Comparative Analysis of Two Educational Research Studies - Coursework Example

Running Head: Comparative Analysis of Two Educational Researches Comparative Analysis of Two Educational Research Studies [Institution’s Name] Comparative Analysis of Two Educational Research Studies Introduction The paper aims to present a comparative analysis of two educational research studies. These research studies are “Choice, Pathways and Transitions, Post-16” by Stephen Ball, Meg Maguire, and Sheila Macrae and “Boys, Girls, and Achievement: Addressing the Classroom Issues” conducted by Becky Francis. Both of these research studies were conducted in 2000. The reports of these research studies are also published in book form. The following discussion strives to compare these research works to unfold the core similarities and differences between the research methodologies and theoretical frameworks of these research studies. Furthermore, the paper also compares the obstacles and difficulties that the researches faced while conducting their studies. In this regard the paper presents a brief overview of both the studies and then proceeds towards their comparative analysis to show the seminaries and differences of these studies. Brief Overview of Research Studies The research study “Boys, Girls, and Achievement: Addressing the Classroom Issues” by Becky Francis is commonly used for the classroom management and teachers training (Stephen, 2002, p18). The main objective of the study is to discuss the gender identity affecting upon the educational achievements of the students. The research study addresses the gender gap found in the educational achievement and it is regarded as one of the useful studies conducted around the topic that allow having a very clear reflection of the issue. The work is done carefully and thoughtfully to presents a thorough analysis that deals with the gender identities of the students in the classrooms. The study also unfolds some strategies that can assist the teachers to improve the educational performance of girls and boys. The research study is an important attempt to provide evidence based proofs regarding the underachievement of boys at GCSE level (Stephens, 2002, p98). In the end, the researcher also gives some valuable suggestions to the teachers so that they can improve their classroom strategies and can deal with gender identities more effectively. On the other hand, the research study “Choice, Pathways and Transitions, Post-16” conducted by Stephen Ball, Meg Maguire, and Sheila Macrae is focused upon the lives of the young people living in the global city. The research report basically describes the life of the young people living in modern city at the turn of 21th century and the core problem encountered by the youth of that time are deeply discussed in the study with reference to certain theories and existing research studies. There is wide range of problematic issues covered in the research study (Colley, 2003, p15). Furthermore, the study put forward some policy issues that aim to address and assist the authorities in their policy making process related to the education system. Thus, it is found that there is obvious difference in the research objective of both the studies. Both of the studies are intended to unfold some aspects of youth education and to propose some ways for the identified problems however in these studies, the issues are discussed from different perspectives. Francis has focused upon the role of gender identities in educational achievements however Ball et al are more concerned about the lives of young students in connection with their families, careers and social life. Comparison of Theories These studies were built on strong theoretical foundations. The social theories are used to explain relationships and to envision possibilities and delineate trends that may promote these possibilities (Albert et al, 1986, p6). These research studies also provide in depth understanding of the relevant existing theories in order to position the research work among them and to explain the foundation of the research study. Ball et al, also integrate the theoretical concerns in their study. The research study provides an overview of the political, social and economical aspects of the lives of the young people living in a big city. The theoretical perspective of the research study discusses the effects of conservative governments policies upon the social and economic aspects of the lives of the young people. The study basically discusses the theoretical themes including "the rise and spread of the culture of individualism and economics of individualism, the intensification of social and economic polarization, issues round consumerism, leisure and identify; and the alleges demise of class politics" (Ball et al, 2000, p2). As Furlong and Cartmel (1997, p8) pointed out that the recent radial changes have drawn significant impacts upon the thinking style and decision making power of the youth. The young people are more attracted towards individualism philosophies and have become fully liable for their survival in the wake of social change. The new situation provides new opportunities as well as new risks to the young people and at the same time, this approach is working to weaken the traditional social relationships that call for collective identities rather than individualism. The changes thinking style of young people is commonly observed by the theorists. The youth of today believe on working at their selves in order to attain their self satisfaction. The transition phase is also affected by the changed role of the families in the lives of individuals. (Lloyd, 1996, p39) thus, the evolving individualism among the youngsters is one of the major theoretical aspects covered in the research. Another theoretical concept discussed in the research study is the social and economic polarization in reference with the phenomenon of individualism individualization. It is observed that the freedom of choice evolving among the young generation is also affected the politics and policies of the neo liberal governance. The social imbalance and exploitation of the labor has divided the society in two distinct portions where one group grabs major share of all facilities and the other gets very low share. The changes family behaviors are also byproducts of this economic polarization. The widening gap between the rich and the poor has compelled big proportion of the children to live below the poverty line and as a result these children and their families face immediacy of crisis and sickness (Beck, 1992, p89). It is also observed that this social imbalance draw strong impacts upon the social identities of the people and the life style of the youth is strongly influences by this unequal distribution of resources in the society. The class difference in pointed out as an important responsible factor that determines the