A Level Sociology: Socialisation, Identity and Research Methods — Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, in the style and at the standard of the examination. They are not reproduced past-paper questions — examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers available free from your board.

Related: Socialisation, Identity and Methods revision notes

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Section A

1. Distinguish between primary and secondary socialisation, giving an agency of each. [4]

2. Distinguish between ascribed and achieved status. [2]

3. Distinguish between reliability and validity. [2]

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Section B

4. Sociologists disagree about whether society shapes individuals or individuals create society.

(a) Name two structuralist perspectives and one social action perspective. [3]

(b) Explain the functionalist view of the role of socialisation. [3]

(c) Explain how Giddens’s concept of structuration attempts to resolve the debate. [4]

5. A researcher wants to study bullying in a secondary school.

(a) Explain two practical problems with using participant observation here. [4]

(b) Explain two ethical problems. [4]

(c) Explain why an interpretivist would prefer unstructured interviews to a questionnaire for this topic. [4]

6. Evidence from feral children is used in the nature–nurture debate.

(a) Explain what such cases suggest. [2]

(b) Give one other type of evidence supporting the same conclusion. [2]

(c) Explain one limitation of using feral children cases as evidence. [2]

Section C

7. Distinguish between a subculture and a counter-culture, giving an example of each. [4]

8. Explain the postmodernist view of identity, and how it differs from the structuralist view. [4]

9. A researcher wants a representative sample of a school but has no complete list of students.

(a) Explain what a sampling frame is, and why its absence is a problem here. [3]

(b) Suggest one sampling method the researcher could use instead, and explain why. [3]

10. Explain what triangulation is and why a researcher might use it. [3]

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Answers

1. Primary — occurs in early childhood, teaching language and basic norms [1]; agency: the family [1]. Secondary — occurs later, teaching wider social norms [1]; agency: school, peer group or media [1].

2. Ascribed status is fixed at birth and cannot be changed, e.g. sex or caste [1]; achieved status is earned through effort, e.g. an occupation [1].

3. Reliability — repeating the study with the same method produces the same results [1]. Validity — the research gives a true and accurate picture of what it claims to measure [1].

4. (a) Structuralist: functionalism and Marxism (or feminism) [1] [1]. Social action: interactionism [1].

(b) Socialisation transmits shared norms and values [1], creating value consensus [1], which binds society together and maintains social order and stability [1].

(c) Structuration holds that structure and action shape each other continuously [1]. People act within structures that constrain them [1], but their actions reproduce or change those structures over time [1]. This avoids treating individuals either as puppets of society or as wholly free agents [1].

5. (a) Any two, each explained: gaining access requires permission from gatekeepers such as the head teacher, who may refuse [1] [1]; the researcher is an adult and cannot pass as a pupil, so covert observation is impossible [1] [1]. (Also: bullying happens unpredictably and often out of sight, so it may not be observed at all.)

(b) Any two: informed consent — pupils are minors, so parental consent is needed, which is difficult to obtain for a whole school [1] [1]; protection from harm — witnessing bullying without intervening is ethically indefensible, but intervening destroys the research [1] [1].

(c) Interpretivists seek verstehen — understanding the meanings participants attach to their experience [1]. Unstructured interviews allow follow-up questions and let respondents describe experiences in their own words [1], giving high validity [1]. A questionnaire imposes the researcher’s own categories and cannot explore a sensitive topic in depth [1].

6. (a) They suggest that behaviour assumed to be natural — such as language and social interaction — is in fact learnt through socialisation [1], since individuals raised without human contact fail to develop it [1].

(b) Cross-cultural variation [1] — norms and gender roles differ markedly between societies, which biology alone cannot explain [1].

(c) Such cases are extremely rare and unrepresentative [1], and the children often suffered severe abuse or had pre-existing conditions, so the effects cannot be attributed to isolation alone [1].

7. A subculture is a group within society with distinct norms and values, e.g. a youth subculture with its own dress and music [1] [1]. A counter-culture is a subculture actively opposed to the mainstream, e.g. a group rejecting mainstream values entirely rather than simply differing from them [1] [1].

8. Postmodernists argue that grand narratives no longer explain society, and identity is fluid, chosen and consumed rather than fixed [1] [1]. This differs from the structuralist view, where identity and behaviour are shaped by social structures such as class or the family, largely outside the individual’s control [1] [1].

9. (a) A sampling frame is the list from which a sample is drawn [1]. Without one, the researcher cannot guarantee every student has a known and equal chance of selection, so the sample may not be representative [1] [1].

(b) Any reasonable non-random method with explanation, e.g. opportunity sampling — selecting whichever students are available and willing — is quick and requires no frame, though it risks being unrepresentative [2] [1]; or snowball sampling, useful where students can be reached through existing contacts [2] [1].

10. Triangulation combines two or more methods so that the strengths of one offset the weaknesses of another [1] [1], increasing confidence in the findings — for example, combining a questionnaire’s reliability with an interview’s validity [1].

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Where marks are usually lost

• Confusing reliability with validity.
• Describing a perspective without applying it to the question.
• Evaluating a method in the abstract instead of for this research topic.
• Giving only one side in an evaluation.
• Confusing ascribed with achieved status.