Research #4 & Dissertation Writing - The anomalies, who is different and why?

Why do people hold alternative view points to the main bulk of society?
Why do some people choose to study the supposed lesser-academic, soft, "fake" subjects?

To answer this question I would like to make that point that intelligence is not innate, it changes over the lifespan of an individual and when studying intelligence it is important to note that there is not any one type of intelligence but rather there are many different types of intelligence such as street smarts and academic ability based intelligence, but there are many other types out side of this.

In links to intelligence, some people are better at academic subjects and have very good written communication skills but the opposite is also true, some people are better at subjects where their is less written work and more practical based work. These are the so called anomaly in society those that share beliefs of mutual respect for the soft subjects and believe that there is no superior subject or show the complete opposite belief that practical is better than academic as it is applicable in labour jobs and also jobs outside of offices.

People who differ from the norms by preferring the soft subjects are often less academically inclined and have low academic ability but not all are like this, some are both academically inclined and prefer the soft subjects. The fact is that people who take subjects such as those from the expressive arts are more likely than not to be worse at academic subjects.

Research #3 - Student Interview No. 1

I interviewed a number of students to see their attitudes toward subject choice and what they deemed real subjects, soft subjects and academic as to check the beliefs of students one-to-one.

As to remain integral to the study and not ruin the ethics of the study the participant's name has been changed to John, no information other than the fact he attends the school and is in year 13, plus subject choice for analysis, shall be given away as to keep the study ethical.

John, a year 13 student here at Tupton Hall Sixth Form, who I interviewed, claimed that subjects such as psychology, sociology, media studies, law, health and social care, Religious Studies, Music, art, drama, photography, dance, hospitality and catering are not real subjects, they are not academic and the arts are not as important as science and maths.

John studied Computer Science, Business Studies (this was ironic as he made a remark that if it has studies in the name it isn't a real subject) and also Economics. He believed that computer science was useful as the world was becoming increasingly influenced by the media, he also believed that business and economics were easy subjects and so he would get easy grades in them.

In conclusion, John was your typical student taking on views that maths and science were superior subjects and claiming that the expressive arts and anything that could be deemed as remotely as a soft subject were not useful and were poor subject choices.

Results from study #2, Year 12 study

The results from this study were invalid due to the bias presented from the sample and so I have chosen to eliminate these results and rely solely on the year 13 results, from study one, as the results from this study showed high bias, low generalisability and extremely low validity and so the study is not true to life in any way and the results show clear and undeniable error that leads me to conclude that the results and conclusion should be stricken from the record for undeniable and truly preposterously invalid results.

Study #2 - Year 12 and Subject Choice

My Conducted Study Of The Chosen & Respect Of Subjects Offered At A-Level:

Hypothesis:

1. People will chose to study academic studies over non-academic studies.
2. Academic studies are the most respected studies
3. Lesser-academic studies are the least respected studies

Sample:

Self-Selected/Volunteer Sample - I went into a year 12 form room and requested volunteers to be apart of the study and received a biased sample of students (who were mostly apart of the same friendship group, did very similar subjects and had very similar attitudes and values)

Data Type:

I gathered quantitative data as it was most useful and easy to translate into comparative methods like correlation. I collected this data in the form of three tally charts. This allows anonymity of the participants as no personal data has been acquired nor is required to take part in this study.

Reliability:

The method I highly reliable as it was a standardised procedure that I repeated for every participant, it also was a tally chart and every participant was asked what subject they did, what they respected the least, what subjects they respected the most.

Generalisability:

This study was not generalisable due to the biased sample I gathered through the self-selected sampling method and as they were almost all friends doing the same subjects and did not have differing attitudes to make it generalisable.

Research Method:

This was a interview where students were asked what subjects they did, which ones they respected the least and which they respected the most.

Experimental measures design:

N/A

Ethics:

Participants were briefed and filled out consent forms that gave them full details about the study. The participants names were not used and so they have confidentiality. I have also offered the participants a chance to withdraw from the study. Also participants were not deceived about the study, this however did invalidate my results see below.

