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    37 views24 pages

    Thomas Ch.6 Methodology

    Uploaded by

    Gabriel Alejandro Flores
    Extract from a methodology book

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    98 ow 70.00 YURREEARC MOK Sects, 0.996 An onthopaogist on Nr. London: ado. ‘vey cet ae inact on tas the people he tals sith and ober (or ear people Wil aon ‘ae at ped tng om eetiog mo pope eh Sain Baen M. 2004) Aching rey: moving reece tn loin penton coarse inguruan eden 183), 36578 Sch, 0. (1983) The rete proion ow profes hk, London “ep Ts te hey teat en reflect tng an prc, Se, 009 Stel ach matt ee: no: ote ‘Aine caleebon ofc papers on method, aang pes om Wight Mil Durem, Pande, Feyerabend, Kon coon! soe . Thomson, A 2005) Citic soing: a praca geet London: Routedge ‘hist dust eng ces tinking, ut cy eae. you ean end onder th, yous up th persue ote ners. {you a tars nthe pd french Antara dig, "Wo, Land Myer, M. (2008) The ate Gate oman matode niga (ond muting, Onoda he Design Frame ‘pusdicigi’) One you have decid on your genera approach to answering our question, you can think about ‘tenet sald or design fame iin wich ou Fess il plan and execute your esearch, Ths choter + iehodony rT ery ut researc seiranas | action cesar rasan | > aSeStHG fgabstsard | Simparatve research, = atimograpy Seaton, = tperien: Concisen | 7 lengua, cross-sectional studies and survey Design Is about plan and structure, and as Figue 5.8 In Chapter 5 ink cate, the whole pograzame of yout research, ftom purposes a execution, onstitutes the dasig. One particular part ofthe sequence of decisions you make wll be sbout what Iara here callg the design fe. Lave alle it tls because It constitutes the mos: important element in the way that your research fs structured If lke a chase or superstructure that support your esearch. The design fame provides the hamework for your esearch ~ connecting purposes with questions with the ways in which data canbe collected though i does not presi how that daa wl be ccliecte, wil be concentrating on seven types of design frame here There are others, but these seven are the most common stares used nt sal resear projects. They are: + action research; 1 tase study 1 comparative research; 100 now topo vour estan eogcT + eter + experiment * longitudinal, cross-sectional studs and survey. 1 Is Important to selterate that these are not designe for vestareh in themselves. The design ses the plan fOr research that you adopt fom the Bepinning of your project. The reason Ihave caled these design {rams is that they provide the defining stucture within the cesign. By thoosing one or moze of them you are consolidating dcisons thst you have made about the purposes of you Inqulry, the Kind of esearch that you are doing and what you want to achleve fom i "The design flames ee seaolds within which ta stucture what you Go. Butitistimportant aso to say tha these design ames ae tin any ‘way silat a structures, no are they mitally exclusive Tey ca exit | Combination. So, for eeample, action tesedreh could fake shape in most ofthe othe forms ora ease sty could ince a survey. Tie will become clearer as we look tthe frames themselves, The idea of research design per sa~ the idea that you pla research at the beginning and carry on according to the blueprint you hove drawn unl the end iso bit ofa hangover from the days when social research "was expected tobe as sila as possible to natura centile research, As Such, would be mally experimental and fe would come complete with ‘ery spec instructions oh procedures, methods and apparatus wit ‘he dea that anyone could came along ater you and repent the expel: ‘ment you were doing, The key Idea behind all of his was mpl, oF ‘otter words the ability far someone else to repest what you were oing. If then, aftr many sopeats of your experiment, many ofers had the same finding as you, having followed the save design and proce dre, the scientific community could be sare that the nding was secure ‘Nowadays, soil scentists working ln an applied fet sun secs: tion, socal work of eiminal justice are paticulaly aware ofthe dit cultles of conforming to these kinds of expectations for our research, For stan there ate now recognised to be ditfiuties, sometimes insipera ‘is, of managing a social stustion inthe same way asa chemisty expec ment, But there I also now less certainty that there f one bes way of fotganising research. As ed to show in Chapter 6 we are tying (0 research something In the socal world we dont even necessarily even hhave to adopt the postion of neutal,cisinterested observer. By contrast, ‘we can be open involved Inexpreters of events, xexponding and chang: Jing at ew information appears The later point s particulary relevant as fr as ‘esearch desig ie concerned, since i implies tat thete shoul be fr less rigidity about such design than had hitherto been expected. This tes in withthe ‘expectation ofa recusive plan (eather than a liner plan) that 1 talked about in Chapter 1, The design, i implies, should not bese i stone, eady to be replicated exacty bythe next researcher Given that this THe IseN eae 107 tne ease some have spoken about emergent desig, in other words letting the design ‘happen’ as you fing ost more sbowt the station in whch tae interested Ths ea of emergent design ian important one fot Socal researen in the interpretative tation, and though the word ‘esi’ sil uted relly tunns the Lea of design’ on is ead, since something that emerges cannot be “designed. We should pethaps look {ora new word fr the proces. ‘However, 'm not going to do that now, since “design is the word we ae stuck with and everyone knows what they mean by It= or at Teast they think they do, Tne touble with using “dslgn is that It Implies all ofthe