Ruth’s Sociology Resources Blog

This page is for anyone doing A2 coursework which for both OCR and AQA is in the form of your own research study. Most of the material on this page is aimed at those of you following the OCR coursework and is structured to help you meet the requirements for that board. However, hopefully it will provide AQA students with some useful ideas.

The key differences between the two boards are as follows:

• OCR ask students to carry out a pilot study whereas AQA asks for a small-scale piece of research
• The two boards require different sections and you are given specific headings for these
• OCR only looks for a small amount of contextual material, AQA asks for a more substantial contextual section
• OCR requires students to submit a proposal form to the board, AQA does not

This page is split up into the following sections; click on one to view it:

• Introduction
• Deadlines and Dates
• The Coursework Process
• Structure of the Coursework Task
• The Research Proposal
• The Research Diary
• Ideas and Advice
• Topic Suggestions
• Getting Good Marks
• Other Guidelines
• Presentation of your coursework
• Plagiarism
• Referencing work

Introduction

The coursework task forms the assessment for the A2 Sociological Research Skills unit and is worth 15% of your A-level (30% of the A2 course).

Your coursework task is to design, trial and evaluate a sociological investigation.

The coursework task builds on the material you have covered at AS in the Sociological Research Skills unit, giving you the opportunity to design and try out a real piece of sociological research. The emphasis is on your coursework being a trial, ie a pilot study, to test out a research design.

The coursework task is an independent piece of work – your teachers will help you with your planning and answer any queries you may have as well as checking that your coursework is on track, however the writing of your coursework is your responsibility.

Notre Dame Students - You will start your coursework at the end of the summer term of your AS year and continue it during the Autumn term. Although the coursework will not be submitted to the Board until April of your A2 year, the aim is for you to have completed your coursework by the end of the autumn term, giving you time to complete the rest of your A2 course.You will be using both class time and independent study time to work on your coursework, the final writing up of your coursework will be done in class.Please make a note of deadline dates and keep them in mind when you are working on your coursework.

Please make a note of deadline dates and keep them in mind when you are working on your coursework.Try to work ahead of the deadlines rather than getting your work done at the last minute.

Not all your sociology lessons during this time will be devoted to coursework and do not expect that you will be able to complete the coursework only in class time.

The Coursework Process

This is to give you an idea of the process that you should go through in carrying out your study – what steps you should take and in what order.

coursework diagram

Structure of the Coursework Task

Your coursework task is to design, trial and evaluate a sociological investigation.

Length 2000 - 2750 words

You will be penalised if you exceed the word limit. At the same time it is unlikely that you will be able to get high marks if your study is significantly less than 2000 words.

Your personal study must be organised under the given series of headings, each with a maximum word length. Each section should start on a new page. The sections are:

• Title
• Research Proposal
• List of Contents
• Rationale
• Research
• Evaluation
• Bibliography
• Appendix
• Research Diary
• Annexe

Rationale

• Choose an area of research with a clear sociological theme
• State the central research issue, question or hypothesis of your study
• and give yourself 2 clear research aims which will help you answer your research question – you will refer back to these throughout the study
• Briefly summarise the reasons for carrying out the study
• Your research aim must be developed and tracked throughout the rest of the study
• The rest of the study must relate back to your hypothesis/aim
• A description and explanation of your research design and reasons for the design

Research

This is the core section of your study and should be organised under headings:

• Report on the piloting of the research design and process
• Analysis and interpretation of the findings
• Conclusions of the study

Evaluation

This section should relate to your study as a whole, reflecting on the whole research process

• Evaluate the overall research design and methodology
• Assess your findings in relation to your research aim
• Present ideas for the further development of the research

Bibliography

A list of all sources used in the research fully referenced

• Use the Harvard referencing system outlined in this guide
• For internet pages give the full URL of the website

Appendix

• Single example of material used/produced in the study eg. Questionnaire, annotated interview transcript
• Single example of any letters sent/received as part of the study

Research Diary

While you carry out your sociological study, you are required to keep a research diary, recording the progress of your study, there are several ways in which you could lay out your research diary.

