On the other hand, cultural deprivation theory states that the sub-culture of low income groups are deprived in some respects, and this accounts of the low educational attainment of members of these groups. J.W.B Douglas was a functionalist who looked at class cultures and the material deprivation theory, which is a lack of money and the things that money can buy, for example middle class parents can afford computers for their children where as the working class parents can’t. He suggested that middle class parents had more interest in their children’s educational success than the working class parents. He proved this by monitoring the parent’s interaction with the child’s school and by counting parental visitors at parent’s evening etc. He found out that in general middle class parents show and have more interest than the working class parents. This research is directly linked to my aim because it proves that the middle class parents are more interested in their child’s attainment than the working class parents this could be one of the factors that affects the educational attainment of a child. Class is the main thing that affects the educational attainment of an individual.
Both of these contexts relate to my aim as they show that working class children continue to fail or underachieve, whereas the middle class are succeeding.
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MAIN RESEARCH METHOD AND REASONS
The main research method I will use here is a questionnaire. This clearly links to the positivist approach, which will give my work more of a scientific view, because science always seems to provide facts and not opinions and it will also identify clear trends about social class and educational attainment within my sample group and offer possible solutions. Also I chose this method is because I wish to question a large number of individuals from two different schools and this method will be less time consuming and quicker, also because questionnaires are more likely to be more reliable than interviews, where respondents could give socially desirable answers.
The method will enable the collection of quantitative data. The quantitative data will make it possible to establish correlations between variables such as class and educational attainment, it will also give more reliable information, because quantitative data is more likely to be accurate whereas qualitative data is harder to categorize and I could put the answers in the wrong category, because I may interpret the answer differently, also quantitative data will enable other sociologists to repeat my research using a similar method and hopefully find similar findings. The questionnaire within my own research is also reliable in the sense that all my respondents will receive the same questionnaire, by giving out the same questionnaire it will be easier for me to analyze the results and put them in numbers or percentages. The quantitative data will also help me get more information from the respondent on the area of study.
My sample will consist of 40 students, of which half will be from a grammar school and half from a government funded state school. This will make my sample more representative because I am more likely to have working class and middle class children. Grammar schools tend to be middle class that’s why I chose them and state schools tend to be working class.
Closed questions restrict answers to categorized responses, such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’ thereby providing easily quantifiable data. Data may be more reliable. Once the questionnaire has been completed I will then run a pilot in order to ensure that this is comprehensible to all my respondents. This is particularly important in order to ensure that all my respondents understand the question clearly in order to avoid mis-interpretations leading to loss of validity.
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POTENTIAL PROBLEMS
I am aware that I will come across many problems during my research. I have got to ensure I do not include any of my own beliefs and opinions about what I think about the working class or middle class achievement. When carrying out the research closed questions can lead to a false sense of precision when quantified, as quantification only reflects the adequacy of the questions asked and the respondents limited choices.
Another problem is that I know that once I give the questionnaire out it is up to the respondent to fill it in individually. The individual may have a group of friends or family around him/her and the answers may not be from his/her point of view, this would make my research unreliable and invalid. There may also be limited response because all of the questionnaires may not be returned and therefore I may only have a few responses this will make my research unrepresentative because I may get most of the responses from the middle class or the working class. Another problem is that the individual may not understand the questions clearly; therefore they will not have anyone to ask if they don’t understand the language I use in my questions for example ‘cultural deprivation’ and ‘cultural capital’. They may interpret the questions in a way it is not intended and so could lead to answers which are not related entirely to my study.
Another problem is that not all Grammar school children are middle class there could be e few working class children and my questionnaire may go in their hands so this will make my research unrepresentative, or it could be the other way round there may be middle class children in state schools. If I give the questionnaires to people I know then I may get socially desirable answers making my data invalid.
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