tetitional features of experimental design tht 1 hove talked about (eg. specification of sample, apparatus and 0 on), land these features carey with them other expectations. There ae, fOr ramp, expecatons about sample sie (the bigger the better), rele bulty (you have to be sure of getting the same result f you do the ime age) and vallity (You have to be sure that you are finding out fat you set ou to find). But eve ace not the ground ales or Inter Dreative research, "sy Teal not. Tes not expected that yout can generalise fom interpre: tauve research: yor sample’ ves you Insights rather than generals ‘ons. So your sample’ is small ~even as small a5 one. Be happy with fat. In fact the notion of the sample tsa misnomer in interpretative esearch singe your informant ot wiateves) le nota sample from a wider population, They have integety in thelr own ght Is no expected that {someone else does the sudy they will find something identical to what you found. Quite the contrary: someone else will almost cei Find something very citferent fom what You found and tis i to be ‘expected. They wil be Interpreting with thet personal story interests, prclections and ldlosynerasies, you with yours. So, the word ‘design’ should be interpreted with caution in socal ‘esearch, in cestan Kinds of eseatc i wil be more fixed: n others es Expectations about itn one Kind of reweareh Wil oe aleays apply another, Some general issues in design ‘As Lhave just tied to indent, design s something ofa misnomer and leads people t0 have castlron expectations about the structure of estar, ignoring the tenets of eiferent types of research - the presup- positions that ground Se. Given these diferent types of research, there fan be no expetation that he ground roles and methods of one kind of ‘esearch wil be appropriate in another. tas well tobe aware of thls Elnce major ercor committed in many ditserttions is the use of ane set lf expectations with form of esearch hat does aot cary these expec {ations eis with this wamming that I discuss now some general Sues designing a research project. 102 Wow r0 00 your essen PRCT sampling ‘The notion of sampling really belongs in experimental research (ee 1.124) and resco that Seeks relationships among vaiables. Tere Is fhe assumption that you are aking Your group or groupe for your research from & manageable sample which is representative of trger population. A population in expermental design. means something father more than the oe we speak about in everyday parlance ("The ‘Population of the USA i 350 milion). means the total number ofall Dotsble individuals relating toa particular top whlch coud Gv had All the money and resources we wanted) be included ina stay. So, here {sa population of teaching assant, 2 population of school-age chile Aron, «population of people on benef prison population, and son Assuming thatthe sample is uly representative of tis wider popala ‘on, the indings of your well designe research ea then be generalised 1 the populton, ‘Ofcduse te simple may notbe sass representative there tay esi [ Saecn Bae 3» Sion oe tin Bas of one Bind of anotex | Stee eng tor he wort he ‘There are many ways in which one | ata i collected. 1¢ usually rofers to Cincoute th heeampeistpre: | Oe secon ol pepe ns Site of tis wider popunion, | utah ee rg One's by tang ao sample | Met 7 This is what it sayson the tins itis LMC 2'sampe tha andor token = in the ame ay that es oe ple fom at: the paces i "eid, Howee snot gd enough forthe sample af be dom taken Iyou ‘ook 3 andem sample of unweit stent the "st dozen pene yo foun in theron Weoneay night, ours wold be sscpble to vroos sours fst Now do you now that bo weer seperate teste population en tray? Temay be that these who goo tc bara les Lc fo go te itary or te they tend 0 be rprsentatve of one eh oregon Frou mee than another Tot fe why this ind of sample (he ht Sen inthe bor icles coment sd mya convesience simpitas many problns salted with tify at cxpecung ge Grae rom ota ste rnd mp you would have ese that you wer ron age enough su ofthe popu 3 tht the chance of gevng 8 dtored ptr as eded to he minimum You may have noted tht pol fom market rer ogee ‘hen ey ae looking tong itentons, tke sample of soon 100 peopl and hs nay for ay not ven tat he voy popu tim of the Ui over 4 mien peopl be ation ump ‘ay of inpoving trp’ repentant In taking ssh spe you ent tat tne sample you taking tect im important nays the chraterstis of the ata pout 5S, soppose you were interested inthe views fhenng engineer, ou Could ear spi form of atfcaton i the same yo eld ‘eoescy rave 103, eae S seuesce a 4 Al | =| | Figure 6:1 Seativng your sample bby matching the sample wit facets of the (whole) population of het. Ing engineers nationally. You could make soe that your sample enlroed -knowa features of the population ~ say, with fegard to gender, age, and highest qualification, as shown in igure 6. What's wrong with the idea of samples? Professional researchers have extended the notion of sample tall kinds ‘of su, not jst experimental esearch and reser concerning the co: Icon of date from groups of individuals. So, sometimes people wil speak ofa sample in elation toa cae study where only on ass elag sfadied, Ht thsi gate unecessary extension of te use of the wore ‘simple’ ais leslyhudcrows. For even in 4 colloqula definition, there 104 ow ro D0 Youn reste ROC 's the expectation that a sample wil be in some way representative, (Chambers lctionary gives als definition of sample the folowing save saps specie, 2 a oon show the iyo he So, even in everyay usage, ‘sample cares the meaning that the sample isin some way elective of the whole But ‘often when the word “sample” sed in Soca resench cases none ofthis tefce- In experimental esearch tive ofthe whole’ notlon. $0, @ snowball ‘sample’ refers to a subset sumple ~ wich involves the respondent dat represefatve of 3 telling the vesearchor who the next respon larger popstion. fn iter ent ight be, and tha respondent doing preatine veearch edocs the same, andso on ~ doesnot pretend t© hot cay this eannotton any Kid of epresentatveness, Likewise, @ ‘rpsve sample, which involves simply te pura of the Kind of person Tn whom the researcher is ntezeste, professes no representtivenas.Fot this reason these Kinds of Sample” ae sometimes ales non-obabete samples, because chey do not fend themselves to the kind of design on ‘whlch inferential statics wing probability etinates are use Personal, Mink tt would be easier they werent called “sample atl ‘As indicated carly, this carrying of experimental meaning of ‘am- ple’ to other kinds of research is accompanied by dangers since I caces ‘wth the quiet assumption that all of the otner paraphernalia of exper Imental research goes along with it This should not be the case, ‘Si, thls mixing of tenes ad ground rules has sometimes been deib- crate rather than merely scciental and of course the confusion transits "elf to you asa stdent~and you have no ida what to make of Ie ‘nly someone who fs a ld ss fam who ca sealise what has happened ‘What has happened that When interpretative resench was fying to cstais its eredentls as authente“soslslentc’ exeareh forty or fity years ago, researchers went to seat lengths to ape the language of trac onal experimental nd weatlonal esate, They di this to boost the ste ‘hr of interpretative research So Glaser an Sous (1967), ov example ‘ew a distinction between what they calle the tet! spl dee ‘Satta sample. By theoretical sample’ Uy meant the most of m= pling that would have tobe danein order forthe researcher obese that hho mare categories were being encountered as they went throwgh more nd more dita, They sy: ‘Ase see sila instances over and over ein, the researcher becomes empirally confident thats eatgory i satsrted! (Glaser and Sass, 1967: 61. If thls sounds 2 le vague, 15 because i |s with the word 'émpirclly’ drown i jst fo make things sound more scientific. (nen do you think 'Ahl I am now empiccally confident? ‘When do you fel tht warm, gooey glow ofemplical confidence? If you axe interested, have explored eleere (Thomas and James, 2006) the ‘easons Why Interpretative researchers sonnets Sema fo tink that they ‘mipoescarawe 105, nce to parot the language of experimentalist. My flings that it is not only sinnecesary to do this (pafdelarly In reat to the sample), but ko that it leads to gundestanding about the nature of interpretive esac, Sadly, te feeling that one has to ae the lngvage aid metho ‘fexperimentallits faze of the days when interpretative esearch was fet eo be not quite good enough. Fven more sadly leads inexpertenced searches to inappropiate research cesgns Variables things that we want to measure in the socal world ver (they were tlivays the same ~ ant vary we wouldnt be interested in measuring ‘her So,vatablesare measurable attstbates of tings that change. Age Changes, 20 it sa variable Scores or tests Yaty 0 they to ae vaiabls. [Anyting tut ein be counted oul be vatoble age, class size, the Spent sting dow, hair length, eading age, level of stress, numberof ‘onde wetten 0m 9 page, and So on. We can aso teat what could De Called ‘on-off mates as variables. Thus gender, of whlch there are of Course only 90 variates, can bea variable: The amount of 3 variable s called value, Reliability Rellablty refers to the extent to which a research instrument such fsa test wil eve the same result on aifeent occasions. Really, the ‘dea of reliability has been imported into applied social research from piychometiles ~ the ‘scence’ of testing people’ individual charac ferstce such as ability, attainment and pesonaif-In my opinion, peychometrics is where the notion of reliability should have steyed fs fr too hesvily dawn on paticoarly by student socal researchers, ‘who spend too much time thinking about Ie and waiting about i i theie reports. Because ft something qulte conczete (complete with Dulles porated sub.varetes) in the vather dificult aea of methodol ‘ogy, students sometimes fall on It with eager reli 'Ah, here's some thing can get my teeth into” and spend two of three pages writing aout the subvarteties of rllbility a wholly zelevant Way. ‘Centinly Ifyou ae collecting data you want your measuring instr: ments tobe consistent fom one ime fo the next In ther words, you fe giving atest to «group of children aid then give it again soon after, ‘you wot! expect tf prove much the same rests each time: tis Called test-retest rib, Or fo diferent people gave the sane test ta the same group, you would expect the text to provide wey similar results each time t should ave good feat rellabity. Or you may ‘devise some Kind of messute of elasoom activity, sach as being “on taak’ ace the example of Karen on p. 127). Ir this the ease, you vl 106. wowre 00 vou nsaRc PROT ‘want to now thatthe measure you are using is accurately assessing the Feature or activity on whieh you ate fusing. (OF course, tas wel toe aware tat biases can occur in the use of any Insrument “suchas teaches giving atest ‘helpfully because they Uke the nev teaching programme whic Is being asses by the tet. ut tac les were caf oF unconsciously Inuoducing bis in this way itwouk! not be a technical matte i would bea matter for inteligent spp. We should be alert to mates suchas his (eg. ving test helpfly) an ry ‘eo minimis tel eet. The compiling of types of eras tnd Vases ints ‘echneal taxonomies abservee enor, observer bia subject ero, subject bias ex) vers atenion from the rel subject ofthe rear, and it ug ‘ess that there are technical ‘aes’ to the problems of any Kind of ind. ‘Sida or socal