The research diary is a crucial part of the research process – basically it documents every step of your research, from “What topic shall I choose?” to the very end of your study. Your diary should be reflexive – asking questions, reflecting on what you are doing and noting down the solutions and ideas you have along the way.

The diary should also act as a record – of discussions with your teachers about your research, useful sources you have used, ideas you have, things that you need to do. Each entry in your diary should be dated and you should be adding to it regularly.

You will be expected to bring your research diary to each lesson when we work on coursework and to any additional discussions of your coursework.

You will find your research diary vital when you come to write the Evaluation section of your study – it will help you to remember what happened as you went through the research process, the reasons for the decisions you made and the difficulties you encountered. This is what you need to produce a study that is truly reflexive.

Most people prefer to split their research diaries into columns – making it easier to keep track of what is going on and to organise your ideas. These might include:

• Date
• Ideas
• Problems
• Possible solutions
• Sources
• Comments
• Coursework section

Your research diary must be on A4 paper and must be included with your personal study when it is submitted.

Annexe

This includes all the raw data collected by you in the course of the study. This data is not submitted to the exam board with the study but is kept by the school until your results are confirmed.

The Research Proposal

Before you can start on your research you have to submit a research proposal to the exam board, this will then be approved or rejected by the board’s coursework advisor.

Your research proposal is an outline of what you intend to study – your research question, your proposed method and research process.

You will be given the official form to complete towards the end of the summer term, to be completed and sent to OCR.

Obviously, in order to complete and submit a research proposal that will be approved you need to have a very clear idea of what you want to research and how you intend to carry it out. For this reason we will be spending a considerable amount of time working on your research proposals and making sure that you produce something that is tight-knit, practical and manageable.

Once your research proposal has been approved you must keep the copy that is returned to you and it must be included when you submit your final study.

Ideas and Advice

• You must make sure that the research is feasible for you to carry out within the available timespan.
• It is not necessary to carry out hundreds of questionnaires – think about alternative methods – in-depth interviews, film analysis, newspaper analysis (this can be quantitative or qualitative), observation, case study. Students often enjoy analysing a popular film from a sociological perspective or picking up themes in favourite books – all these things can be sociological!
• Make sure that the task you are setting yourself is possible
• Can you carry it out within the time available?
• Can you get hold of the necessary resources?
• Is it ethical for you to carry out the research?
• Are you objectives clear and achievable?
• Are relevant context pieces available?

• Choose a topic and a method that you find interesting – remember that you have to work on this study over the next few months! Your choice is limited by only four factors:
• your imagination
• what is sociological
• the topics included within the specification (there are lots!)
• what you can practically carry out

Having said that, it is worth remembering that you are probably better equipped to study a topic that we have covered to some extent in class.
Most students who take coursework seriously will say that they did enjoy doing it, even though it was hard work.

You have a fairly free choice as to what you choose to study. Some areas that you may wish to consider and/or combine are:

• Conjugal roles
• Divorce
• Single Parent families
• Family diversity
• Social class identities
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Power in the family
• Changing identities
• The role of the family in society
• National identity

These are just suggestions, there are many other areas and ideas that you may wish to explore.

When choosing your topic and aim remember:

• Your research must be ethical
• Your research must be practical and manageable
• Your aim must be clear and precise

Topic Suggestions

Here are examples of possible hypotheses and aims:

(A hypothesis is a statement of what you expect to find that you test to see if it is true; an aim is something that you are trying to find out)

Families & Households
Hypothesis:

• Teenage girls today are more interested in having a career than a family.
• People still hold traditional views about the roles of men and women in society.
• The majority of childcare in middle-class families is carried out by women.
• Advertising predominantly portrays the family as nuclear.

Aim:

• To find out whether the conjugal roles in middle class families are segregated.
• To find out whether modern women do work a “triple shift”.
• To examine whether teenagers see cohabitation as an alternative to marriage.

Individual and Society
Hypothesis:

• Girls taught in single-sex schools achieve better exam results at GCSE than girls in co-educational schools.
• “Cultural borrowing” plays an important role in today’s youth culture among girls.
• Ethnicity is presented as “the other” in today’s retail environment.

