HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
A Level Health & Social Care/Schemes of work/Version 1.0
Unit Title HSC08: Using and Understanding Research (Optional)
This unit enables you to gain an understanding of research and research methods in one the following sectors: health, social care, children and
young people or community justice, and gives you the opportunity to analyse background literature related to your chosen area of study.
The unit requires you to carry out your own piece of research by choosing, designing and carrying out a simple study which will demonstrate your
understanding of research methods. You must use primary and secondary data. The process is as important as the findings, as evidenced by the
inclusion by all students of a reflective log.
This will be an opportunity to explore an area of interest which may be linked to your intended career pathway. For example, if you wished to be
a primary school teacher, you could carry out a piece of research on rewards systems in a primary school, or if you wished to pursue a career in
the police, you might investigate attitudes into crime in your local area.
Method of assessment – Portfolio of evidence and completed reflective log
Topic
3.8.1
The role and
impact of
research
within the
health, social
care, children
and young
people and
community
Learning objectives / understanding
Learn about large research bodies and their
role in conducting research, which affects the
work of the four sectors.
Examples of these organisations are:
 Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC)
 Medical Research Council (MRC)
 Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Key terms /
definitions
Research body
ESRC
MRC
ONS
Social trend
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Suggested activities
Brainstorm ideas of
research which may be of
interest to each of the four
sectors, e.g. levels of
juvenile crime in a particular
geographical area (CJ),
effectiveness of a particular
treatment (health) etc.
Consider why it is important
that research takes place.
Resources
www.esrc.ac.uk
www.mrc.ac.uk
www.ons.gov.uk
www.leverhulme.ac.uk
HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
justice sectors
Know how research can be used to:
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Using the ONS website,
investigate crime rates in
the local area. Ask students
to present a one side
summary of their findings
(this could link to the
difference between
qualitative and quantitative
data).
Improve service delivery
Test and review existing knowledge
Explore social trends and influence
policy making
Be able to give examples of each of these
areas.
3.8.2
Methods
Learn about the following primary methods:
Survey
Survey method using an interview
Unstructured
interview

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These include the structured interview
with a prepared schedule of items and
the unstructured, e.g. clinical interview
Advantages of this method in studying
beliefs, attitudes and feelings
Advantages of structured interviews in
enabling comparisons and statistical
generalisations to be made
Advantages of unstructured interviews,
including access to qualitative data
Limitations of both techniques
including risk of interviewer bias and
inability to reveal cause-effect links
Clinical interview
Structured
interview
Semi-structured
interview
Interview
schedule
Items
2
Using any newspaper
reports on recent pieces of
research from the sectors,
consider what implications
the findings may have for
service users and service
delivery.
Watch an episode of a chat
show such as Graham
Norton or Jonathan Ross.
Use this to illustrate an
unstructured interview
approach. Consider why this
is appropriate in this context
(advantages). Consider in
what circumstances this
approach would not be
useful.
“Research Methods in
Health, Social and Early
Years Care” by Sandy
Green. Nelson Thornes.
Students to prepare a
schedule of items for an
interview with another
student. This could be on a
topic pre-selected by the
teacher. Ensure that there is
“An Introduction to
Sociology” by
Ken Browne
“AQA A2 Health and Social
Care” by Richard
Smithson. Philip Allan
Updates.
“Researching Health”
DVD. Classroom Video
Limited.
HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
Survey method using a questionnaire

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These include rating scales, open and
closed questions
Time should be taken to devise any
questionnaires carefully looking at
possible pitfall and carrying out a pilot
within the group or target population to
avoid error
Advantages of this method in avoiding
effects caused by the presence of the
researcher
Limitations should include low return
rate from respondents leading to a
self-selected and unrepresentative
sample.
Observation

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This is a way of measuring the
frequencies of a small range of
behaviours using a prepared list of
behaviour categories
Observation studies vary in two main
ways. Firstly the choice between
participant and non-participant
observation. Secondly the choice
between overt and covert research.