ascsament. There aren't, Worse, the idea tat thse ey Imay exist may even distort the construction of instruments, s0 tha hey ‘ay be liable tin fact tell us noting wef THis pssbe wo we formule toelp you fo establish acoefcent of agee- sment cross ties andor observers whch ll pive 2 gute epreseting the relabily of the instrument being used. However in my expeenoe in apple soca escarch done by student t undergraduate tnd postgradste eves, these realy if ever sed nor do they nee to bs moet eae. e 'sfar more important that you pay attention fo whether the neuen 5 doing what you want ito do ad in picking up someting relevant of something that simpy easy to measue uch as ‘out of set a an ne. Yin of being ‘ots’ = but are pups neces ‘of tas’ wien they are ‘out of thelr seats). Does it matter if given on two occasions, the sme Instrument sys something rather diferent? Susy ts slmost bound to, given the natre af people (as aistintfrom the nature of itege, Asin te case of tmpling there isa confusion that sometimes exist betwen diferent kinds of research, wth an assumption that reliability should apply nal Kinds. shoulda’ in interpretative research you are Interpreting on the basis of you belng jou, interviewing someone else being them, Wo you are - your “postonality” fof which mote below) = wil affect this interpretation and you would not expect someone ese to ‘emerge with the same interview tanscrpts as You. So reliably iin my ‘opinion, inelevant in interpretative esearch, validity there are two meanings to vl to sotlsknce reser, but befor shnigthot, shou pretice my cormments By seying tht eregting tht 1 have sald bout elabity apples also to vay: itis nd fom egeimenal degen ds. usedartocitenitean dtc you om gener sation Ino! pesible; del and contextual understanding ae esent.It Is the ich plete with hick desertion’ (ep. 202) that we ned ample 62 ar sn scored year of teaching as a Yer 6 techn a primary soo La year In he rorup to tha SATs e nlced seme daring sg of nee and | Solr among hs pups more absence nines ond» gral sen Oe that cult puis ge on Fr is project spar tery cout be eid dung fhe next rou of SA to undetected he cy fosmng In dealed way on the etude und espera eches ‘reoescnrome 117 thee stamens, Sarin wth the nto of nk betnen hes changes in avo and the haanal tsi ploramane he te tats eae dy tid rete one oe vnavaee Sine the governess fet feces him mos dren 6 hee pists age ach he Ss are ire), Rabin re a Fa each tbe eal vas hs own ves on tee of he oermant tt were mes nts mporan He wa parc concame abot he ail pat i corm to spacing 18 mires the on each ay wtng te ay nich wou proce 0 dy ents (es 5 day) fr stiecuer ara fica commited to foconng on ve caxten nh cs, whose work Sd demeanour be would mentor Genay bit nema ever the nme pd. Re ior species prose ote the ier ermal He woul ke noes [nate reer arses ede ony oe wou rake pon of hing oooh therm ly atest ance a week ong SD {je work and about now they wee ong. He woul then gp on a0 ry | oni Impasse of there encoant ad he chars earners “tvoogh te Ss flea ls matey, Rabin hada spon that { ye cine of sanment made ts elect fe ough the age ange, 30 he | Socde to tev a fe ote ches Ine stot la hopin Ob the nance tat SIs a mad, sve niyo eth oo Ws ae the mtd of aden comin, Tin arabs encanta an deaving theres om the da fo examgle abwut ancy the caren andthe tematanton eset teaching oy bene {na other tncers He rst thee heres to the fo wih expetaons “Sau uct in th SAT were comrades govern depart Ime and thr agence a the ih elt esas hat aco pad these expects Paiste ution or Rob the cose tt + How would he coors hae eilen? 1 wna ee! nd ees er woul re? ‘Cassie examples of case study are in Stephen Bull's (1982) Beachside Compaensve and Coin Lacey's (1970) Hightown Granoar, which each sive a deta analysis of what goas on inane school over a period of lime, and James Patick’ (1973) A Glasgow Gang Observed, ving. & ing people to understand ths stuaton tat you ae ocing on nd tel theeader hw you ae doing ‘nother facet of the posioning of yourself as an instrument of investigation is that you are a patlpant in the situation that JOU tte observing and studying, which s why the tem partlpan esr ‘ation i often associated wth this find of research. You sre nat, 12 ber word, tying tbe detached or nvlsbl, Dut rather engaged, fully involved, and gaining insights fom. this engagement Fardepant observation fs nt fnited to observation, pare and sin: Pie though, I consts of watehing cern, but aso conducting Interv ltening to conversation, eeping lay faking notes snd imu mote anything that wil help you to record snd understand hats going on 120. nowy po vou mssanarrhogct Foran interesting (and shox) example of the ethnograpc gent, se CCitlord Geertz’ Deep Ply: Noes on he Balinese Coc, t0 which ef Totermet inks given under Further Reading 2 the ena ofthe chapter, Ethnography is now 2 well accepted way of doing certain Kinds applied octal research, Infact, some of tke most infuentalrsech {cation has been ethnogrape tn character Howeves, doing 2 sta ‘nograpale project presents some mejor sifeences from the cass Studies of which [bae given examples For tt, uke the proteslona Anthropologists cite here you are unlike to be entering aeuute whic ‘Surfasiarto you. Rater you ae ely tobe entering & vey fais uation; in fat, the station In which you ae intersted may be One wth ‘which you are intimately connected, pertaps ar an emplaye ora ela ‘isto Sond, you will not hve the time for the dee immersion ofthe profesional anthropologists but this may not be as necesary becuse of the famllanty you already have Tis in itset has pes an mses you ‘may know the ‘sage’ end bean accepted ‘actor on it, but thie means that ‘ou ne to work extra had to sei ina es ight ‘Though your immersion inthe word of your study