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Study Guide for Bryn Hafren students

WJEC GCSE Sociology Structured Report

General guidance notes

• However you present your report, typed or written, it should be neat.
• The word count is just a general guide, but try not to stray over by too much.
• The word limit means that only one method can be discussed fully.
• You are strongly advised to make sure that you have a simple and clear idea of your aims and intentions before starting research otherwise it will be difficult for you to organise your report properly when you start to write.
• You are advised to focus on an element of ordinary daily life you wish to investigate rather than on a social problem as such.
• Anything you want to add as general evidence should be in the appendix. It should be labelled clearly and referred to in the text of your report.
• If you use this document to help you write your project, delete all the typing in italics because those are the guidance notes.

Candidate name:

Candidate number:

Centre name:

Centre number:

Title of the Report:

Here you say what it was you studied in as much detail as possible. Be very precise.

Section A - Design (10 marks)

a) State the aim/aims of your report (100 words)

Do just that – what was the purpose of your study? What did you intend to discover.

Remember that you will need to state your aims really clearly because you will have to discuss whether you achieved your aims in the results section of this report.

b) Describe the design of your investigation, giving reasons for your choices. (300)

This should be an overview of how you planned and organised your research project explaining what methods you used and why you chose those methods.

Focus on how the methods you chose related to your choice of topic and why those methods were suitable. Talk about the choice of method rather than offering detail about the questionnaires or interviews.

c) Describe practical and ethical issues raised by your report. (75 words)

Practical issues refers to actual problems you may have had planning and organising work: issues such as cost of photocopying and taking time out of school or work may be discussed.

Ethical issues refers to the personal side of research. You may need to consider whether anyone could be harmed by questions or whether questions or observations are suitable.

d) Describe the sample you used. (75 words)

Mention the sampling process that was used.

Offer a brief overview of who was involved in the sample. Who were they and what social characteristics did they share?

Section B - Procedure (10 Marks)

a) Describe how you carried out the research. (150 words)

Explain exactly what was done. A list of actions would be a good approach, but a clear account will be credited more highly.

Keep good notes as you carry out your research because you may need to think about what happened when you are writing your conclusions section.

b) List the materials and documentation you used. (20 words)

If you designed a questionnaire or wrote a letter or e-mail. List it here and put a copy in the appendix.

You may wish to comment on the design of the questionnaires and interview schedules when you are writing your conclusions.

Section C - Results (10 marks)

c) Describe the main results of your investigation (300 words)

Point out the most significant findings.

Refer to graphs and tables if you wish, but the actual graphs and tables should go in the appendix.

Only the most important findings need to be discussed.

d) Did you feel that you met your aims? (100 words)

Go back to your aims section and discuss whether you did actually discover what you intended to learn when you planned this study.

If you did not, you may wish to comment on this

Section D - Conclusions (10 marks)

a) Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the method you chose (300 words)

What did you learn about your method as you were carrying out the research?

What were the good things about your method?

What were the bad things about your method?

b) Was the data reliable? Give reasons (75 words)

Do you think that your findings were accurate?

What were the accurate things about your findings?

What were the inaccurate things about your findings?

c) Was the data valid? Give reasons (75 words)

Do you think that your findings were true to life?

What were the true to life things about your findings?

What were the true to life things about your findings?

d) How might you improve or develop the investigation if you were to do it again? (100 words)

Assuming this was the only project you had to do, and you had lots of money and time, what would you have done to make it better?

Think about practical issues such as time planning and organisation.

Write about your methods and your samples and how they could be more detailed, reliable or valid.