Aim:

• To discover whether children who have lived abroad have a strong sense of national identity.
• To find out whether toys bought for children are divided along gender lines.
• To find out whether children’s toys are marketed differently at boys and girls.
• To find out whether teenagers have a sense of social class identity.

Here is a further list of possible topics:

• A case study of a student’s experience of work, re. working conditions, job satisfaction etc.
• The study of a particular occupation from secondary sources- working conditions, sexism or racism, trade union activity, impact of technology, pay, qualifications etc.
• A study of a particular subcultural group, using PO and secondary data.
• A study of media images of a social group
• A study of authority and decision making within a social group
• A study of the factors within the school/college that help to reinforce traditional male/female stereotypes/images
• An investigation into playground behaviour/games/violence etc.
• A study of social class/ gender/ethnicity and educational achievement
• An analysis of children’s books in terms of gender activity
• A study of the division of labour within the home
• A study of the media portrayal of a defined issue e.g. AIDS, “mugging”, child abuse, using content analysis
• The replication of an existing piece of sociological research
• Voting behaviour of young people
• The influence of religion in the lives of young people
• Women and crime
• A study into poverty
• A Feminist reading of a film or series of films eg the Terminator series

Getting Good Marks

General

• Read the instructions in this guide – do you understand what you need to do?
• Look at the marking criteria – your teacher should be able to give you a copy of these. Do you understand how the sections are marked?
• Look again at exemplar pieces of coursework.
• Stick to the word limits – for each section and for the study as a whole – there are no extra marks for extra words and you will not meet the top band criteria if you write too much. “Succinct” and “Concise” are important words to keep in mind.
• Examiners are not mind readers! They cannot read between the lines or guess what it was you meant to say – make sure that what you write is clear.
• proof read, proof read, proof read!
• Be careful about your use of words – make sure that you are not using words with different meanings interchangeably – e.g. reliability & validity.
• Make sure that you have read and know the ethical guidelines, take these into account as you do your coursework and if you are in any doubt about any aspects of your study please see your teacher to discuss.

Your topic
There are four main things that you will be marked on:

• Whether what you are suggesting is appropriate, practical (can it be done) and sociological. It makes sense to base your chosen aim/hypothesis on a topic area you have already studied – the reasons for this should be obvious!
• The reasons for your choice. These should demonstrate a sociological understanding. Make your reasons explicit – if you don’t you are unlikely to reach the top band.
• The clarity and focus of your research. If this is not clear then you will lose marks here and throughout the study. Lack of clarity about aim/hypothesis is the most important reason for candidates losing marks. One aim or one hypothesis only – do not re-write or add sub-aims – it is too easy to lose focus.
• To what extent your hypothesis/aim relates to the study as a whole. Ask yourself whether the whole proposal “hangs” off your hypothesis/aim – if it doesn’t then something needs changing

Supporting Material
While you need to have done background reading and provide evidence of this you only need to outline one background piece of research or theoretical idea. This will only take up about one paragraph

Show how your contextual material is relevant to your aim/hypothesis and research – don’t generalise or leave your material “free-standing”.

It helps (but is not necessary) to relate your context material to a theoretical perspective.

Try to use up to date sources, or if not, show that you are aware that they may lack relevance to current situations.

Don’t use quotations unless they are explicitly relevant – it’s easy to waste words.

Your research process

• Choose ONE method – that is all that is needed and choosing more than one will mean that you will probably deal with it in insufficient depth and/or overrun the word limit.
• Show why your method is appropriate and how it is appropriate to your hypothesis/aim. Be specific.
• You could make the theoretical links between your method and what you are aiming to find out. Which perspective does your research method stem from?
• Explore the strengths & weaknesses of your method, make use of the key terms
• Reliability
• Validity
• Representativeness
• Generalisability
• You must outline and justify your whole research process from beginning to end, this includes things like:
• Ethics
• Practical issues eg. Access
• Sampling
• Show how you have operationalised any concepts – how does your method produce the results you need and what might affect the results. Eg. Studying the effects of teachers’ gender stereotyping on boy’s academic achievement – how would you identify, research and measure this?
• Show your awareness of variables – eg. That social class and gender may have some effect if you are researching the academic achievement of an ethnic minority group.