wil be diferent in ‘hes important respects ftom the immersion of the ‘lassie’ anthropology, beyond this the rationale behind ethnographic week isthe same, ands about participation, engagement, hick description and understanding, xampe 63 ual 252 teacher tre years age, Amy now hao of maths n> ge Inner campers hoe Bu she wes eertunly fo move no orig Sppon as par haar Segre in educa he Gees ooo he caste tan research on the way tat support wes In he el She res wo nd Band how tudes sce uppot and vst sppar can fer tam, patel 9 ‘he ak whether thar ary ways tat Sep aparece ‘Go enhancer oer toe ude { Sh dees thresh project wil be a ethnography of pp how | Icy ana hw it weed and ndesiood by sede a at he neg | {icra the Pend of ening Support to ae sme of her regrow time to work an asta he lean support department. ea tobe treated aching sant for thse prs and one ta she wt be ware tng ony with ce wth whom sh tno eas nf atten. | ‘Sto of vlvement wih he department nae stndance a megs | Sed work wih two ses pet wack sa parent ose oe sec Cat Sed ar onguoges das She prepares forts by plang carefully to observe each ofthe enone mens nto which she goes She dies not tate notes a he Goes 5 {ths wl oer the way that he staderts an stares fo he ung the Se | Sion Homeve she wil wt ay immeely (ron por) afte ‘very seston Sel aso cone ustactred intr th th ache ‘mbar of the aring spr sta aswel as wo ofthe teaching attr ‘Ssoclted win the deparmane The terns wage erin ods sal | reese stave 121 expres tet views abou the operation of suport. On topo th she wit ferent fow sens we om ach othe aes ta abe wend wh the en ner movant sound hoo el kep an ej ai en oF or comment or cone nay ay ge les so we) Inch ming sspparts vised inthe eeool et San genainey a ay of ud fey students or moray am way of eating wth tdets who ae San spec nets? ‘an encom Ars ly fos Lik my wy to antes cn ag, itl, ing bon ing to he tego sapprt hvert spoke etal to Kathe yet soot te team Ttochng Ks: Last tes racing wih her war to tae fe brad he top Wer come ns wonk th tudo seems raters, arte tang the cs om the rt an the chen re mesg atu ey ‘reste Ruths halls ps sna gaan wth unl Ups Sw ‘er srating (@ srl pln ha apes th another Sa Strof objet Me cidrn ave to compare te two Seow ty Gib: Onda iy yeu The ent show that bon doe taken vp by ans i: Tat des eon dei! planation are gan ponte Wi nersequena ons in: Anyone ot bet Tse become so se that ante eventual ses her egeandaes th ve hs ha sma eect onthe den, who emoray ue hve eaptates on th 8 20 TEACHER: ight wl nave 0 mints of complete sees ~ nat Word Te citen respond to Es they af now taut the es 3 ws ‘xpd ona Agel dunt gue 65 Galton ese (hom Pansen, 2006) Evaluation Evaluation esearch i probably the most common Kind of resec done by professional researches in ediction and the soil scence, beng undertaken to assess how effective 2 programme of activity has bets ‘When done by professional researchers itis often cazted out 8 form lof whats sometimes called “contrac esate university seseteer ‘contracted! and pald to provide an Independent assesment of sme new Initiative. A government department, for example, may pay a university research team to look at how effective the policy of employing greater ‘umbers of teaching astants es been. “The pattern Is given by Pawson (2006) and comesponds roughly to gure 68 ‘As you can see ftom Figute 6.5, evaluation resach i diferent from action research, since there sin the wstal form of evslstion ~ no ‘Sssumption that what is being studied feds back in any systematic way {o the activity, Intervention or initiative being evaluated. (in action ‘estar remember, there is the assumption that what I belng discov. ‘ered during the research actively feeds back and contributes fo the devel ‘opment of the programme of change) Only afte the evaluation has ben completed may the person contacting the evaluation decide fo ‘ons ths ree he ps exes Ys een gue tana | Sucre way tan ht onn wok an ha clean Stet prof re ‘Sint ecru prtine a sien on wy ney Coune ‘Sie brome Apa cf anc este xparting or rs at felntend rts Surat oe he sta hea sad ected eng 0 127 tars eng titan eventual antigo the ey rote, fhe couse These 127 anes form the par fr Us sy the Cen Stent erent ages an wth oun eed codes bse he re ‘tinberted nes andi gop eamalenough frases to be aed si meray ues o the sts emerges ard heres bein dep. “Troughs profesond!orgataton te Btn Asotin for Soa Were | seme as eared ama amount of undog forte resench repurpos ‘thing ove te coleagues who ae atsing hm nealing date Promoetoivalrethemfn the arab fe reset and un an i se | st th encanta cotesion pro an He ees ‘tthe sir wl eh ngs into ow de dt shoul be arabe ‘rom queue na hs caleages eons to camp, Cae levy hve dts sbot the tered condton, aby, Ses ard ‘hoo rciansances ofthe chien, on wl have eso he aly ec ‘Sc ol he fate bough he expat ee tin ave pes ‘gional reser profes resus tno vai luge hues ar welt tended toc of tne. The ete anal ube fed n Cnc resuch ean na ees cae tucson a ‘hel besos tadeaf ohedn hn st te rte coor. et te ‘inbrissaenogh tts pont gs et phn exch stadon nd went cach asa cea. Neves a poe sy soe low ‘Spec wi prs aks fe gu. “emesis gen he prota ceases bo tr of wha an scene a an ra ‘cease ts longue dy ad nt sania fain the anges ‘a dela to thae Sess te happen oer me edt secon iver Darr have to becortcied fe ah oy tat ey wb ‘Sve toss ond he wos which ght charges ome fll Tey Saud ond 132 now 00 wor nseatc mowict (contact) ako Sok to are nforaton sho the way which se is amore fesened over inet ys ey caer and wha sas eet cote fo the lesen er incase efor fe “To pile Meow conduct a] Graeme’ quetonnne wich he ik ‘rush amar rey plot | with wee fares he ino val as Stud) 2 pepo for Seger | bout larly svat elt) ad eon Gre ts aone tren rms | fri with sions stoi