Limitations including the possible effect
of being observed on the behaviour
and physiological state of the
participants, ethical issues of privacy
and inability to reveal cause-effect
links.
Qualitative data
a mixture of different
question types.
Quantitative data
Interviewer bias
Cause-effect link
Collate responses as a
group or individually/in pairs.
Present qualitative and
quantitative data in
appropriate formats.
Questionnaire
Rating scale
Look at examples of census
questionnaires and discuss
uses of the data collected.
Likert scale
Open questions
Closed questions
British Crime Survey, victim
surveys and self-report
studies as examples of
research into crime and
deviance.
Target population
Pilot study
Return rate
Sample
Self-selected
sample
Unrepresentative
sample
Overt observation
Covert
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Observational study of the
school/college common
room. Tally charts to record
certain types of behaviour.
HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
observation
Participant
observation
Non-participant
observation
Behaviour
categories
Observer effects
Ethical issues
3.8.3
Sampling
Learn about the following ways of selecting a
sample from the target population and the
times when a sampling frame would be used:
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Random sampling
Quota sampling
Cluster sampling
Opportunity sampling
Volunteer sampling
Snowball sampling
Be aware of the advantages and limitations of
all these sampling techniques. Understand
that a small sample is likely to be
unrepresentative of the target population,
however it is selected.
Sampling frame
Random sample
Quota sample
Cluster sample
Opportunity
sample
Volunteer sample
Snowball sample
Representative
sample
Unrepresentative
sample
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Teacher to prepare a list of
topics. Students to select
which sampling techniques
may be appropriate for each
area.
Advantages and limitations
of each.
“Research Methods in
Health, Social and Early
Years Care” by Sandy
Green. Nelson Thornes.
“AQA A2 Health and Social
Care” by Richard
Smithson. Philip Allan
Updates.
HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
3.8.4
Ethical issues
Understand that different methods of
Ethical issues
research give rise to different ethical
problems. Ethical issues you should be aware Deception
of include:
Participant bias
 Deception about the aim or the
Demand
hypothesis being studied
characteristics
 Temporary deception (during the
research procedure) is often necessary
Debriefing
in order to avoid participant bias or
demand characteristics. However this
deception should be mild (for example Distress
telling a person that the study is about
Individual
measuring physical fitness, when it is
viewpoints
in fact about the effect of exercise on
mood). Any such deception should be
Confidentiality
corrected by explanation in a
debriefing following data collection.
Serious deception (for example falsely Informed consent
telling a participant that someone they
know has been injured in an accident) Right to
withdrawn
should not be practised
 Participants’ experience of
Debriefing
embarrassment or distress.
Researchers should be sensitively
aware of the likely responses of others
which might be different from the
researcher’s own likely responses as a
participant.
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Video of the Stanford Prison
experiment. Discussion of
ethical issues from this
study. What steps
should/could have been
taken?
Practice writing ethical
statements (could use
examples from old HC11
coursework).
Student led research into
examples of research which
may be considered
unethical.
“Research Methods in
Health, Social and Early
Years Care” by Sandy
Green. Nelson Thornes.
“AQA A2 Health and Social
Care” by Richard
Smithson. Philip Allan
Updates.
HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
Understand the ethical precautions
researchers should use with participants,
including:
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Maintaining confidentiality.
Participants’ names should not be
reported
Seeking informed consent. The initial
request to the participant should
outline what will be required of them
during the study, and indicate how
much time it will take. The participant
should be specifically offered the
option not to take part
Giving an explicit right to withdraw
from a research procedure at any time.
Debriefing, this should be done as
soon as possible after the research
procedure is finished, normally
immediately afterwards; debriefing
should enable the participant to
understand what the research was
about, to tell them what will happen to
the results and to invite and answer
the participants’ questions. The
researcher must use his/her own
judgement about telling participants
what they scored on any measures. If
participants wish to know, they should
be told, but the researcher should
avoid passing judgement on how well
or badly a participant performed.
