Gender and subject choice Essay

To carry out these interviews, I would take a hear of 20 sixth-formers, preferably inside my own sixth-form to allow easier, speedier access and consisting equally of both males and females. In order to do this I would use quota sampling, this is a way in which variables can be controlled and the participants with similar characteristics are elect, thereof the overall sample can reflect the characteristics of the population as a whole. These samples would also preferably include students that had chosen to occupy any of the sciences, merely particularly focusing on biological science.This sample would also take into name ethnic and class differences in order to allow me to differentiate among males and females according to different variables, providing sufficient extra data to measure sexuality against class roles and the intersections. Whilst this will provide qualitative clues as to subject survivals by gender it will be limited in illustrating the touch of the erudit eness environment and gender roles, as this would demand more qualitative psychoanalysis such as that of Anne Colleys. However, I would expect the results to be generalisable to a wider population.I will anchor these questions in previous research such as that of Anne Colley. Within the interviews, I am going to focus on biota in particular when asking about the science/favourite subjects, and so forthtera My reasons for doing this arise from the evidence that Science at GCSE level is more habitual with males whereas at A-level it is more commonly chosen by females. I would experience the interviews with a number of unrestricted questions, so as to will the participant a chance to provide me with worthy feedback, eg. Why did you choose Biology? , and What did you think of it ?(in comparison to GCSE level), etc.I would record the answers to these open questions as it would be time-consuming to write down umteen long answers, etc. This would enable me to extract a varied viewpo int on many different students perspectives of subject choice and preference. Then I would ask a series of closed-ended questions which will generally be more appropriate to deliver the goods a table of results for clear comparisons to be made.These closed-ended questions would include similar questions to Do you think Biology is a girls subject? and Do you think physics is a boys subject? , etc. Questions would be piloted on a bittie group of males and females to ensure its adequacy. This is in fact a little(a)-scale introductory study which will allow me to check that things will run smoothly during the interviews and also allow improvements to be made to the design of the research, should there be any faults. (471 words) Potential Problems As this is a such a clear piece of research, it would a trouble to generalise from it, especially to schools and pupils different from the sample, eg.ethnic minorities, common soldier education, etc.It would give an idea of the reasons in which a particular small group of students chose their A level subjects and their own individual reasons for doing so. However it could give a fair impression of reasons for subject choice in separate cases, eg. similar circumstances to other pupils studying the same subjects etc. The physical exercise of quota sampling does have both theoretical and practical drawbacks in nearly circumstances.It isnt truly random as each person within the population doesnt have an equal chance of being chosen. The pretermit of this genuine randomness may have a significant assemble on the results. For example, the quota sample within my study would be only those illustrated on the biology class register, however the results may have more of an impact if a quota sample had been taken from all those who achieved a high localize at GCSE biology and were in fact considering going on to study it at a higher level, etc.There is of level, with my research an interviewer bias. As my opinions on t he topic are set by doing the research, participants may be influenced by my asking of the questions and will therefore respond by adult a respectable answer as they may find the solid truth embarrassing, eg. I fancied a lad who was taking the course. However I am similar in status to my chosen sample group, therefore they may wish to impress or please me by giving me answers that they think I want to hear.Another problem may be the reliability of the interviewees memory, they arent currently making their choice and might not remember their thoughts on it at the time. Also during interviews, a crucial factor as a way of achieving a time-tested outcome of the research is to not put ideas into the students head in advance having asked open-ended questions. For example, closed-ended questions especially may put forward ideas that werent there before and therefore mislead me about their thoughts on the matter, etc.