Last Updated on October 15, 2026 by Karl Thompson
An example of how you might answer a Methods in Context question, with a plan in three sections, and a summary of what the mark scheme looked for.
This question comes from one of the AQA’s specimen papers for AS sociology: Paper 1, Education with Methods in Context (7191/1), where Methods in Context is Question 06, with Item B. The format and the mark scheme are the same at A-level, where it’s Question 05 on Paper 1 (7192/1), with Item C, so it’s just as useful for A-level students.
New to these questions? Start with How to Answer Methods in Context Questions, which explains what the question asks, how it’s marked and how to plan it.
The question and item
(05) Read item B, then answer the question below (hooks in bold)
Item BInvestigating pupils with behavioural difficulties Some pupils experience behavioural difficulties and problems interacting with others. This can create a major obstacle to learning, for both themselves and their classmates. In some cases, they are taught in specialist schools or in pupil referral units separate from mainstream education. Often, their behavioural difficulties result from problems outside school and many pupils come from materially deprived and chaotic home backgrounds.Some sociologists may study pupils with behavioural difficulties using covert participant observation. This method enables the researcher to witness directly the pupils’ behaviour and its context. It may also allow the researcher to build a relationship of trust with pupils and parents. However, the researcher may find it difficult to fit in and he or she may need to adopt a specialised role such as teacher or support worker. |
Applying material from Item B and your knowledge of research methods, evaluate the strengths and limitations of using covert participant observation to investigate pupils with behavioural difficulties (20)The hooks in the item
Hooks in Item B
These are the points in the item you should be picking up and developing:
- behavioural difficulties and problems interacting with others
- specialist schools and pupil referral units
- problems outside school: materially deprived and chaotic home backgrounds
- seeing behaviour and its context directly
- building trust with pupils and parents
- the difficulty of fitting in, and the need for a specialised role such as teacher or support worker
What the mark scheme looked for
This is my own simplified version of the mark scheme for this question.
To get into the top band (17–20), knowledge of covert participant observation needs to be accurate and conceptually detailed, and it needs to be applied closely to this specific topic, pupils with behavioural difficulties, by thinking about:
- who you might be researching: pupils, their peer groups, parents, teachers and support staff
- where you might be researching: classrooms, staffrooms and pupils’ homes
- how sensitive the topic is: the pupils’ vulnerability, stigma, parental consent, and the school’s reputation
Answers would typically apply four or five of these features of covert participant observation to the topic:
- practical issues: getting in, staying in and getting out; recording data; time and cost
- ethical issues: sensitivity, and the lack of informed consent
- validity: qualitative data, verstehen and insight, flexibility
- problems of interpretation and analysis
- small samples and unrepresentativeness
Answers that only apply the method to education in general, rather than to pupils with behavioural difficulties, are likely to sit in the 13–16 band at best.
A plan for an answer
Section 1: Deal with the method
This gets you into the middle mark band, 9–12. If you can, link to education in general, or even to the topic, using words from the item from the start.
- Covert participant observation is generally preferred by interpretivists, because it’s good for insight and depth.
- Validity is generally good, but in this case it may not be (see below).
- Reliability and representativeness are poor.
- Practically, it is difficult to do, especially in closed institutions like PRUs.
- Ethically, it is highly problematic, especially within education, where you are researching vulnerable pupils.
Section 2: The main body, covert participant observation applied directly to the topic
All of these points hit the top mark band descriptor (17–20).
- Pupils with behavioural difficulties are vulnerable, so gaining access would be a problem, especially with any type of participant observation, given the close contact you would have with them. Gatekeepers would be reluctant to let researchers in, to protect the pupils, and they may not be keen for a researcher to see how chaotic life can be in such institutions. So covert participant observation is a sensible choice in one respect: you’re more likely to get into a pupil referral unit if you pose as a professional and so appear to be “on the side of the institution”.
- However, covert access would still be difficult, because getting into a PRU covertly would require you to be trained as a teacher or learning support assistant: they won’t just let anyone in!
- In terms of validity, participant observation is usually good for getting people to trust you, but if you were covert and apparently working for the PRU, the pupils might not open up to you, because pupils like these are unlikely to trust authority figures. So this major advantage is nullified.
- Having said that, it would still let the researcher observe how peer groups reinforce bad behaviour in the context of the institution.
- Ethically, the researcher could be put in danger: they may come across violent pupils, and wouldn’t be able to break cover easily in a classroom.
- Practically, if you took on the covert role of a support worker, you wouldn’t be able to follow the pupils home or onto “the street” to see how they behaved outside the institution where you “worked”, so you’d get no insight into where they spend most of their time. This makes the method pretty useless for this topic.
- Similarly, you wouldn’t be able to get into their homes to explore their “chaotic” backgrounds, so you couldn’t observe this at all: you’d be stuck asking them about it while in the PRU.
Section 3: Conclusion
Overall, participant observation may well be a sensible choice of method for researching this topic, but there is nothing to be gained from doing it covertly rather than overtly. And covert research probably wouldn’t happen anyway, because no one would fund it given the ethical problems of researching vulnerable pupils, so all of this has been a rather pointless discussion.
The last sentence is optional!
For more on the method itself, see Covert Participant Observation and Participant Observation to Research Education. For the research contexts, see Researching Pupils and Issues Surrounding Researching in Schools.
Signposting
For more Methods in Context questions with answers, see How to Answer Methods in Context Questions and Methods in Context Questions: A Full Mark Answer from the AQA. For more general exam advice, see my exams and past papers page.
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