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HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
3.8.5
Results
* Numerical data should be processed to
produce summary data in the form of
percentages, and the mean, median and
modal results as appropriate

Check that all students
know how to calculate
percentages. Brief session
covering this as appropriate.
“The Good Study Guide”
by Andrew Northedge.
Open University Press.
Colleague from ICT to
present a session on graphs
and how to alter default
computer settings.
Results should be presented clearly
using descriptive statistics, i.e. pie
charts, tables and bar charts where
appropriate to aid understanding.
3.8.6 Assessment
You need to produce a portfolio of evidence and reflective log choosing one area of research, which relates to one of the four sectors. When you
are doing this, other units in your health and social care course or a career that you are interested in pursuing might influence your choice of
topic. Then, you will find out about previously-published literature into this area, which will help you to design, carry out and report on your own
empirical study, which should include primary data which you have collected yourself.
Your portfolio of evidence should not be a shared exercise or based on a whole group topic, but wholly your own work. Work which does not
demonstrate independence cannot be awarded high marks.
Your work for assessment must include the following sections and subsections:
Section A: The completed reflective log
The reflective log forms part of the CRF and can be found on www.aqa.org.uk under coursework administration. The log should be completed
throughout the research process. Although the responsibility for this lies mainly with the student, there is one section for the teacher to complete.
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HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
Section B: Role and impact of research
This section requires you to show understanding of the role and impact of research for the sector you have chosen. You should seek out specific
examples of research, which illustrate how research can be used to improve service delivery, test and review existing knowledge and explore
social trends and influence policy-making.
Section C: Review of background literature
A great deal of care needs to be taken over the selection of background literature since the choice will have a bearing of success later. The
literature can include media articles, websites and references to previous studies.
The evidence should:
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provide scope to explore the validity and reliability of the evidence. For example you should be able to appreciate possible sources of bias
according to who has produced the evidence. You may seek out various viewpoints comparing perhaps the presentation of evidence from
tabloid and broadsheet newspapers.
Provide scope for you to make assumptions about research methods, sampling methods and ethical issues
Be clearly referenced in the bibliography.
The background literature should clearly lead on to your proposed area of study.
Section D: The research project
This should comprise five subsections:
D.1: Rationale
Why have you chosen this area of interest? Why does this area merit investigation? You should include key findings from your literature search
to help justify your choice. You also need to show how, as a result of your background research, the topic you have selected merits investigation.
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HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
This section should end with a clear focus for the investigation where you define the research hypothesis or research questions that you intend to
investigate.
D.2: Methods
You should have considered the advantages and disadvantages and fully justified the use of the method(s) you have used. You may discuss why
other methods were not suitable for this type of research.
D.3: Sampling
You should have correctly identified the sampling techniques used with full understanding of their advantages and disadvantages for your chosen
area of study. Similarly you may have discussed why other sampling techniques were not suitable for this specific piece of research.
D.4: Ethical issues
Ethical issues should have been comprehensively applied to the research with a full appreciation of their possible impact of your research. An
ethical statement should be included which outlines all ethical precautions taken.
D.5: Results
Results should be presented clearly using descriptive statistics, i.e. pie charts, tables and bar charts only where appropriate to aid
understanding.
Conclusions should be sound and consistent with the data presented. There should be evidence of analysis of qualitative and quantitative data
where appropriate.
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HSC08 Scheme of Work V1
Section E: Evaluation
There should be a clear reference to the research hypothesis/question and a comprehensive explanation that determines whether this was
answered. The validity, reliability and representativeness of the findings should be analysed comprehensively.
In summary there should be:
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advantages and disadvantages of methods used for your area of study
how far the hypothesis or research question has been answered
how far the findings matched the literature search
strengths and weaknesses of the evidence obtained
validity, reliability and representativeness of evidence obtained.
Finally there should be recommendations for improvements and future research.
Section F: Appendix
This should include examples of materials used, raw data with calculations and a reference section which provides references for all
studies/secondary sources cited in the portfolio of evidence.
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