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Introduction

Why Do Boys Underachieve In Education Compared To Girls? Hypothesis/Aim My aim is to find out why boys underachieve in education compared to girls. Some sociologists think teachers are more confident in girls getting better grades as they are more mature and wise and they label boys with a negative stigma which makes them achieve lower grades because of the self-fulfilling prophecy argument. An Ofsted report in 2004 found that 61% of girls leave school with 5 or more GCSE's compared to 51% of boys. I have chosen this topic as I feel more research should be conducted to find out why boys are underachieving so that educational attainment can be made equal. Feminists have also had an affect on educational attainment as their emphasis on equal opportunities has led to more jobs for women so they try harder in school because they know the future offers them more choices. (140 words) Contexts & Concepts My first context is a newspaper article found in the guardian in 2003 by Andrew Cunningham (Thursday, 8th February 2007) and it is headlined 'Girls are A-Level stars', it states various reasons why girls are out performing boys. ...read more.

Middle

(487 words) Main Research Methods & Reasons My main research method will be unstructured interviews, I have chosen this method because the interviewee will feel less pressure and more comfortable and therefore more likely to give an accurate response. This method involves open questions which will give the interviewee more time to give his/her opinion, I have chosen this method over other ones as I feel with other methods such as questionnaires I will get a limited response and not get an accurate picture. My reason for choosing unstructured interviews is that qualitative data gives a more accurate conclusion compared to quantitative data. More detailed data will be produced using this method and this will lead to a precise and more trustworthy conclusion. This method is more reliable and valid than quantitative data and suits my coursework because I will produce more in depth research using smaller numbers of people, although there are practical issues such as the time it will take I feel that this method is appropriate because it lets the interviewee feel free and therefore limited responses will not be reached. I will interview 10 boys and 10 girls between the ages of 16-18 who attend a state school, I will choose a random selection method by using the schools register for that year group. ...read more.

Conclusion

Moreover another potential problem is that the interviews are time consuming both for me and the interviewee, the length of each interview will be about 30 minutes and before the interview I will ask for the interviewee's consent and if they fail to give consent I will have to find another participant which will be more time consuming. Also there will be some economic issues as I will have to pay for the equipment and travel needed myself and as a college student this will be an issue. Another problem could be the understanding of the questions and I may have to break down the sociological concepts which are used, the term operationalisation could be used to describe this issue. Another problem is triangulation and this is when only method of research is used, the problem is that the results may not be as accurate as they could be which could lead to misleading results. Moreover there could be a problem with accessing the interviewees, the school may not allow me access to the register or the classrooms in which the interviews were meant to take place, also it is unlikely that the school would let the pupils miss lessons for my research. (375 words) ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Sociological Differentiation & Stratification section.