Strengths And Weaknesses Of Overt Observation

The method has 5 phases: asking the question, researching existing sources, formulating a hypothesis, designing and conducting the study, and drawing conclusions. There are a few ways sociologist could gather information about the education system. One too could be surveying students and faculty. Sociologists also could use field research or participant observation to observe first hand in classrooms and schools. Ethnography could be used to observe the school system in a county or

The first type of research that is used in the field of sociology is experiment research. Experiment research involves creating an experiment based off an hypothesis to answer an question. The scientific method is used to keep the experiment on track and follow a set of guidelines. This experiment is done in a controlled setting in which the design of the experiment is to answer the hypothesis. Data is gathered based on what the participants do or act during the experiment. The data gathered is quantitative, in which the data gathered is expressed in numbers. There are both benefits and limitations of

Internal validity of this study included data collection process and student personal interest in education. For example, students may have scored in exam because they concern about their own education. Reliability of this study instrument has not been tested. This is the first time this group will have this survey. There is no former survey to use as a standard to see if there are many changes.

Social scientists look at the world. They look at their surroundings, asking why things happen, how everything came to be, and what we can understand further about our existence. To do all of these things, social scientists must follow different methodologies depending on what they are trying to find out about. One example of a study can be found in William Chambliss’ article “The Saints and the Roughnecks.” To gather the data for this study, Chambliss examined the ethnography of Hanibal High School and two of its prominent gangs. His two years of direct behavioral research allowed him to thoroughly scrutinize the effects of class on the Saints and the Roughnecks. The conclusions that he drew, stemming from the unequal treatment of the gangs, were sound because his ethnographical work was more than just casual observation and subsequently provided him with ample evidence to analyze.

Biases, assumptions and interpretations affect all areas of study. In Science and History, for example, sexual, racial/cultural and personal experience biases significantly influence research. In addition, Perspectivism can empty research findings of all meaning, depending on whether the researcher believes facts exist independent of perspective. Acceptance of universal Perspectivism, combined with triangulated comparison from several sources, can result in "approximate truth."

In the United States there is a long history of failure to provide every young citizen of this country with a good education. While there has been revolutionary advances to give every child their best possible chance to get an education; the same cannot be said about the quality of the education given to each child. Many studies have brought forth data that show minority groups within the United States have a much more difficult academic experience when you look at a child’s transition to kindergarten, a school required qualification for teachers, and their views on academic achievement based on cultural norms, and racism experienced.

This paper has aimed to evaluate the course of events that when working in rotation can facilitate effective teaching and learning. It has highlighted the planning, teaching, evaluating and assessment cycle, which is ever revolving helping practitioners to plan, evaluate and assess their pedagogic practice. It has underlined the importance of planning and assessing in teaching practice. It has considered concrete strategies to use during this cycle and studied these events when critically analysing current assessment theory. Through theory and practical evidence it has attempted to show that levelling and grading has to be fair and accurate to enable each and every pupil to receive the education that they deserve. Throughout this paper it has

We’ll presume that you find measures that are (a) clearly related to your objectives and (b) reliable and valid. How will you determine that these measures are appropriated for the social class, literacy levels, and cultural backgrounds of your participants?

In the United States out of every four people one is from a different ethnic background other than white. These progressions are reflected in population of schools. Moreover, 2000 census data show that there are around 1% Indian/Alaskan Native students, 4% Asian/Pacific Islander students, 16% black (non-Hispanic) students, 15% Hispanic students, and 63% white (non-Hispanic) students

In today’s British education system there still are significant problems regarding ethnicity and race. The problems include the idea that specific races are not doing as well as their counterparts even though they may be taught in the same way yet there are suggestions to say that the education system is institutionally racist. Can this explain why some races do better than other races? Ethnicity relates to cultural differences that may exist as different social groups, whereas race relates to biological differences such as skin colour, eye shape and hair texture and is seen as a social construct that has little or no scientific justification. Sociologists prefer to use the term ‘race’ as they see it as being more useful for the analysis of different social groups. Certain types of sociologists believe that race impacts a child from achieving in education however others do not. Functionalists believe that we live in a meritocratic society, in a sense that we will do well in education if we work hard however it is argued that there are barriers in education preventing a child from achieving success. The main issues here are why certain races do better in education, what are the macro and micro reasons for differences between races, the statistics on race performance and factors that improve a child’s chances of getting high grades at school.

Participant observation, “can be dangerous, emotionally and physically draining and quite simply very hard work” (Inderbitzin, Bates, Gainey, 2016, p. 95). When utilizing this type of research method, there are many advantages and disadvantages that do exist. For example, researcher Patricia Adler conducted a classic study of high levels of drug dealing and smuggling. She wasn’t a drug dealer herself; however, she later revealed that she had used marijuana and cocaine. The advantages to the study was the validity she gained. Adler experienced firsthand the deviant behavior which allowed her to learn the language, customs, and

Epistemological criticism argues that all approaches are unlikely to produce consistent evidence because of the inherent property. It will generate a new viewpoint. However, through abundant reading, triangulation will enlarge width and depth in qualitative research and provide an analysis with security- a overall perspective. Participants can improve the validity of research. Bloor (1978) argues that sociologists can establish a correspondence with participants, in which participants can identify, give assent and judgement to sociologists.

Using this type of research method, I can understand what I would have used other type of research method Taylor et al (1995) ‘‘argued that participant observation offers the best opportunity to discover how people see the world in which they live. It also provides the kind of insight, fresh information and new directions for research which are less likely to come from other methods. ’’

In conclusion, the extent of ethnicity affecting educational attainment is major. Teachers labeling a pupil can easily distract them form achieving and going on to further education. The self fulfilling prophecy can lead an ethnic minority to produce and anti school sub culture which sets an attitude of not demanding any learning in the classroom. This then cataracts on to achieving

Qualitative research methods are utilized to study the social and cultural phenomena. So it includes observation, participant observation (field work), interview sessions, documents and texts and finally the researcher’s imitations and feedback. [Myers, 2009]