December 2017 mock exam feedback

Year 13 mock exam 2017-2018   Outline and explain two practical disadvantages of using documents in sociological research. (10 marks) JUNE 2017 exams Outline and explain two advantages of using official statistics in sociological research. [10 marks] SPECIMEN PAPER Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which deviant subcultures respond to blocked opportunities. (10 marks) ITEM A People are set goals by society, but not everyone has an equal chance of achieving those goals by legitimate means. Barriers to achievement might include where people live, as well as educational attainment. There are a variety of ways in which subcultures can respond to this. Outline and explain two arguments against the involvement of values in sociological research. [10 marks]

Outline and explain two practical disadvantages of using documents in sociological research. (10 marks) JUNE 2017 exams General feedback Some people were limited to the 4-7 band as there second paragraph made a very similar point to their first – not able to reward 8-10 marks as a result. Few students mentioned any of the qualities that we look out for in good data – Reliability Validity Generalisability Representativeness

Outline and explain two advantages of using official statistics in sociological research. [10 marks] SPECIMEN PAPER General feedback – Again not many students used relative concepts such as validity, reliability, generalisability and representativeness, These answers tended to be better to the answers to the previous Research methods question.

Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which deviant subcultures respond to blocked opportunities. (10 marks) ITEM A People are set goals by society, but not everyone has an equal chance of achieving those goals by legitimate means. Barriers to achievement might include where people live, as well as educational attainment. There are a variety of ways in which subcultures can respond to this. General feedback – Good K+U in this essay from everyone. Need to focus on wording in the question ‘ responding to blocked opportunities’ e.g. the illegal opportunity structure because the legal one is blocked to some people as mentioned in item B ‘not everyone has an equal chance of achieving those goals by legitimate means.’

Outline and explain two arguments against the involvement of values in sociological research. [10 marks] Possible reasons that you could have included – Lack of objectivity can lead to a bias this can then reduce the reliability of the research. Objective scientific research is more likely to get funded, value laden research therefore is less likely to be funded. Could even link in how research is funded. Value-free social research was crucial because the objective knowledge that scientific sociology revealed could be used to uncover the principles of a good, ordered, integrated society, principles which governments could then apply to improve society. Thus, research should aim to be scientific or value free because otherwise it is unlikely to be taken seriously or have an impact on social policy. General feedback – The K+U in these answers was generally good. Some answers tended to just describe what value laden, value free and committed sociology were. Lack of focus on the question.