Media Methods and Representations: The Bechdel Test
The Bechdel Test is a very simple type of content analysis, created by Alison Bechdel in a 1985 episode (“The Rule”) of her comic-strip “Dykes to Watch Out For”, that tests how women – and by extension men – are historically represented in Hollywood films. Aside from throwing-up, so to speak, some interesting and frankly-quite-surprising […]
Sociological Scenarios™: Research Methods Revision
Revision is probably one of the least-interesting things you’ll ever do as either a student or a human being, and if you haven’t been revising throughout your course, you’ll be faced with a few weeks of staring blankly at your “Notes” (a word I use optimistically) trying frantically to remember “stuff” that you can somehow […]
Left Realism: The Islington Crime Surveys 1986 – 2016
One of the initial features of Left Realism, as it was developed by writers such as Young, Matthews and Lea, was the use of a very particular survey method aimed at gathering large amounts of data about a relatively small location: the local crime survey carried-out, in this instance, by Young et. al. (1986) in […]
Making Friends with Methods
Many students seem to find research methods difficult and, if we’re being honest, a little dry. The two conditions may well be related. In our selfless – and possibly never-ending – quest to make sociological research methods just a little bit more moist, our latest film builds on our previous efforts (Case Studies, Self Report […]
Pygmalion in the Classroom: Revisited
Whether you’re looking generally at Education and Methods in Context or specifically at teacher expectations as an “Inside School” factor in differential achievement, a useful study to have in your locker is Rosenthal and Jacobson’s “Pygmalion in the Classroom” (1965) experiment. Accessible examples of experiments are quite rare in sociology and “Pygmalion” can be cited […]
Research Methodology: Neo-Positivism
As Jurgenson (2014) notes, positivism reflects the idea that, “if enough data can be collected with the “right” methodology it will provide an objective and disinterested picture of reality” and it is, in this respect, based upon two fundamental beliefs about the social world: 1. It involves patterns of behaviour that are capable of being […]
Revision Mapping Research Methods
While I’ve previously posted a Revision Map on Sociological Perspectives I never, for some reason, got around to posting further Maps (at least, not in pdf format – there have been Flipbook versions). Until now. In order to remedy the omission, therefore, I thought I’d start with a range of Maps dedicated to Research Methods. […]
New GCSE Sociology Knowledge Organisers
Following from a safe distance the recent batches of A-level Knowledge Organisers (A Few More A-level Sociology Knowledge Organisers and Even More Sociology A-Level Organisers) comes something similar for GCSE. These are largely for AQA but there are a couple of sets aimed specifically at WJEC/Eduqas. Chase Terrace Academy: Although I’ve previously posted Organisers for […]
Even More A-level Sociology Organisers
A little like the iconic red buses of yore, you wait a couple of years for a new batch of a-level sociology knowledge organisers and then two come along at once. Or a few days later at any rate. Bit like red buses when you come to think about it. Still, a gift horse is […]
A Few More Sociology Knowledge Organisers
I think it’s probably fair to say that Knowledge Organisers / Learning Tables have become a well-established part of the A-level Sociology curriculum these past few years and while I’ve only posted one new set of examples over the past couple of years (the aptly-named New Selection) plus a rather-brilliant variation on the theme that […]