income rt Sp research mesos tote | Sonal super foe te omy sey tt recarh es hap om Wend, fy aco the psenes af ssing and tee ge, ‘ilar tex, Ar would ba expected, wt srt erage mo Cay the dt that otf Se sears to be conseted mot prominent ft Sowrest ofthe herd conden i nt show sce ebeaab re ‘er tme Grae’ spe, ut ts yas becuse dats wt cole ond Sul at diferent stapes anc ter dagnoss. Because the ota beng co ‘ete at ent! pois te (Septeribe to Octaberm 2007, 2008, Sd 2010) fr soe ofthe cenit wae called eon ser gna ‘hen points threat, ws for oterethwor Cesare snd Re cleegu hid bean iled over nga pes) was caleted wel io the rvohe enh tea ard soa Une after og In ere for rend be le Cerne twos neces to "snggregnte’ the data 'pal apr = at ‘a posse to putrid to fo separate bans gre By te nc ‘Sughocs By dang hs vas pose ose that Sess state m9 Nigh evel {flap ty he ppt ral of igh aes apport hm ss ‘raul es agin over etevening mon sd yas spores seed Ee interes Looting a the pela how the lvl of sree appeared ne tneang rate ana revert be alt nos scanty bye oxstnce | ‘strong ary support ahr tan prolesoal upper snd iter bens | in gave rare and his coleagues ch fos for up at thee sina 3 the doe of tha pee A heal dy ot an exert, aethe aa of varias ot | nog hel ott win oy one manipusted (6s wal be ha cae nn expe | linens not pes oy wna causal ttraip mayor mayne rled | bh any ofthe ober! reaenstips. Al Graeme cn 6 tome get | _queses ast the meaning of re observations he makes about thee relaUonetpy | ‘Eabthe ts perety eghnat ting toca, i Qveston fr Groene + Wh are the etic! ue aig fa thin of? i Care comiered the etal stenting fo tears of steady streets y regu asin them sucitone (sain et) ‘inca Pom hi plo uy ht vas proba he eve tat os aries ‘elied the nee beng expres in than. Nevers he wa ae one ‘iang atonal presre anders that exch fly opted te he ‘esac, and cou ‘opt out at aye ey wished | + Were here enough dtacint at whieh data wer tae? ‘wieorscnrowe 133, ross setional study ere a group or groups ae studied atthe same thme~asa snapshot. One fasisble may be looked at, ploviding a deseiptive picture, or two or ore variables offering the possbilty of seeing a relationship among Shem. alternatively, you might at ete mums Hie stad equivalent groups for example of children at eitferent ages. The Key thing stat Fre observations areal made athe same moment in time, with a group ‘nose members share some characters ‘an example of cos setonal study was the repot fiom Ofsted (Office for Standards in Pdvcation) Leading 19 Excelence (tp:eadingto {rceencefsed gov). This looked t 84000 early yeas and childcare Drowkers examining the quality of cildeste provision made by cach fogsie dhe local authors win which that clare was provide, Tt found that inthe 20 most deprived lea aahostes, $3 por eat of cde miners proved gos or beter tear compared with 60 per cent the {es of Bgl, with some stk compassons beeen best and worst In ‘aclney (Est Lani), 29 per cet of cilinders were jet be good Cr beter comparet to Wokingham in Bershire wheze Ue proportion was ‘i pec ee, What can thi tellus? Cleny the oa! autor st the ese Of these difeences (even If some poicians wal ty sktenuous 1 make that eve, though # maybe te ease that in more deptved areas the pool ‘tll ecated people availabe to workin childcare s smaller than that {na mor prosperous eon In this case the grouping proved by the lca _zuthority pete misleading since implies n astoiaion between al iy of eller and the administrative euthoriues themselves, rather than tthe mone amorphous geographical regions in which they are state. Example 67 "ong st 9 msc, Sanheeta fa parte MS student in hehe She Inet Inne fet csi an young women wha ae sat cho a {Spoof he work decker to cond» rneentona sty ofa eis ‘ekTo neha of te sal yl author (A) ste, Cota Cx, (tin whch tenes attich se works stunted Hang gained te agree (nent ofthe Gotan iy LA to approach te sero inthe and hag [Rimsecre the spect fay a he secnasy ahaa to woken fe esearch, svi cach ost a savey to YI0 ge sing about mek gst an tes etre ther enh andthe bru nthe son sees dvd he ste fr example forthe gs ow sehasesment of few ft they opty wer, muluding quelons nv bresesnes and ‘augtng nd on Pow wel hy inaughe tht bey were dong in thr schoo on coped to thereto! te gin te yen group She so aes them Fe Uae opmtons on wher gis usualy have her is 30, “Tis pronats Sanpecs wth ope dase. mumbo of gmetes raked perdeereachgi ning ott on fey aloe on coughing). Comins) 134 wowre oo our mseanc mT (contrat) . m= aghast (ene) Figure 6:8 Chars epresetng date ong’ smoking She leo presnt graphic he da she eaves tom the 860 go whos she fas oven quires Te seretings abou auphing snd rane {bathe slleetng cts on fet and otieant nso he este ‘pophanoum in gue 68 She ns at smn gs who smoke the average ape hey expect woman ‘oh erat hd 25, whe for thora who nev mate X'S prserts ‘isin pose frm, ence tate or graph neces. "he popton bang ude here was need tobe he ee population of ‘10 sien Gosia Chyna Its and purpose uy, ‘hough bo schoes dé not ak artnet and soa gis wre tet On| ‘hediy ofthe qusionare Sangeeta ued tat Ns peplason wi rosy "apres fhe we ator! population, a in at ee sted [forts wir popusen them se argue er concusons co opp She gue hat ryan that were etd, hey may vary next oe ‘er populton weld be ull to ecu nye Gotham Cy spl. ve orien nae 135 Some snp satis (examined futher n Chapter 9 showed scat erences betes the rong sd or snehing rps reper ee, nium ook tue the ado ovr as fret Snoy kno posse to impute euntin frm the asec ina sectoral uy ~orndees fom any smactane Kul ot oss, nthe rds ty henna cured he reser ret ss owes poe stair ae, Theme were dco focd cou bs fw want tere factors For exemple here may be scoot ites twee ening an nonsmoking rps ch ove 1 5ci°Comesuances