Analysing your findings
Do not subject the examiner to “death by a thousand pie charts”! Make sure that the data you present is relevant and clearly explained and analysed in the text.

• How do your findings relate to your research aims?
• Conclusions – what conclusions can you draw from your study (remember that it is just a pilot)

Evaluation
This should be reflexive – it is about you looking back at what you have done. Make use of your research diary when writing this section – this should highlight the process you have been through and jog your memory. You should reference your research diary in this section.

Evaluation of the research design and methodology

• You MUST go beyond a generalised list of advantages and disadvantages of your chosen method.
• Look at your whole research process from beginning to end
• Evaluation should be specific to your study
• Use your PET – Practical, Ethical, Theoretical as a checklist
• Deal with issues and concepts such as reliability, validity, representativeness ang generalisability.
• Explain any problems with operationalisation and variables.
• Remember evaluation looks at the positives as well as the negatives – what was successful about your research?

Assessment of findings

• Link your findings to your research aims
• Did you find what you set out to find? – do your findings address the aims & issues you wanted to look at?
• Could your findings have fitted the aims better if you had designed your research differently?
• Are your findings reliable? Valid? Representative? Generalisable?
• Ideas for further development of the research

Be specific!

• Are there other variables that might be worth exploring or taking into consideration?
• Could this research be applied to other social groups/contexts?
• If you’ve used a quantitative method, might it be worth exploring a qualitative method?
• Is there a different angle or viewpoint you could take on this topic?

Other Guidelines
Your work must be independent – ie you may not work on your coursework with anyone else.

Coursework submitted by you must be entirely your own work – plagiarism will not be tolerated and can result in your coursework receiving 0 marks.

You should make sure that you research falls within the ethical guidelines (a summary is included at the end of this pack).

Presentation of your coursework
The study must be presented using the set headings

Your coursework does not have to be word-processed, however we would strongly recommend that you use the computer to produce it as this makes it much easier for you to change you work as you go.

Word-processed work should use a clear font at least 12-point size.

Pages should be A4, single-sided only, clearly numbered and held together by treasury tags.

Your centre number, candidate number and the title of your work must be on your study.

You should state the word length for each section and the overall number of words should be stated on your title page.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is passing off someone else’s work or ideas as your own – this could be copying from a book or website, or using someone else’s work without acknowledging it.

Plagiarism is unacceptable - if you have used somebody else’s work, be it that of a class mate or that of Karl Marx, you must acknowledge it, by saying exactly where it has come from (see the section on referencing below).

Your tutor will pick up on any plagiarism or cheating that occurs and you will be penalised for it – don’t try it! Such offences are serious and can ultimately result in your being disqualified from all your A-level qualifications.

Referencing work

From the beginning of your coursework make a note of everything that you read or look at that might be useful – your bibliography section should be one of the first things you start – otherwise at the end of your study you will be trying to remember what you looked at and where you found articles.

ALWAYS refer to authors/researchers by their surname or full name, eg. “Hobsbawm” or “Eric Hobsbawm” – NOT “Eric”.

If you are referring to someone’s work within an essay it is sufficient to cite their name and the date of writing.

For example:

“In 1964 Douglas found that …..”
OR
“Douglas (1964) found that ……..”
OR
“Material deprivation has been seen to be a major factor in educational underachievement (Douglas, 1964) …”
If you quote directly from a source you should also cite the page number within brackets.

Bibliography
At the end of the essay you should then cite your source fully, following the format below:

Author’s surname, initial, (Date of publication) Title, Place of Publication, Publisher
Eg.: Browne, K. (2002) Introducing Sociology for AS Level, Cambridge, Polity

If you cite from a journal article (eg. Sociology Review) the format is as follows:
Shaw, M. & R. Widdowfield (2003) “Ethics and doing health research” in Sociology Review Vol.12, No.4

Citing from a book where different chapters are written by different authors is similar:
Hobsbawm, E. (1981) “Between the wars” in Potter, D. et al (eds) Society and the Social Sciences, London, Open University

Reference websites by giving the full URL and the date accessed

Reference newspapers by giving the name of the article’s author (if known), the name of the newspaper and the date.