This activity works as a two-stage enquiry task.
In the first stage, students choose a form of inequality such as social class, gender, ethnicity or age. They then open a series of evidence cards which introduce a specific issue, a named piece of sociological research, and a short explanation of why that issue matters for life chances.
In the second stage, students move from substantive knowledge into research methods. After selecting one issue from the dashboard, they choose the methods they think would be most effective for investigating it. The activity then gives feedback, helping students think about why some methods are better for identifying patterns, while others are better for exploring meanings, experiences and lived realities.
Overall, the activity helps students connect evidence about social inequality to OCR research methods concepts such as validity, reliability, representativeness and the strengths of mixed methods.
Inequality Evidence Dashboard
Explore different forms of inequality in Cambridge OCR A Level Sociology. First choose a type of inequality, then open evidence cards linked to commonly used sociological research. After that, decide which research methods would be strongest for investigating each issue.
Choose a form of inequality
Start by selecting one area of social inequality. This changes the evidence cards below.
Method Lab
Choose one issue and decide which methods would investigate it most effectively.
Fishbowl Debate: Which Feminism Best Explains Inequality?
One of the most useful ways to help students evaluate feminism is to get them comparing different feminist explanations directly. Students often understand the basic differences between liberal feminism, radical feminism and Marxist feminism, but find it harder to judge which explanation is strongest when applied to real patterns of social inequality. The Fishbowl Debate…
New Right Claim Clinic: Evaluating Claims About Family, Gender and Ethnicity
he New Right Claim Clinic is a classroom activity designed to help students move beyond simply describing New Right arguments and begin testing them sociologically. It works particularly well for Cambridge OCR A Level Sociology: Understanding Social Inequalities, because it encourages students to identify assumptions, consider missing structural factors and use evidence to evaluate claims…
Functionalism Case Diagnosis
Functionalism Case Diagnosis: A Simple Activity for Evaluating Sociological Explanations The Functionalism Case Diagnosis activity is designed to help students move beyond simply describing functionalist ideas and begin testing how well they explain real patterns of inequality. It works particularly well for Cambridge OCR A Level Sociology because it encourages students to apply functionalist concepts…
Leave a Reply