level of education, life styles as well as life outcome of the individuals. Thus, the theories presented in the research study affirm that the thinking style, attitudes and life style of the young people is strongly influenced by the social imbalance. The outcome of the research is also focused on these described themes and the life stories of the young people included in the book reflects the experiences and life journey of the study participants in response to individualism, social inequality, employment problems, identity problems and risk prevailing in the changes social scenario. The study of Francis is well supported by the theoretical concepts. The researcher provided a very knowledgeable and detailed overview of the theories on gender differences and performances. The theoretical framework of the study is mainly constituted by the theories of gender identities. The researcher refers to some educational researches of 1980s that were in response to the early theories of girls passiveness in the classrooms. These theorists argued that the girls usually remain active in the classrooms and the impression of girls’ passiveness in education is not evidence based and the early approach of sex role in education was very limited (e.g. Anyon, 1983; Riddle, 1989; Lees, 1993; Skelton, 1998; Epstein et al, 1998). While responding to this literature gap, some theorists explicitly define the role of collectively constructed gender and argue that boys often underachieve at educational grounds. As a result, the role of women has changed because the women are supposed to effectively accomplish certain goals and objective in their educational and professional careers. The study also refers to some feminist and pro feminist theories that describe the masculinity and feminine effects on educational achievements. It is revealed from the theoretical analysis that the boys and girls are entirely different ethnic, social and sexual identities and the personalities of the boys and girls are also affected by these identities. Masculinity could be in form of academic achiever, new enterprisers, real Englishmen (Mac an Ghail, 1994) or in form of rebels, innovators or retreatist. On the other hand, the feminist theorists argue that the girls can be nice, spice or tomboys’ type. This notion of gender identity is supposed to draw significant impact upon the educational achievement of the students because the personality characteristics like confidence, stamina etc are affected from these characteristics. Thus, it is found that the studies explicitly define different relevant existing theories. The research study of Francis was much aligned with the discussed theories whereas Ball et al, deviate from single central theme as they didn’t focus on single issue and identify many problematic areas. Research Methodologies Both of these research methodologies are conducted by employing qualitative research approach that is a field of inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and subject matters. The qualitative researchers are most of the times aimed at having deep understanding of different issues, human behaviours and the reasons and factors governing the human behaviours (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000, p24). There are many methods of conducting qualitative research studies including “case study, literature review, natural experiment, participant observation, interviews based, and secondary analysis of data or combination of these. (Berg, 1989, p123)” In both of these studies “Case Study” is selected as a research method. Francis has conducted the case study of the students of three schools for the time period of two years whereas the research work of Ball, Maguire, and Macrae presents the case study of young students for the time period of four years. The data collection for the case studies is also different in both of these studies. Yin (1994) explains that for conducting case study, the data and information could be collected from different sources including “documents, archival records, interviews, participant observation, direct observations, and physical artefacts”. Francis has adopted combination of interviews and participants observation to collect the data and information for the case study however Ball, Maguire, and Macrae have collected thought interviews of the study participants. Francis randomly chooses 100 students – 50 males and 50 females from three different schools located at different parts of London including inner city, semi suburban city and great London. The participants were selected on the basis of their willingness to participate in the study. The semi structured interviews were audio recorded in which the participants replied to maximum 15 questions 15-20 minutes each (Francis, 2000, p21). Furthermore, the class observation was also done by the researcher to examine the behaviors of boys and girls during the learning process and this observation was also intended to examine the strategies that teachers can adopt for improving the participation and educational achievements of boys and girls. The entire work was conducted solely by the researcher herself. Francis’ research study provides clear evidences regarding the validity and reliability of the research tool. The case study is conducted over the time period of two years. During this time period, major changes in the thinking and life style of the study participants are not expected. In the same way, the interviews and class observations show that the research tool selected to conduct the study very well targeted the research objective and was focused on research theme (Wainer and Brain, 1988, p45). Thus, the validity and reliability of the research study is clearly observed in the review of the research. On the other hand, Ball, Maguire, and Macrae collected the data and information from 59 randomly selected young students who used to live in different areas of London. The book presented the responses collected from 24 participants. Among these 24 participants, 18 were females, 19 were minority ethnic, 7 were from single parent family, 19 from Northward park and 17 from PRU (Ball et al, 2000, p15). The difference in the research methodology and sampling of survey participants is clear from the above description and it is found that Francis has adopted a simple and manageable sample of participants for conducting the study as compared with that of Ball, Maguire, and Macrae. The research methodologies of both the studies are explicitly and clearly described in the reports of these studies. The validity of the research is proving from the responses of the study participants. Their life stories unfold several issues discussed in the theoretical perspective of the research that shows the researchers have truthfully measured the research results and determined the validity of the research tool. On the other hand, the reliability of the