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.
Investigating Education and Ethnic Identity
How do sociologists actually turn an idea into a piece of research? In this interactive activity, you take on the role of a sociological researcher investigating how education may influence the ethnic identities of pupils. Rather than simply choosing a research method, you will work through the different stages of a real research investigation and…
What Do Sociologists Actually Do?
If sociology is the study of society, what does a sociologist actually do? Do they sit around thinking about capitalism? Do they spend their time reading statistics? Do they interview people? Do they watch how people behave? Do they advise governments? Do they expose inequality? Or do they simply spend their careers arguing with other…
What Is Sociology? Understanding the Society Behind the Individual
One of the first problems sociology students encounter is that sociology appears to be about almost everything. Families? Sociology. Education? Sociology. Crime? Sociology. Social media, poverty, gender, ethnicity, religion, politics, work, youth culture, inequality and relationships? All sociology. So what actually makes sociology a separate academic discipline? The answer lies less in what sociologists study…
Leave a Reply