both ina enane foam prep etsy at [ny smote anain a tendecy to anprr moe ung sionals OF | hci nny be lerene pret income te eaneen out no "Shotng ena, wih aacated dence in hauing cnn oy Stn on pal speraon ends on hry combina hese 3nd | Snr consoutdang facto ae alte pal te olor sponse fr te {eres tat anghete Sacovered ‘Wha she cull do, hough was to spat tetgenty abou he tongs andy arcs atone ind and oon he eel enon ht ia might mann whan oked one est he he Te ey ge f= {rex eaigag anf brn coud sos eran be ateued To Soong hough ten here» confurng factor could be pra ich 3 frtec na tena wo eve sre me sy have parents wh sme, {St couhng lobe ewer ebang bes up ana seo) ‘Grune oerhad ne iterences se ge capers regen the geo ‘tran whan a has er ce te eens once peeved {ntzrement a athool portage re mor reese othe css and sca eon ‘Shri re odtd moe cay with ge vo sme Sangeeta wa lo te doce thse ponte and is Gnreso fomes the bas ore ete. Teather whch se nph cess wh nial survey ‘As noted atthe beglnping ofthis chapter, the survey cannot realy be thought ofa design fame in elf because i exists fn diferent design fosms (principally the longitudinal stody and the erossectlonal study), tnd yeti hold within kt waious diffrent methods for collecting data (Such a the interview and the questionnaite). So its ather more than a ‘method hit ater les hana design fame. What ae its eharactessts? ina survey you are collecting data fom a Varied numberof respon- dents (ie. people who are responding). They may be responding fa & {questonnaze or in sn intervie, or they may be completing some kind Of elary entry (we shall look a these tn Chapter 8). The data con be ‘many an vared. As Ihave noted in dlscusing longitudinal and cross ctional desig fames these data are collected to describe sme feature fof the socal situation in which they exist and these featares ofthe s= tation ave not manipulate a they would be in an experiment. Once these descriptive data have been collected they ci be examined for tbe existence of elaionships between and among them. 136 Wow 1000 youn esaRenpoyecr me nt ‘Als case nary des tare, th mead sed to cae ta 3 mn ‘et he tng that remade A good ere of tlw man cle ‘Save da nehedaose na gure oe Ue sa te ade r Coca Set The onsets ene Resch Bost EARS) hap ee 130 gure 69 BAR anc Carat came up with 14 millon and 11 mon epee ta the aucene for Ceonation est whom out hat programas pope are ching on The mets karat “esto do ths a ‘peoneetr, wh a dese ge ol 5,200 houses ‘heal who pes tors on he mete tte BA wha ry ve een wah | ing The 5 300 1V as he pared rea ert fhe 20 rion 9 | {iy andon the afer resin, ARE ep ena how ary Peo | ted prior rgronmes One rey 25% EARS ert at 2 Ma peopl ad atch an apo of Carnation Soe Howe ana ga, Cet, undotok a Wiehe savy ofa sample of vw and esta th | ‘chee lor tae rs poe tobe 145 ron (se Wpynansbbc cau | {hdr aa 7935séstr othe ot. Gort aght bods te ence a why etd me Was Carat contacted by anyone to undrtaethe sy? 1 Aagh aanes igures emit hose wo record he Sow to watch er? Scour the pane red nth iy provi both a napot and an onging ‘sure of Tontcing over tin, cul be led eras scl ay {Gtaporic eases Cocnaton Suet case alga Su, po. ‘ing = deaopmertl pcre o TV aunces ove ie Gee wat ou, ‘Comparative study ‘sally, the term ‘comparsive study’ sfes tothe comparison ofa socal situation In ane country with another. Inthe broader socal sciences ‘ean be used to mean any lind of eamparson but in applied socal fence and education it nearly always refers to Intemational comparison, ‘nd that isthe way chat 1 shall discus it ere. Comparative stady ‘eserves a special mention as a design frame because It aces particular ‘challenges and it meets these with 3 particular range of methods used ‘with a well developed set of considerations ‘weoescr rave 137 For the purposes of applied social esearch, then, comparative std ts about crosenationsl, cosssocictal and/or cross-cultural compat Sons Clearly, a range of sues arse when such contrasts are made eciuse differences in language, customs, value systems, Mestyls and institutions exist across these compacsons. Partly, the existence of these ites creates the need for special attention and the need for & special design grouping ‘Comparative research wil examine issues such as: contrasting pens of development ¢ ‘Sete ne to tc, omg «fw suo: how geal foms of the sy re oon ‘Sed intl ctr tion Comps ih ‘Some eeent soc how hey te am of gang hogs Sethecatand ow thy eden fom De compar Sul detmioan ofaterence (often this kind of research is wery lage sae, with cooperation between fod among contre, sing ge eszach teams and involving high levels ‘of eoondintion and cooperation. Combinations of methods wll be sed Involving scvey,secondaty analyse of national datasets, interviews and expert knowledge ut comparative research Is also quite feasible on small sale, such asthat found in your own projec, patel I the researcher has nt- imate knowledge of both the caltures concerned. The problem that iss on the small sale i hat often the research undertaken is of two halional or cultural situations, where the researcher ~ using a patie pant observation approach and relying on insider knowledge ofthe two tuations ~ hay infact, insider owledge af only one ofthe cultres Involved if this the cae, 118 not possible to make the rch compar lsons that would be expected, depending on a fine-grained understand. fing of wat is Rappening in each. There may be a richly textured ‘understanding of one stuatlon but fr less understanding ofthe othet ‘Actually, although I'note that potental problem, on a small scale a comparative study fs somerimes fess beset with problems than is the Targeseate study For example, where lage study seeking to make ‘omparsons actors countries in say, fevels Of aainment, the