collected information is questioned because the study spread over the time period of 4 years and there are great possibilities of changes in the thinking of the participants. Thus, the reliability of the research study is found very low due to the inconsistency of the participants’ behaviors, state of minds and attitudes. (Kirk and Miller, 1986, p14) Obstacles and Problems While conducting these research studies, the researchers encountered several problems. Most of the times, they encountered problems and obstacles during data collection for preparing the case studies. Francis found during the interviews of the students that some of the boys and few girls were feeling quite uneasy and molly symbolic. They were not open to talk in detail and discuss different matters with her comfortably. This behavior affected the quality of the gathered information. At the same time, she also found that the secrecy of the gathered information is also an important issue in front of her. For example, some students complained about the conduct of their fellows and the research was supposed to assure the confidentiality of their information. Some girls share their problems regarding the misbehaviors of their classmates and the researchers had to decide how to handle the respondents and their expressions sensibly. In order to deal with this problem, the researcher adopted communication strategy and through her behavior and language, she made the boys feeling comfortable talking with her. She also advised the complaining girls to consult their teachers regarding the problem that had with their classmates. The problems encountered by Ball, et al were even more serious and affecting the research work. As the researchers disclosed their selves in the book that the sample they choose for the research was very complex. The study was conducting among the “young people complexly raced classed, gendered. (Ball et al, 2000, p10) The researchers selected 59 young people for the study but at the time period of the case study was spread over four years, 54 peoples were remain keeping in touch with the researchers. During this time period, the philosophies, emotions, thinking style and career goals of the study participants were also changed. Furthermore, the complex sample didn’t allowed them to disclose the experiences of all the respondents and as a result, the responses of only 24 study participants are included in the book in different essays form. An important problem encountered by the researchers is to present the in depth analysis of the wide range of information they collected from the respondents. Their area of study was too wide and they were supposed to cover lot of issues from 52 people. They also face the problem of covering different types of issues in details for example the authors accepted that the research report is less focused on the issue of domesticity, drug use, poverty, religion, politics and stress etc that are supposed to be important factors within the life. The researchers also faced the problems of communicating a sense of diversity and dynamism of the cohort. If was difficult to collect data from the respondents because they often change their locations as well as career paths. They were supposed to be transitional phases of their lives. The study participants tend to change their minds very quickly. There was variety of trajectories and positions occupied by the young respondents. The diversity of the sample also affected the interpretation and analysis of the study and rather coming towards a single conclusion, the researchers identified number of issues and problematic areas that need the attention of the authorities. In order to handle the problem, they discussed the stories of only 23 pupils in the book and these stories are organized in different essays form to clearly interpret the research findings. Thus, it is found that there are many problems that were encountered by the researchers while conducting their studies and the major obstacles were in terms of data collection problems. The researchers adopted the appropriate strategies and actions to deal with these problems. Conclusion The above discussed presents the comparative analysis of two educational research studies. Both of the discussed studies were conducted around the youth education however the main focus, data collection, interpretation, problems and outcome of these studies were different from each other. The study of Francis remained focused on a single theme and the described theoretical framework, data collection, interpretation and analysis well supported this theme. In the end, the researcher successfully came up with the desired results and put forward some suggestions to the teachers that were intended to assist them in dealing with the gender identities in classroom and to improve the educational performances of all the students. Ball et al, on the other hand, adopted a wide topic for the research study. Everything including the data collection, theoretical description, data collection and analysis is affected from their wide approach. Though the study significantly contributes to the existing literature but it often deviates from a central theme and the end results are different from the intended results. References Albert, M. Cagan, L. Chomsky, N. (1986) Liberating theory, Boston: South End Press Ball, S.J, Maguire, M. Macrae, S (2000). Choice, pathways, and transitions post-16: new youth, new economies in the global city, London: Routledge Becky Francis, B. (2000), Boys, girls, and achievement: addressing the classroom issues, London/New York: Routledge/Falmer Beck, U. (1992). Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage Berg, B. (1989), Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences, third edition Allyn and Bacon, Boston Colley, H. (2003), Mentoring for social inclusion: a critical approach to nurturing mentor relationships, Routledge Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (1997) Young People and Social Change: Individualisation and Risk in Late Modernity. Buckingham: Open University Press Kirk, J., & Miller, M. L. (1986). Reliability and validity in qualitative research. Beverly Hills: Sage Publications Lloyd, C.B. 1996. “Family and gender issues for population policy,” in United Nations, Population and Women: Proceedings of the United Nations Expert Group Meeting on Population and Women, Gaborone, Botswana, 22-26 June 1992, New York: United Nations: 65-80 Mairtin Mac an Ghaill (1991). The making of men: masculinities, sexualities and schooling, Buckingham; Philadelphia: Open University Press, c1994 Stephens, J (2002). Ways of Being Male: Representing Masculinities in Childrens Literature and Film, London: Routledge Wainer, H., & Braun, H. I. (1988). Test validity. Hilldale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates Yin, R. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing Read More