Quantitative methods

From a scientific background, I am perhaps most experienced with collecting, interpreting and evaluating numerical data. Borg and Gall, in Educational

Research state: ‘Quantitative researchers attempt to be objective, meaning

that they wish to develop a view of the world as it is ‘out there’, independent of their own personal biases, values and idiosyncratic notions’ (Borg and Gall, 1989, p.23).

Within Section 1 of the portfolio, national statistics provided by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) website were used to provide data for the number of candidates who studied GCSE qualifications in recent years. This information was used to produce the table showing the number of GCSE candidates for science and mathematics in 2000, 2009 and 2010. It can be seen from this data that the proportion of candidates for the separate sciences has increased, with the number of candidates for the double award science (integrated science courses) decreasing.

In order to assess whether the national trend applies to this particular city, I obtained information from the Local Authority regarding the number of candidates for GCSE courses in 2009 and 2010, as well as the number of students who studied A level physics examinations in the Roman Catholic Sixth Forms within the city. According to the Freedom of Information Act, numerical data are made available upon request although the data was limited to the state providers of education within the city, with no information regarding the private sector.

For data relating to the number of A level students at the college, I contacted the department within the college that contains all of the records

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and information about students – MIS (Management Information Systems). I was told that all records before 2001 had been destroyed due to Data Protection Regulations. This seemed to be very strange, for while I could understand the need to destroy confidential records, eradicating all records of the past would prevent any longitudinal research from ever being conducted in the future.

Within Section 2 of the portfolio, I analysed information provided by the UCAS statistical services website. UCAS holds quantitative information on the number of applicants from 1996, offering a statistical search based upon factors such as ethnicity, gender, age, domicile, and subject choice. I contacted UCAS to ask for information relating to the proportion of applicants for physics degrees that came from the independent sector, as well as the proportion of students at the nearest selective university (1994 Group) who came from independent schools. I was told that if I required this information, it would cost a minimum of £200 to answer each query. I also contacted HESA in order to determine information regarding social class and subject choice, which also required a fee to answer questions relating to social class. I later found information through the Institute of Physics.

Within this section, I also analysed primary source data, obtained from the FEC, on the students who had progressed to university to study for science related degree courses. Each year, UCAS provides the college with a list of all students who have been placed into Higher Education degree programmes. The FEC provided me with spreadsheets of empirical data, taking care that personal information such as names and addresses were

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removed. Apparently I am the only member of staff who has ever asked to analyse this information.

Section 4 of the portfolio was based upon the evaluation of primary data, analysing and evaluating the raw examination results over an extended period. The research by McClune suggested that the modular structure of A levels was more favourable for boys than girls: ‘There is some evidence to suggest that boys are more likely than girls to take advantage of some of the features of modular examinations’ (McClune, 2001, p.79). I was particularly interested in this statement and wanted to determine the extent that this was true for our students at the FEC. I was also keen to determine whether any significant differences emerged between the performance of girls and boys in the different modular examinations, and whether this would reveal any differences between girls’ and boys’ conceptual understanding of the subject.

In order to extend McClune’s study, I analysed the primary source data of the A level physics modular examinations from 2004 to 2010. The first analysis was conducted in 2008, which showed that there was particular under-achievement in the health physics module. One may think that this would be strikingly obvious from the examination results, however it was masked by the fact that the modules were assigned different weightings, and the optional module contained additional synoptic questions. After working out the marks for each component separately, this revealed that the Health Physics module was, in general, the one in which students achieved the lowest mark.

After recalling a selection of original scripts, I found that the students were particularly weak at the questions which required written

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communication and the ability to recall extended factual information. A content analysis was then conducted which showed that the Health Physics module had a greater proportion of discursive style questions than other papers. The Examiner’s Report was referred to, which showed that the problem with written communication was not confined to students from our college, but was in fact a national problem (OCR Examiners Report, 2008, p.21).

Within Section 8 of the portfolio, I conducted another analysis of primary data using UCAS information provided by the FEC. The raw data was used to determine the progression trends for students from a large college of further education. The analysis showed that choice of university degree was not necessarily linked to future employment, which was particularly surprising as one may have expected a college with predominantly working class students to have a greater proportion of students selecting degree courses that would be connected with future employment possibilities. Upon my quest for information, I was told that statistics are presented to the governors in the form of a short report, but my request for a copy of this report was refused (with no reason provided).

Section 9 of the portfolio uses data from both the Prospects website and hand book in order to provide an analysis of the employment of graduates. Unistats is another useful website that provides statistical information on graduate employment (UNISTATS, 2011).

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