Validity:

Participants did suffer from demand characteristics and interviewer bias because they knew the intentions of the study, therefore they may have chanced their answer to suit the study and what they believe I, the researcher, would have wanted to hear. This was particularly evident with one student who's results had to be stricken from the record. The sample biased my results and rendered my study invalid because they shared similar values towards subject choice and shared the same subject choices.

Study References

Student Room Forums:

Academic subjects -
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2110711

Most & Least Respected Subjects
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=180984

Subjects & Student Views
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3446227

News Articles:

Arts decline in schools - 

https://news.sky.com/story/arts-decline-in-schools-short-sighted-and-morally-wrong-says-arts-council-england-head-11836265

Blacklisting method of the working class students from state schools -

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/top-universities-using-a-secret-list-242896

University and subjects:


Cambridge official site -

https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/applying/a-level-subject-combinations/

Hull University -

https://www.hull.ac.uk/choose-hull/study-at-hull/admissions/undergraduate/entry-requirements.aspx -

Politics and Subject Choice:


Labour Party Education Manifesto -

https://labour.org.uk/manifesto/education/

Views on Subject Easiness Rating:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/649891/Perceptions_of_subject_difficulty_and_subject_choices.pdf 

Will be updated as study and research continue...

Research Project #2 - Student Attitudes & Values

Upon looking into students' attitudes towards subjects being regarded as "hard" and "soft" subjects I found out that students often gravitated towards the "academic" subjects being classified as hard and "lesser-academic" subjects being viewed as soft. I tested this by looking online across various forums, mainly the student room, to which I found myself surprised to see such close minded and prejudiced individuals who bullied and ridiculed students for subject choice, claiming their subjects were not academic and soft subjects that they might as well drop out or do real subjects.

After studying such values for an extended period of time these attitudes do not surprise me and seem to be a cultural norm here in the united kingdom possibly due to the way that the government prioritises in education, mainly on memory recall and less on elaboration. (see below evidencing from OECD learning styles PowerPoint ) The United Kingdom is high in memorisation, the highest, and low in elaboration, the lowest.

Often note worthy when looking at actual values of students would be the rigidness of the categorisation of hard and soft almost to the point that these values have been instilled in them from a young age by a system of education. For example, "Anything with 'studies' at the end is probably on the soft side" This shows the typical view that some subjects just shouldn't be regarded as subjects even though they should be held on equal grounds. (see references)

Research Project #1 - Trinity College Cambridge & Subjects

Universities and the preferred subjects:

 

On the Trinity College Cambridge site it states they prefer certain subject combinations and don’t accept subjects not written on their listing: (Link below in references section)

 

FACILITATING SUBJECTS

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Classical Languages
• English Literature
• Geography
• History
• Mathematics/Further Mathematics
• Modern Languages
• Physics

• Each language taken to A-level counts as one facilitating subject. For individual subjects, there are some additions to this list. For Maths, A-level Mathematics and A-level Further Mathematics count as two separate facilitating subjects, but for other subjects they count as one facilitating subject. Candidates for sciences are encouraged to take two science subjects to A-level, alongside Maths and, if applicable, Further Mathematics. For Economics, A-level Economics counts as a facilitating subject. For Music, A-level Music is a facilitating subject.

 

Facilitating Subject definition:

 

The definition of facilitating subject is the subjects most commonly required or preferred by universities to get on to a range of degree courses. They help you keep your options open when choosing a degree, and many of the top universities will ask you to have at least one A-level in a facilitating subject when you apply.

 

This means that the best institution are generally biased and do not the expressive arts as a qualification unless it is music, lesser academic studies like health and social care are also discriminated against in the form that they are not accepted as a qualification at the top universities this could be seen as purposeful and this is there way of stripping the “meat form the fat” in other words the best students from the average students and the “poorer” students in terms of both money (social class) and the lesser minded students (not so smart students). But it also picks apart the students in terms of their academic studies, the lesser academic studies and expressive arts are often not accepted at top universities and the better universities only look for the “brighter talented” students who did academic studies at A-level. An alternate viewpoint is that this may be accidental discrimination against those people who do choose expressive and lesser academic subjects. However it seem more likely that this is on purpose.

