One of the key skills students need for Cambridge OCR A level Sociology is the ability to interpret data for the topic area of Researching Social Inequalities. This can either be quantitative (such as stats or responses to closed questionnaires) or qualitative (extracts from interviews). In this activity, we are going to get students to think like a sociologist and interpret the meanings of a selection of quotes from interviews into social inequality.

Purpose

To help students practise analysing qualitative data and applying key methodological concepts:

• Social action
• Verstehen
• Validity
• Subjectivity
• Researcher bias
• Reflexivity (extension)
• Objectivity (positivist critique)

Students will interpret interview extracts and identify the meanings behind actions, rather than simply describing behaviour.

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Learning objectives

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

1. Identify the meaning a participant gives to their behaviour.
2. Explain how an extract shows social action.
3. Suggest a useful follow-up question to achieve verstehen.
4. Explain why qualitative data may have high validity.
5. Evaluate how a positivist might criticise qualitative evidence.

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Resources

• Printed student worksheet (extracts + annotation grid)
• Highlighters / coloured pens
• Optional key concept support sheet (definitions)

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Teacher Instructions (step-by-step)

1) Quick recap (5 minutes)

Start by reminding students:

• Interpretivists want to understand the meanings people attach to their actions.
• They often use qualitative methods (e.g. unstructured interviews) to gain in-depth, valid data.
• This links to Weber’s idea of verstehen (understanding from the actor’s point of view).

You can put this on the board:

“Behaviour on its own does not explain meaning.”

Then ask:

• “If a student misses lessons, what might a teacher assume?”
• “What might the student say is actually going on?”

This sets up the activity nicely.

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2) Introduce the task (2 minutes)

Tell students they are going to act like interpretivist sociologists analysing interview data from a fictional study of social inequalities in education.

They must go beyond “what happened” and focus on:

• what it means to the participant
• why they acted in that way
• how a researcher could understand it more deeply

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3) Student task (15–20 minutes)

Students read each extract and annotate using the questions provided.

They can do this:

• individually first, then pair-check
• or in small groups (one extract each, then feedback)

Encourage students to quote specific phrases as evidence.

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4) Feedback and discussion (10–15 minutes)

Take one extract at a time and ask groups to share:

• the meaning they identified
• the social action
• a follow-up question
• why the data may be valid
• a positivist criticism

Push students to use key terms accurately.

The quotes and annotation sheet are provided below:

Teachers can also find suggested responses and discussion prompts in the document below: