AQA AS Sociology Unit 2 Education (with research methods) past exam
questions 2010-2013
During your 2hr exam you will answer questions on:
1. Education (2,6,12,20 marks)
2. Education (in the context of Research Methods) (20 marks)
3. Research methods (2,4,8,20 marks)
1. Education
2 mark questions
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Explain what is meant by the term “labelling‟
The process of attaching a meaning or definition to a person/pupil, or similar.
Explain what is meant by the ‘correspondence principle’.
Education mirroring the workplace, or similar.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘meritocracy’.
Equal opportunity or a system in which rewards are based on achievement/ability or similar.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘immediate gratification’.
Wanting rewards now, or leaving school as soon as possible to get a job, or similar.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘cultural deprivation’.
A lack or deficit of values (or of norms, attitudes, skills or knowledge).
Explain what is meant by the term ‘vocational’ education.
Relating to a career or specific work roles.
6 mark questions
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Suggest three examples of ways in which school is organised that may be ethnocentric.
assemblies that focu
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Suggest three criticisms that other sociologists may make of the functionalist view of the
education system.
role allocation function is not meritocratic/many jobs are allocated on the basis of class background,
not educational achieveme
functionalists ignore the fact that many pupils reject the school’s values/pupils do not always
passively accept what they are taught.
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Suggest three factors within schools that may lead to the educational under-achievement of
pupils from some minority ethnic groups.
-fulfilling prophecy as a result of
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Identify three policies that may promote the marketisation of education.
• publication of exam league tables • publication of Ofsted reports • voucher schemes for
school/nursery places • formula funding/all pupils attracting the same amount of funding • open
enrolment/allowing schools to recruit as many pupils as they can • schools competing for pupils •
schools opting out of local authority control • encouragement of greater diversity of school types
(specialist schools, academies, faith schools, cooperatives, free schools, etc) • business sponsorship of
schools • private (fee-paying) schools.
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Identify three educational policies that may have contributed to social class differences in
achievement.
• the tripartite system/ the eleven-plus exam/Butler Act/1944 Act • streaming • marketisation •
private schooling • fees for higher education.
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Suggest three reasons for boys’ educational under-achievement.
• lack of male teacher role models • feminisation of assessment • boys’ poorer literacy • laddish
subcultures • decline of traditional ‘male’ jobs.
12 mark questions
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Outline some of the factors within the education system that may have contributed to
improvements in girls‟ achievement.
10-12 marks Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: meritocracy; liberal feminism;
equal opportunities policies within schools; policies to encourage girls into non-traditional subjects;
single-sex schools or classes; teacher attention/labelling; teacher role models; the feminisation of
education; changes to the curriculum; coursework/changes to assessment patterns; selection
policies.
Studies may include: Boaler; Elwood; Francis; French & French; Gorard; Jackson; Kelly; Mitsos &
Browne; Pirie; Myhill & Jones; Sewell; Slee; Swann & Graddol; Weiner.
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Outline some of the ways in which government educational policies may have affected social
class differences in educational achievement.
10-12 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: parentocracy; meritocracy/equal
opportunity; class reproduction; compensatory education; new vocationalism; cultural deprivation;
material deprivation; competition; diversity, ‘Neets’. Policies may include Sure Start, Operation
Headstart, the tripartite system/eleven-plus, comprehensive schooling, marketisation policies (eg
league tables, open enrolment, parental choice), private schooling, EAZs, EMAs, Aim Higher,
expansion of HE, HE fees and grants, free school meals, academies and specialist schools, educational
vouchers, RoSLA, vocational education.
Studies may include: Ball; Bartlett; David; Fitz; Gewirtz; Gillborn & Youdell; Thompson; Trowler;
Walford; Whitty.
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Outline some of the reasons for gender differences in subject choice.
10-12 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: patriarchy; early socialisation;
teachers’ encouragement; gender domains; gendered subject images; role models; single-sex and
mixed schools/classes; the National Curriculum; peer pressure and social control; vocational courses;
career opportunities and the labour market.
Studies may include: Byrne; Browne and Ross; Colley; Dewar; Kelly; Leonard; Murphy; Norman;
Oakley; Paetcher.
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Outline some of the functions that the education system may perform.
10-12 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: secondary socialisation; gender role
socialisation; social integration; individualism; meritocracy; role allocation; specialisation; vocational
training; competition; diversity; reproduction and legitimation of capitalism; correspondence
principle; myth of meritocracy; patriarchy; gender regimes.
Studies may include: Althusser; Bowles and Gintis; Davis and Moore; Durkheim; Parsons; Thompson;
Willis
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Outline some of the ways in which factors outside the education system have resulted in
improved educational achievement for girls.
10-12 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: the impact of feminist ideas; women in
paid employment; smaller family sizes; parental encouragement; leisure patterns; increase in
divorce/lone parenthood; changes in the law; changes in girls’ aspirations.
Studies may include: Sharpe, Prosser, Francis, McRobbie, Francis and Skelton, Mitsos and Browne,
Hannan, official statistics on employment, divorce etc.
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Outline some of the ways in which cultural deprivation may lead to educational underachievement for working-class pupils.
10-12 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear:
• language • parental attitudes to education • immediate/deferred gratification • present-time
orientation • cultural capital • victim-blaming.
Studies may include: Ball, Bereiter and Engelmann, Bernstein, Bourdieu, Douglas, Gewirtz, Hyman,
Keddie, Labov, Marsland, Mortimore and Whitty, Murray, Reay, Sugarman, Sullivan, Troyna and
Williams.
20 mark questions
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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that the main function of the
education system is to reproduce and legitimise social inequalities.
16-20 marks Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: exploitation; class conflict;
meritocracy; the myth of meritocracy; the correspondence principle; ideology; hegemony; ideological
and repressive state apparatuses; cultural capital; shopfloor culture; pupil subcultures; educational
policies; Fordism and post-Fordism; gender and ethnic inequalities; patriarchy; racism;; role
allocation; secondary socialisation.
Studies may include: Althusser; Ball; Bourdieu; Bowles & Gintis; Durkheim; Davis & Moore; Gramsci;
Marx; McRobbie; Morrow & Torres; Parsons; Whitty; Willis.
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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations for ethnic
differences in educational achievement.
16-20
Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: labelling; self-fulfilling prophecy; streaming;
the A*-C economy/triage; pupil subcultures; the ethnocentric curriculum; institutional racism;
teacher racism; discipline and exclusions; stereotyping in learning materials; educational policies;
selection; parental choice; parental support; family structure; cultural deprivation; cultural
difference; material deprivation; language barriers.
Studies may include: Bereiter & Engelmann; Bourne; Coard; Connolly; David; Evans; Flaherty; Fuller;
Gewirtz; Gillborn; Keddie; Lupton; Mac an Ghaill; Mirza; Murray; Moore & Davenport; Pryce; Sewell;
Swann; The Sutton Trust; Troyna & Williams; Wright.
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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the importance of cultural factors in causing
social class differences in educational achievement.
16-20
Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: norms and values; deferred and immediate
gratification; individualism and collectivism; fatalism and achievement-orientation; restricted and
elaborated speech codes; parental support and encouragement; educational play and stimulation;
attitudes to education and the labour market; cultural and linguistic deprivation; cultural capital;
primary socialisation; poverty and material deprivation; labelling, streaming and the self-fulfilling
prophecy; pupil subcultures.
Studies may include: Ball; Becker; Bereiter and Engelmann; Bernstein; Bernstein and Young;
Blackstone and Mortimore; Douglas; Feinstein; Hyman; Keddie; Sugarman.
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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that factors and processes within
the school are the main cause of differences in the educational achievement of different social
groups.
16-20 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: labelling; self-concept; self-fulfilling
prophecy; streaming; high and low status knowledge; the A*-C economy; educational triage; proand anti-school subcultures; ‘laddism’; differentiation and polarisation; the hidden curriculum; the
ethnocentric curriculum; institutional racism; teachers as role models; teacher attention; discipline
and exclusions; bullying; stereotyping in learning materials; coursework/assessment systems.
Studies may include: Ball; Becker; Bourne; Coard; David; Douglas; Epstein; Francis; Furlong; Fuller;
Gillborn and Youdell; Gorard; Hargreaves; Keddie; Lacey; Mac an Ghaill; Mirza; Myhill and Jones;
Rosenthal and Jacobson; Rist; Sewell; Sharp and Green; Swann; Troyna and Williams; Weiner; Willis.
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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the view that the education system exists
mainly to select and prepare young people for their future work roles.
16-20 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: meritocracy; the myth of meritocracy;
legitimation; reproduction; universalistic and particularistic norms; the social division of labour; social
solidarity; human capital theory; the correspondence principle; capitalism; new vocationalism;
selection; specialist schools; business sponsorship of schools etc. Analysis and evaluation may be
developed, for example through a debate between different perspectives or consideration of the
relative importance of different functions of education.
In answering this question, candidates may refer to some of the following sources and/or relevant
alternative ones: Durkheim, Parsons, Davis and Moore, Blau and Duncan, Althusser, Bourdieu,
Bowles and Gintis, Willis, Ball, Chubb and Moe, Thompson, Whitty.
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Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the claim that the main aim of education
policies in the last 25 years has been to create an education market.
16-20 Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: marketisation, parentocracy, myth of
parentocracy, competition, choice, diversity, selection, testing, 1988 ERA, National Curriculum,
National Tests (formerly SATs), opting out, vouchers, league tables, open enrolment, formula
funding, business sponsorship, academies, Ofsted inspections, specialist schools, Sure Start, EAZs,
EMAs, Aim Higher, GIST, Race Relations Act, EAL, New Right.
In answering this question, candidates may refer to some of the following sources and/or relevant
alternative ones: Ball, Chubb and Moe, David, Gewirtz, Leech and Campos, Thompson, Trowler,
Whitty.
2. Education (in the context of research methods)
20 mark questions
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Using material from Item B and elsewhere, 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.
and ethnic differences; lan
linguistic deprivation in educational underachievement (eg policy and resource implications for
schools; the centrality of literacy in the curriculum; victim blaming and stigmatisation; parental
consent; school reputation).
Self-completion questionnaires
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: time; cost;
access; anonymity; lack of validity/insight/depth/rapport/sensitivity; inflexibility; reliability;
comparability; representativeness; generalisation; ease of data analysis; large scale; imposition of
researcher views; quantitative data; hypothesis testing; informed consent; low response rate.
Unstructured interviews
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: cost; time;
access; validity; insight; rapport; sensitivity; flexibility; interviewer bias; interview effect;
recording/categorising responses; lack of reliability; small scale; lack of representativeness;
qualitative data; grounded theory; informed consent. Note: In any mark band, students will be
rewarded for making relevant reference to their own research experiences or to sociological studies
using the selected method, when such material is applied appropriately to the set question.
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Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of one of the
following methods for investigating the effects of streaming:
EITHER field experiments
OR unstructured interviews.
arch subjects, eg pupils, teachers (eg social class
sensitivity of researching the effects of streaming (eg implications for pupils’ attainment and selfesteem; school reputation; parental consent; the politics of streaming vs. mixed ability teaching).
Field experiments
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: time, cost,
access, informed consent, harm to participants, quantitative data, reliability, representativeness,
hypothesis testing, the Hawthorne effect, inflexibility, small scale, naturalism/validity versus control.
Unstructured interviews
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: cost, time,
access, validity, insight, depth, rapport, sensitivity, flexibility, interviewer bias, interview effect,
recording/categorising responses, unrepresentativeness, unreliability, qualitative data, grounded
theory, informed consent, small scale. Note: In any mark band, students will be rewarded for
making relevant reference to their own research experiences or to sociological studies using the
selected method, when such material is applied appropriately to the set question.
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Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of using one of
the following methods for investigating applications and admissions to secondary schools:
EITHER documents
OR official statistics.
The research characteristics of potential research subjects, eg parents, pupils, teachers, governors,
appeals panels; applicants’ class/ethnicity and lang
researching the issue, eg confidentiality, schools’ reputations, discrimination.
Documents
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: types of
document; time; cost; availability/access; sensitivity; confidentiality; content analysis and
interpretation issues; insight; limited size of research samples; problems of representativeness;
depth/quality of data; validity; lack of reliability.
Official Statistics
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: reliability;
cost; time; large scale research; representativeness; generalisation; hypothesis testing; lack of
validity; comparability; trends and patterns; official vs sociological definitions; problem-taking;
absence of relevant statistics.
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Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of one of the
following methods for investigating truancy from school:
EITHER official statistics
OR participant observation.
• The research characteristics of potential research subjects, eg truants, schools, truancy officers,
parents (power relations and attitudes to authority/school; language skills; low academic ability;
class, ethnicity and gender; home conditions; schools’ public image/funding). • The research contexts
and settings, eg government policies, out of school settings, welfare/control agencies. • The
sensitivity of researching truancy, eg associations with delinquency; researchers’ ‘guilty knowledge’;
consequences for pupils, parents, schools, government (eg school reputation; juvenile delinquency).
Official statistics:
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: reliability;
cost; time; large scale; representativeness; generalisation; hypothesis testing; lack of validity;
comparability; trends and patterns; official vs sociological definitions; problem taking.
Participant observation:
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: informed
consent; getting in/staying in/getting out; Hawthorne effect; lack of reliability; overt/covert;
unrepresentativeness; small scale; verstehen; insight; validity; sensitivity; interpretation/analysis
problems; rich data; time; cost.
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Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of one of the
following methods for investigating the role of parents in pupils’ achievement:
• The research characteristics of potential research participants, for example parents (eg language
and literacy skills; own experience and level of education; class and ethnic differences). • The
research contexts, for example schools’ control over access to parents/pupils; accessing pupils’
homes. • The sensitivity of researching parental support for pupils; the nature and extent of parental
involvement with school (eg discipline, contracts, parents’ evenings, PTA) etc.
Questionnaires:
Strengths and limitations as applied to the particular issue in education may include: cost, time,
scale, reliability, representativeness, response rate, superficiality, misunderstanding
questions/answers.
Unstructured interviews:
Strengths and limitations as applied to the particular issue in education may include: comparability,
cost, time, validity, insight, researcher presence, interviewer bias, recording and categorising
responses.
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Using material from Item B and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of one of the
following methods for investigating anti-school subcultures:
EITHER group interviews
OR non-participant observation.
Research issues and characteristics: overcoming the reluctance of pupils with anti-school attitudes to
talk to someone identified with authority, language/communication issues, impact of peer group
pressure, problems of defining and measuring attitudes as pro- or anti-school, defensiveness of
parents, attitude of schools to research, impression management by pupils, teachers and parents etc.
Group interviews:
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: types of
question, imposition of peer views, comparability, time, cost, scale of research, researcher presence,
interviewer bias, recording and categorising answers, insight, informed consent.
Non-Participant Observation:
Strengths and limitations, as applied to the particular issue in education, may include: covert-overt,
meaning and interpretation, Hawthorne effect, insight, ‘going native’, comparison, ‘getting in,
staying in, getting out’, cost, time, research role maintenance, informed consent, post-research
effects on group.
3. Research Methods
2 marks
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Explain what is meant by the term “interview schedule‟ The list of questions to be asked in an
interview, or similar.
Explain what is meant by the ‘operationalisation’ of sociological concepts. Defining sociological
concepts in such a way that they can be studied/measured, or similar.
Explain what is meant by ‘the Hawthorne effect’.
Research participants may behave differently because they know they are being studied, or
similar.
Explain what is meant by ‘validity’ in sociological research.
True or authentic picture of the thing being studied, or research that measures what the
researcher set out to measure, or that allows the researcher to get close to the reality being
studied, or similar.
Explain what is meant by ‘primary’ data.
Data that sociologists gather for themselves/for their own purposes.
Explain what is meant by the term ‘secondary’ data.
Data that is already in existence.
4 marks
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Suggest two reasons why sociologists sometimes use a pilot study as part of their research.