 

 SUBJECT REQUIREMENTS

• Classics (three-year course): applicants must take Latin or Greek A-level. If not, the four-year course can be considered.
• Computer Science: applicants should ideally offer Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Maths, Further Maths and Computing or Maths, Physics, Computing and AS Further Maths are acceptable alternatives.
• Economics: applicants must take Maths A-level.
• Engineering: applicants are expected to take Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Those unable to take Further Maths A-level may take Maths, Physics, an AS in Further Maths, and an A-level in any of Chemistry, Biology or Electronics.
• English: applicants need to take either English Literature or combined English Language and Literature at A-level.
• History: applicants must take History A-level.
• History and Modern Languages: applicants must take an A-level in the relevant language, unless they are applying for Russian or Portuguese in which case another foreign language A-level is recommended.
• Maths: applicants are normally expected to offer Maths, Further Maths and Physics, although if necessary another facilitating subject may be substituted for Physics.
• Medicine: applicants must take Chemistry A-level, and two further A-levels out of Biology, Physics, Maths and Further Maths.
• Modern Languages: applicants must take at least one of their selected languages at A-level.
• Music: applicants must take Music A-level.
• Natural Sciences: all applicants should take Maths A-level. Those intending to take subjects in their first years that are primarily drawn from the Physical Sciences should ideally take Physics and Further Maths A-levels, but may if necessary take Physics and either Biology or Chemistry as well as AS Further Maths. Those intending to study subjects in the first year that are primarily on the Biological Sciences side should ideally take two out of Chemistry, Biology and Physics, although applications from those with only one of these three are not discouraged.
• Psychological & Behavioural Sciences: applicants must take Maths and Biology A-levels.

Take into account that only music from the disrespected list and lesser picked study subjects is on this list, not even psychology is an acceptable subject for studying psychology and behavioural sciences, you must study maths and biology to take psychology and behavioural sciences.

Correlation Graph For Study #1, Year 13 study

 

Correlation Graph:

Results from study #1, Year 13 study

Most chosen subjects:

(In no particular order)

(Only gathered first X amount of participants.)

Subject	Number of students who chose this subject
Physics	6
Chemistry	6
Biology	-
Mathematics	10
Further Maths	4
Geography	1
History	1
Drama	1
Art	3
Music	2
Photography	-
Media Studies	3
Physical Education	-
Business Studies	1
Economics	5
English Literature	1
English Language	6
Law	5
Psychology	6
Sociology	3
Health & Social Care	1
Product Design (DT)	2
Computer Science	3

 

(Gathered from first 25 students)

 

 

Most respected subject options (choices):

Subject	Number of students who chose this subject
Physics	6
Chemistry	6
Biology	1
Mathematics	13
Further Maths	4
Geography	-
History	1
Drama	-
Art	3
Music	2
Photography	-
Media Studies	2
Physical Education	-
Business Studies	1
Economics	5
English Literature	1
English Language	6
Law	5
Psychology	6
Sociology	3
Health & Social Care	-
Product Design (DT)	-
Computer Science	3

 

Conclusion:

1. People often pick subjects that they do for the most respected subjects
2. Academic studies are the most respected studies

 

Least respected subject options (choices):

Subject	Number of students who chose this subject
Physics	3
Chemistry	1
Biology	-
Mathematics	3
Further Maths	-
Geography	1
History	-
Drama	4
Art	2
Music	-
Photography	3
Media Studies	10
Physical Education	2
Business Studies	2
Economics	3
English Literature	1
English Language	2
Law	-
Psychology	2
Sociology	8
Health & Social Care	12
Product Design (DT)	8
Computer Science	-

 

Conclusion:

1. Lesser-academic studies are the least respected studies