Sociological Stories: Sociology and Science
The next Presentation in the Sociological Stories season is built around the relationship between Sociology and Science and covers four main areas: What is science? Is sociology a science? Value-freedom Types of data Included in these 4 sections are stories about various sociological methodologies (Positivism, Neo-Positivism, Interpretivism, Realism), types of data (primary, secondary, quantitative, qualitative) […]
Census Unearthed: Small Area Statistics
As the name suggests, “Small Area Statistics” generate vast amounts of data that delve in great detail into people’s experiences and behaviours “at the local level”. In this particular instance the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has used “recently digitised data from the 1961 Census Small Area Statistics” in England and Wales to provide highly-detailed […]
Doing Nothing as Deviance
“What are you doing?” “Nothing” “No, really. What are you doing?” “I’m. Doing. Nothing”. While breaking social norms is always a fun and interesting way to get students to think sociologically about the world in which they live and generally take-for-granted, it’s not always something that’s easy to do / demonstrate in a safe and […]
Sweet Sampling
I think it might be fair to say that the idea of teaching different types of sampling using various fruit-flavoured sweets (from Skittles to Jelly Babies / Beans) is one that’s created more relief and rejoicing among Sociology teachers than most other techniques you could name. Although that’s probably not actually saying much, given that […]
Podcasts with Pictures: Evaluating Sociological Research Methods
Alexandra Sugden’s YouTube Channel contains a load of online lectures, for both GCSE and A-level, covering areas like crime and deviance, education, sociological theory, research methods and a tiny bit of religion. The Channel’s well worth a visit and a watch if you have the time and inclination and, as with many of the other […]
A-level Sociology Organisers: A new selection
It’s been a while since I last posted any A-level Sociology Knowledge Organisers – a combination of both being a bit busy and a relative paucity of resources – and although this is something of a mixed-bunch, some fairly bog-standard stuff plus some rather more interesting efforts – unless you try them you won’t know […]
GCSE Sociology Knowledge Organisers
Over the past couple of years I’ve posted a whole load of Sociology Knowledge Organisers (or Learning Tables as they’re sometimes known) and they continue – along with their Psychology counterparts – to be some of the most-popular posts on the site. Which must mean something. The last batch, however, seems to have been posted […]
Research Methods: Triangulation
Over the past few years the concept of triangulation has become increasingly central to an understanding of both research methodology and methods – their strengths, weaknesses and limitations in particular – at High School and A level and it’s a topic I’ve already addressed a few times in one form or another. If you want […]
Family and Personal Life: Tests for Husbands and Wives
Historical comparisons are an interesting and illuminating way to teach about social change across a range of areas and, I would suggest, family life is no exception. When looking at reasons for divorce in contemporary societies, for example, it can be useful to get students to list possible reasons for divorce now, as compared to […]
Relighting the Streets: Situational Crime Prevention
Over the past 50 years an increasingly-influential school of criminology has argued that finding “the causes of crime” or “solutions to the problem of crime” is not possible. The best we can do, they argue, is manage and limit the extent of crime. Situational Crime Prevention, in this respect, involves a range of strategies based […]