Last Updated on October 5, 2026 by Karl Thompson
This question was set on AQA A-level Sociology Paper 3 (7192/3) in June 2023, as Question 05, the first question in the Theory and Methods section. The same no-item 10-mark format also comes up at the end of Paper 1, so it’s worth knowing for both papers.
The model answer below is my own. The guidance on what earns the marks comes from the AQA’s June 2023 Paper 3 mark scheme and the examiner’s report on that paper.
NB – If you’d like to attempt this question BEFORE looking at the answer below, you can review the topic first: Positivism and Interpretivism in Social Research. If you’re a bit ‘all at sea’ with Interpretivism, you might also like this post: social action theory: a summary.
The Question (no item!)
Outline and explain two reasons why interpretivists prefer to use qualitative methods of research. (10 marks)
What the Mark Scheme Rewards
To reach the top band (8–10 marks) you need very good knowledge and understanding of two reasons, applied to relevant material, with appropriate analysis. The mark scheme’s examples of top-band material include qualitative methods giving the researcher insight into the meanings of the people they study, and the unstructured nature of methods such as unstructured interviews and participant observation producing more valid data.
The 10 marks split 5 for knowledge and understanding (AO1), 3 for application (AO2) and 2 for analysis (AO3).
The indicative content suggests points such as:
- gaining verstehen (empathetic understanding)
- the unstructured nature of qualitative methods giving greater validity
- understanding people’s actions, which allows the researcher to explore unfamiliar and sensitive topics
- letting the sociologist’s own values inform the research
- taking the side of the ‘underdog’
Sociologists the mark scheme lists as relevant include Weber, Blumer, Garfinkel, Douglas, Atkinson and Becker.
Note: there are no marks for evaluation on the 10 mark no item questions (there are for the ‘analyse with the item’ 10 mark questions!) The examiner’s report on this paper said so directly: some students still wrote evaluation, and it earned nothing.
The examiner’s report also flagged two other ways students lost marks on this question:
- Turning it into a comparison. Some students wrote a comparison of interpretivism with positivism, which didn’t meet the demands of the question. The question asks why interpretivists prefer qualitative methods. Mentioning what a questionnaire can’t do is fine, as part of explaining a reason. A paragraph on what positivists believe is not.
- Mixing up validity and reliability. Interpretivists prefer qualitative methods because they are more valid. Qualitative methods are generally less reliable, and interpretivists accept that trade-off.
A Developed Model Answer
NB Warning – this is total overkill and probably completely unrepresentative of what 95% of actual A-level students are capable of producing.
The first reason is that Interpretivists believe that social realities are complex, and that individuals’ identities are the results of 1000s of unique micro-interactions. Interpretivists, following Weber, argue that the job of the sociologist is to achieve verstehen: to understand the meanings people give to their own actions, which means seeing the world through their eyes.
For example, labelling theory believes that students fail because of low teacher expectations, and these expectations are communicated to students in subtle ways over many months or years, until a student ends up with a self-concept of themselves as ‘thick’.
There is simply no way that quantitative methods such as structured questionnaires can capture these complex (‘inter-subjective’) micro interactions. In order to assess whether labelling has taken place, and whether it’s had an effect, you would need to go into a school and ideally observe it happening over a long period, and talk to students about how their self-perceptions have changed, which would require qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews. Alternatively you could use diaries in which students document their changing self-concept.
A further reason why qualitative methods would be good in the above example is that you could, as a researcher, check whether teachers do actually have negative perceptions of certain students (rather than it being all in the students’ minds) – again qualitative methods are vital here – you would have to probe them, ask them testing questions, and look for body-language clues and observe them interacting to really assess whether labelling is taking place.
It would be all too easy for a teacher to lie about ‘not labelling’ if they were just filling out a self-completion questionnaire.
A second reason Interpretivists prefer qualitative methods stems from Goffman’s Dramaturgical Theory – People are actors on a ‘social stage’ who actively create an impression of themselves. If people are always performing, then the data a researcher collects is only valid if the method can get behind the performance.
Goffman distinguished between ‘front stage’ performances of social roles and the ‘back stage’ regions of life (the staffroom, or home) where we drop the performance and are more ‘true to ourselves’.
Goffman argued that some people give ‘sincere’ performances – e.g. one teacher might really believe in teaching, and genuinely care about their students – their professional role is who they ‘really are’. Others, however, put on what he calls ‘cynical’ performances – another teacher, for example, might act like they care, because their school tells them to, but behind the scenes they hate the job and want to do something else.
A qualitative method such as participant observation would be pretty much the only way to uncover whether someone is sincerely or cynically acting out their social roles – because the flexibility of following the respondent from front stage to back stage would allow the researcher to see ‘the mask coming off’.
If you just used a questionnaire, even a cynical teacher would know what boxes to tick to ‘carry on the performance’, and thus would not give you valid results.
How This Answer Measures Up Against the Mark Scheme
AQA hasn’t published a student response for this question, so this is a reading of the model answer against the June 2023 level descriptors, not an official mark.
- Two distinct reasons. The first is about complexity and meaning (verstehen); the second is about the gap between performance and reality (Goffman). They don’t overlap, which is what you want in a 10-marker: two reasons as far apart as possible.
- Both reasons land on validity. The first is about capturing meanings a questionnaire can’t reach. The second is about getting behind a performance. That matches the mark scheme’s own top-band examples.
- Application. Both reasons are applied to a worked example from education: labelling, and teachers’ performances. That is the ‘application of relevant material’ the top band asks for.
- Analysis, not evaluation. The analysis marks come from explaining why the method fits the reason: why a questionnaire can’t catch a cynical performance, and why labelling needs long-term observation. Nowhere does the answer weigh up whether interpretivism is right. That is exactly the line the examiner’s report draws.
- No comparison essay. Questionnaires appear only as the thing that can’t do the job, which keeps the focus on interpretivists.
KT’s Commentary
[KT DRAFT — REWRITE IN YOUR OWN WORDS BEFORE PUBLISHING]
This was the ‘easy’ 10-marker on the paper in theory, and the examiner’s report suggests a lot of students made it hard for themselves by writing everything they knew about positivism versus interpretivism. The question only wants two reasons. If you find yourself writing “however, positivists would argue…”, stop: that is evaluation, and on this question it earns nothing.
The model answer above is longer than you’d manage in 15 minutes. Two developed paragraphs, each with a named concept (verstehen, Goffman’s front and back stage) and a concrete example, is enough for the top band.
Related Posts
- Positivism and Interpretivism in Social Research – the difference between the two approaches
- Outline and explain two reasons why Positivists generally prefer to use quantitative methods (10) – the companion question
- Factors Affecting Choice of Research Methods – theoretical, practical and ethical factors
Source: AQA (2023) A-level Sociology 7192/3 Paper 3 Crime and Deviance with Theory and Methods: question paper, mark scheme and report on the examination, June 2023. Question wording and mark scheme guidance reproduced and summarised here for educational purposes.
Theory and Methods A Level Sociology Revision Bundle
If you like this sort of thing, then you might like my Theory and Methods revision notes bundle – specifically designed to get students through the theory and methods sections of A level sociology papers 1 and 3. It contains the following:
- 74 pages of revision notes
- 15 mind maps on various topics within theory and methods
- Five theory and methods essays
- ‘How to write methods in context essays’.
Signposting
This post has been written for students studying theory and methods as part of the AQA’s A-Level Sociology course. For more exam practice, see my page on sociology past papers and exam advice.