Methods in Context: Home Factors

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21 Terms

1
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What are home (external) factors in education research?

Factors outside the school that affect educational achievement, such as material deprivation, parental attitudes, and language use.

2
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What are challenges of accessing families for educational research?

Researchers must go through parents or guardians, and families may be suspicious or unwilling to participate – especially in working-class contexts.

3
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What is a practical issue when interviewing parents about home life?

Parents may be unavailable due to work or childcare – limiting opportunities for face-to-face interviews.

4
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How can researcher social class affect access to families?

Working-class families may mistrust middle-class researchers, limiting rapport – a concern raised in Reay’s study of parental involvement.

5
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What did Bernstein argue about language codes in working-class homes?

That restricted codes may limit children’s success in school compared to the elaborated code used by middle-class families.

6
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Why might structured interviews be problematic when researching parental attitudes?

Working-class parents may feel intimidated or give brief answers, reducing depth – limiting validity.

7
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What research method did Feinstein use to study parental support and attainment?

Quantitative data from longitudinal studies – showing that middle-class parents were more engaged with children's education.

8
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What ethical issue arises when researching material deprivation?

It may embarrass or shame families, especially in low-income households – so confidentiality is essential.

9
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What is a limitation of using questionnaires to study home factors?

They can miss nuance and may be difficult for some parents to complete due to literacy barriers – especially among disadvantaged groups.

10
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What is an advantage of longitudinal studies when researching home factors?

They allow researchers to track the long-term impact of early home conditions on educational outcomes – as used in Feinstein’s work.

11
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What did Sugarman argue about working-class subcultures?

That they emphasised fatalism and immediate gratification, which can hinder educational ambition.

12
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What is a challenge in observing home environments?

Home life is private, and access is extremely limited – observation is rarely possible for ethical and practical reasons.

13
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What kind of data did Bourdieu use to explore cultural capital in the home?

Qualitative interviews and secondary data – showing how middle-class families pass on values, tastes, and knowledge that benefit schooling.

14
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Why might middle-class parents be more open to participating in research?

They may see value in education and research – making access easier compared to some working-class families.

15
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What is a limitation of researching parental attitudes through schools?

Only parents who are already engaged are likely to respond – creating sampling bias.

16
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How did Ball, Bowe and Gewirtz study parental choice and marketisation?

Through interviews with parents and analysis of school brochures and league tables – showing middle-class parents use their cultural capital to navigate the system.

17
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Why might working-class parents avoid talking to researchers?

They may fear judgement or feel they have little to offer – a concern raised by Diane Reay in her research on mothers’ involvement in schooling.

18
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What is a benefit of using case studies to research home background?

They offer rich detail on how family life affects achievement – though generalisability is limited.

19
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How can class-based assumptions affect researcher interpretation?

Middle-class researchers may misinterpret working-class experiences – as Bourdieu warned, research is shaped by the habitus of the researcher.

20
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What did Archer find about working-class identity and education?

That some working-class pupils rejected school success because it felt ‘inauthentic’ to their background – showing the complex role of identity and family influence.

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