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Suggest two reasons why the results obtained from a postal questionnaire may not be
representative of the population that it aims to study.
literacy skills complete it
questionnaire may be completed by someone who is not a member of the research population.
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Suggest two problems of covert participant observation.
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Explain the difference between a sampling frame and a sample.
• a sampling frame is a list of a population/research population • a sample is a group/individuals
selected from a wider population to take part in research.
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Suggest two problems of using documents in sociological research.
• lack of authenticity • lack of representativeness • lack of credibility • difficulties of access •
difficulties of interpreting the author’s meaning.
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Identify two sampling techniques used by sociologists in their research.
uasi-
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Suggest two disadvantages that sociologists might find when using structured interviews.
• inflexibility of the questions • superficiality of the questions • unsuitability for studying sensitive
topics • imposition of researcher’s priorities in gathering the data • may have to call back to increase
the response rate.
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Suggest one advantage and one disadvantage of using laboratory experiments in sociological
research.
Advantages:
• can be used to identify causes/formulate scientific laws • useful in producing reliable data • can be
used to test hypotheses.
Disadvantages:
• may have to deceive research participants • may produce the Hawthorne/experimental effect •
cannot study large-scale processes.
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Suggest two factors that may influence a sociologist’s choice of research topic.
• researcher’s theoretical perspective • societal values • funding body • accessibility of research
participants • availability of data.
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Suggest two problems of using personal documents in sociological research.
• categorising material • difficulty of comparing responses • irrelevant content • interpretation of
meanings • unrepresentativeness • confidentiality • informed consent.
8 marks
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Suggest two problems of using official statistics in sociological research.
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Suggest two factors that may influence a sociologist’s choice of research topic.
20 marks
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Examine the view that theoretical issues are the most important factor influencing
sociologists‟ choice of research methods.
Concepts and issues may include theoretical issues such as methodological preference
(positivist/interpretivist), reliability, validity, representativeness, researcher bias, Hawthorne effect;
practical factors such as access, time, cost, research opportunity, utility in relation to the research
issue/context, funding bodies, researcher‟s safety, researcher‟s personal skills/characteristics; and
ethical issues such as harm to participants, informed consent, confidentiality and anonymity.
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Examine the advantages for sociologists of using official statistics in their research.
Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: methodological preference; reliability;
validity; representativeness; cost; time; availability; scale; ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ statistics; hypothesis
testing; comparative research; trends and patterns; longitudinal research; utility in relation to
different research contexts and issues.
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Examine the advantages for sociologists in using unstructured interviews in their research.
Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: methodological preference; validity;
flexibility; checking understanding; exploring unfamiliar topics; establishing rapport; naturalness;
ability to achieve informed consent; one-to-one and group interviews; sociological perspective (eg
feminism, interactionism); utility in relation to different research contexts and issues.
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Examine the problems that some sociologists may face when using different kinds of
experiments in their research.
Answers will consider a range of problems of using experiments. Concepts and issues such as the
following may appear: methodological preference; reliability; validity; representativeness; dependent
and independent variables; control, artificiality and naturalness; the Hawthorne effect; experimenter
bias; problems of scale, duration and studying the past; accessibility; deception/informed consent;
effects on research subjects; utility in relation to different research contexts and issues.
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Examine the advantages of using personal documents and historical documents in sociological
research.
Answers will consider a range of types of personal and historical documents and their advantages.
Concepts and issues such as the following may appear: methodological preference; validity;
reliability; representativeness; authenticity; credibility; meaning; access/availability; cost; time; utility
in relation to different research contexts and issues (eg as the sole source of data in historical
studies); usefulness as a source of hypotheses; different types of content analysis etc.
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Examine the problems some sociologists find with using postal questionnaires in their
research.
Answers will consider a range of problems some sociologists find in using postal questionnaires.
Material may be drawn from issues of methodological preference, validity, representativeness,
Hawthorne effect, reliability; operationalisation of concepts, cost, time, interpretation of questions,
issues of question design and questionnaire layout, utility in relation to different research contexts
and issues, geographical distribution, response rate.