Methods In Context - Experiments

Question 1

What are the 5 issues sociologists study?

Answer 1

• teachers expectations
• classroom interactions
• labelling
• pupils self concepts
• self fulfilling prophecy

Question 2

What 3 sociologists did lab experiments on teachers expectations?

Answer 2

• Harvey & Slatin (1976)
• Charkin et al (1975)
• Mason (1973)

Question 3

What did Harvey and Slatin do a study on in 1976?

Answer 3

-examined whether teachers has preconceived ideas about pupils of different social class

Question 4

How did Harvey and Slatin do there lab experiment on teachers expectations?

Answer 4

Used a sample of 96 teachers

• each teacher was shown 18 pictures of children from different social classes
• in order to control variables, the photographs were equally divided in terms of gender and ethnicity- teachers were asked to rate the children on their performance, parental attitudes to education

Question 5

What did Harvey and Slatin find?

Answer 5

Found that lower class children were rated less favourably, especially by more experienced teachers 
-the study indicates that's teachers label pupils from different social classes and use these labels to pre-judge pupils potential

Question 6

Explain Charkin et al’s experiment in 1975

Answer 6

Used a sample of 48 university students who each taught a lesson to a 10 year old boy

• 1/3(high expectancy group) was told the boy was highly motivated and intelligent
• 1/3(low expectancy group) was told the boy was unmotivated with a low IQ
• 1/3 were given no information

Question 7

What did Charkin et al find?

Answer 7

High expectancy group made more eye contact and gave a more encouraging body language

Question 8

Explain Masons study in 1973

Answer 8

Looked at whether negative or positive expectations had the greater effect

• teachers were given positive, negative or neutral reports on a pupil - teachers then observed video recordings of the pupil taking a test watching to see if any errors were made
• finally, they were asked to predict the the pupils end of year attachment

Question 9

What did Mason find?

Answer 9

That the negative reports had a much greater impact than the positive ones on the teachers expectations

Question 10

Give ethical issues of using lab experiments in this context

Answer 10

• lab experiments that do not involve real people have fewer ethical issues than those that do (neither mason nor Harvey & Slatin used real pupils -no child suffered any negative impacts) (however others such as Charkin et al used real people -raising ethical issues)
• young peoples vulnerability and their more limited ability to understand what is happening means that there are greater problems of deception, lack of informed consent and psychological damage

Question 11

Explain how lab experiments in this context can create a narrow focus

Answer 11

• researchers usually only examine 1 specific aspect of teachers expectations such as body language -this is useful as it allows the researchers to isolate and examine this variable thoroughly
• however, This means that teacher expectations are not seen within the wider process of labelling and the self fulfilling prophecy

Question 12

Explain the practical issues when using lab experiments when in this context

Answer 12

• schools are large, complex institutions in which many variables may affect teachers expectations
• it is impossible to identify and control all the variables that might exert an influence on teachers expectations
• sociologists are often interested in the role of large scale social factors and processes Such as the impact of government policies on educational achievement, which can be studied in small scale lab experiments

Question 13

Explain how artificiality occurs when using lab experiments in this context

Answer 13

• the artificiality of lab experiments may mean that they tell us little about the world of education
• Charkin used uni students rather than teachers
• Harvey and Slatin used photographs instead of real pupils
• it is unlikely uni students behave in the same way as experiences teachers

Question 14

Who used a field experiment to study teachers expectations?

Answer 14

Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968)

Question 15

What does ‘Pygmalion in the classroom’ mean?

Answer 15

Illustrates the difficulties of using field experiments to study teachers expectations

Question 16

What was the process of Rosenthal and Jacobsons experiment?

Answer 16

Carried out a fake test (IQ test) to identify ‘spurters’ however pupils were randomly selected

Question 17

What was the aim of Rosenthal and Jacobsons field experiment?

Answer 17

• to plant in the kinds of the teachers a particular set of expectations about their pupils
• to see if this had any effects on pupils performance

Question 18

What happened 8 months later in the Rosenthal and Jacobson field experiments?

Answer 18

All pupils were retested 8 months later and then again after a further year. First 8 months pupils gained an average 8 IQ points, but sputters gained 12 points

Question 19

Explain the ethical issues of using field experiments in this context

Answer 19

• field experiments in educational settings pose major ethical problems e.g. Rosenthal & Jacobsons experiment means those not identified as spurters may have been put back a set/year
• children have more rights now compared to the 1960s
• field experiments work best when those involved are unaware that they’re being observed- yet requires deception

Question 20

Explain the reliability of using field experiments in this context

Answer 20

• Rosenthal & Jacobsons research design was relatively simple and therefore easy to repeat - within 5 years, the study has been repeated no less than 242 times
• however due to different factors including age of pupils, teaching styles and so on, it’s unlikely the original could be replicated exactly

Question 21

Explain the validity of field experiments in this context

Answer 21

-Rosenthal & Jacobson claimed that teachers expectations were passed on through differences in the way they interacted with pupils -however the researcher did not carry out any observation of classroom interactions, so they had no data to support this claim

Question 22

Explain how the broader focus of field experiments occurs in this context

Answer 22

However, Rosenthal & Jacobson did look at the labelling process from teacher expectations through to their effect on pupils, rather than just examining single elements in isolation. Their study was also longitudinal, which allowed them to identify trends over time