved differently, resulting in a detrimental effect on their education.
Relating to my aim, the ‘Ideal Pupil’ approach will be useful to my research because it will enable me to still study underachievement, but more from the perspective of teachers. The Ideal pupil standard however hindered some students; some felt that they were never good enough, and the research that Becker conducted showed that these students had a greater incentive to underachieve. Using unstructured interviews, I could try to come to my own conclusion about the affects of the ‘Ideal Pupil’ theory. I could also try to explore why it is that teachers class pupils like this, or look at pupils reactions to this classification.
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Potential Problems
Although I have been trying to think of the most effective way to do my research throughout this project, there could be issues to do with time, resources, and ethical problems.
I could be criticised by positivists because they may feel my data will be inaccurate, due to my research producing qualitative results. Also, I would be studying in a micro format, as opposed to the positivist view that society can only be really studied through statistics. Therefore, it could be argued that my research is not reliable since another sociologist cannot check it.
Since I am using unstructured interviews to collect my information, there is a possibility of the ‘Interviewer effect’ occurring, whereby pupils will react differently to my presence. This is one of the factors I wish to avoid the most, since me interviewing pupils could have a negative affect on their learning altogether.
It will also be very sensitive ethically, since pupils could find it hard to trust a stranger with personal issues and it would need some careful negotiations to ensure that only information that I needed would be extracted.
This is also will be a very time consuming project, and there could be a possibility of ‘Interviewer Bias’. The problem with working so closely to a set of pupils is that I could become overly involved and lose sight of my aim. I would always have to distance myself from pupils, yet at the same time, become close enough to gain their trust.
In addition, because I’ve taken an interpretive standpoint, positivists would criticise the levels of representation in my study; generalisations could not be made. They would argue that the data is ‘subjective’ meaning that it’s too personal and not balanced. If I had more time however, I would want to use Triangulation, which would ensure a greater level of balance with qualitative and quantitative data. Since I’m not taking quantitative data, my study cannot be repeated and therefore cannot be checked or verified by another sociologist. My interviews will not be able be repeated which will affect reliability and validity of my research. I’m also only taking a small sample of 10 pupils and 10 teachers, so it will not be very representative.
Words: 370
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