only sute ‘nay of ensuring comparability fo se the same measuting instruments Indifferent places But to do thi, these instruments (st or whateves) ‘will be have to be translated from one language to another and cultural Telecences In some way also tanslated. These wansations are fraught ‘wih problems, The sdmninstation of these tess then has to be coor nated aeros wo of more cOUnIES, 2d this sof course a very expe sive busines. Where dential measures are not used, the measures that te used for comparison will have Deen devised locally with diferent purposes in mind, ané wih different coding and standardisation proce- thes The data may not have been collected in say way spstematialy. “These issues can render meninges any comparion between. natonal 138 now roo youn mstancn proc datasets or even the comparison of data from simultaneously given bul dlifeent assesment instrument. Smal or lage Scale, what shoulda comparative study be aware of? 1+ Enalonee fie comparison statins. Howe fart posible, foc example, ‘oma valid compansons between Rustani an lip i se hes to inclsive education? Certainly he study foosing on these cfr ‘ences, but maybe the cffences and the patametes fr them ae of sich ‘Proportions tata comparison fe meanings. Rurtania may be wel on the path ton indusive education system, having turned lof spece Schools int inclusion services, wil ilipat has ever even ad ny Spe al schools and its primary schools routinely ave ase of 60 ot tone Student. To atempt to elect any comperson here would be meaning les though that hasnt stopped people tom tying to d + Equtalene of measuring isonet. How, fr example can we ensure equivalence in the framing and intepzetation of qesionnaie items? ‘+ Linguog Ditferences i language may invalidate eren seemingly straghtforeard comparisons. Forexample, the Swedish words which Seem fo be nearest tothe English word ‘comimunity” okalsalie (ot nirsamhile) do not capture the sense of entity meant inthe ‘ngish word community (when the words weed ina social science ‘context. They mean “local soley" or someting close to ‘neigh- boushood Even the same word in two English-speaking couatees ‘means something diferent: sn the UK edition context “Integra on’ means the teeching of children with special needs in the main Stream school, whereas fn the US it means something much more {general and does not have the UK meaning a al, + The ier or ‘eas of the geeraphical unt being studied. Is pos sible to say that you can valdly compare the whole of Rartania nd the whole of Lillput when these countries contain great regional d= ferences? Researchers should be aware of what exact it they are comparing, finessing out and making expt ultra eigious, hs torial and individual dferences that may exer regionally. Why are comparative studies useful? ‘+ New insights can be obtained. ational and social thought can ‘develop in an insular way in parila environments aad the recog nition that another county’ of region docs things aiferently aa flr new avenues for leas and for development. ‘+ Potential explanations may occur forthe existence of particular devel ‘opments in behavieus, in understanding or even in Instiutlonal {font or decline in a partclar pace based perhaps on blot ot ulus diferences. ‘+ They give us a window on our own unspoken and unquestioned cul tural expectations, when these are seen against the backérop af the expecialons and practices of other ‘+ Theprobiematicdlferenes that cru dung nas of diferent cultural situations can themselves provide insights. For example, sing the reeorscormaue 139 example oftne meanings ofthe word ‘commanty’ in deren languages, fan this provide lusts to the growth of er practes and baa ‘os? for example, might the words for‘eommusity In Engst, Swed fd Stench mean something diferent because of the diferent ays in ‘whlch indastalaton snd urbanisation appar in Ube counties? came 69 ston rom Tay and iting on» goverment shlrlp oa Mtr’ {eee nsec cy at UK ure. prs by Robert Pans book enn Mare (which he ead ttn Scandia somone ng alt n the sect or moe lay to return than srmane who fn 8 wale in Tnolne, he este corps note fo ep nd seus in England tha in ae Th. cose to focur he reser pret for Ms ser Sonar sous ean own pn a exes Feslaaed spp ster ne to courier How fe can the usta Ito be rele othe Kin of scl apt pan of by Pru (998: 73, ‘eho sugges tht Sock apa the connects rong pooh sd, | tea solsewats andthe norms orecproey ard nsteorbiness at se tom he evening reson abot ros cap in 35 coun Pua ad ete tts thas ets sol Wa and ee cage fo vtng Feet to esing people on he sret~- wer sro cele wth ge {rol Cento dace nas phenomena cree yay seal te US. ies petite son sb tr ld raow sce my une ctanes ppl rom tera hes tet Fert i stein te commoner bo hgh faded sad ni hese ‘van whch prtesina a one a ofthe spat ene commuiy ‘umber ton am groceser engaging win oer? Te soe say | Geto nth satire tat Ptr ees rs book at say a the ase Sha wer these wo osm wy to expaang te corer ow ‘Ht sc capil nce inthe Ut ocean har European xe ato res tat he coo elsy oe op sy gescae compan Invltng qutionare sn tres, hough be nay eto compute est Ing dates esng to thet curs Uy exit a fom ht woud ee ‘tuoningdcompaton tt rn empl wo, howe, wos fiat ea etn al ey tins [Sxgoes ar sheot pygounds-in he wo cones, ne dco sug ‘ears cin, sso somepeniay Woman with ey {ver and cobiogcsn the UK. ha 300g ai igh spend Ste of Sie fonied hehe, esting In a ong talon se de sebap of We Ke Sn ne ld nen For prank {rcvespomiy among rane those who workin tat yrem, There may have ‘evade ofthe ase wl prose, eraling ig te paca ‘poreoly fer hdpng oes can be sawed ote 9 back et Fling ‘tel duane wn the eta pple, edie fos on al ene ‘Septonss and saves hem a i wet none sey a esr ie

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