Parental Social Class and Filial School Level Educational Outcomes in Contemporary Britain: Analysis of Understanding Society and Administrative Data
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Sociology
Abstract
Despite changes in the education system, children from less advantaged social classes (for example those with parents in routine, semi-routine and manual occupations) still have far less favourable educational outcomes. The proposed research project will build on existing research to develop the sociological understanding of the relationship between parent's social class and their children's school level educational attainment through a secondary analysis of Understanding Society (the UK Household Longitudinal Study) and administrative educational data.
There are a number of notable data limitations for studying the relationship between social class and educational outcomes. The discontinuation of large-scale studies such as the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales leaves a gap in the data portfolio. The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England is a single cohort of children born in the early 1990s and therefore the data on school educational outcomes is dated. The participants in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are moving towards the end of their school-based education and the emerging data will be valuable. The MCS is also a single cohort of children born between 2000/2 and at the current time there are no concrete plans to collect another birth cohort.
An increasing amount of administrative data is becoming available for social science research, for example school examination results. The levels of accuracy and the breadth of coverage in these data resources is advantageous. A limitation of administrative educational datasets is that important background measures relating to the pupil and their family are usually absent. Researchers will routinely rely on very simplistic measures of social background such as free school meals, or area based indicators of social deprivation. Whilst these measures are associated with poverty they are very poor proxies for social class, and they are a long way from providing a sophisticated representation of the social class structure in contemporary Britain.
The proposed research directly addresses the existing data related limitations. We will undertake a secondary analysis of Understanding Society. These data include detailed information on children, their parents and their households. This will be combined with official administrative data (from the National Pupil Database) to investigate the contemporary relationship between social class and school educational outcomes. Understanding Society data includes a wealth of detailed measures on the child's mother and father, and on the wider household. The design of Understanding Society is special because information on step-parents and non-resident parents is also collected. This is unique and is likely to make a distinctive contribution to better understanding children's circumstances in contemporary Britain.
There are a number of approaches to measuring social class and Understanding Society contains the information required to produce a wide array of measures. The most established measures used in the study of educational inequalities in the UK are occupation based measures, and occupations have long been considered as the most important single indicators of economic and social positions. Recently this perspective has been questioned, and a new measure of social class has been developed that is based on measures of individuals' economic, cultural and social resources. The detailed study of these resources has the potential to offer new insights into the processes which lead to educational inequalities. In this study we propose to use the rich data within Understanding Society to evaluate capital and resources based approaches to social class alongside existing occupation based social class measures. This will provide an innovative analysis of the relationship between parental social class and children's school level educational attainment in contemporary Britain.
There are a number of notable data limitations for studying the relationship between social class and educational outcomes. The discontinuation of large-scale studies such as the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales leaves a gap in the data portfolio. The Longitudinal Study of Young People in England is a single cohort of children born in the early 1990s and therefore the data on school educational outcomes is dated. The participants in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) are moving towards the end of their school-based education and the emerging data will be valuable. The MCS is also a single cohort of children born between 2000/2 and at the current time there are no concrete plans to collect another birth cohort.
An increasing amount of administrative data is becoming available for social science research, for example school examination results. The levels of accuracy and the breadth of coverage in these data resources is advantageous. A limitation of administrative educational datasets is that important background measures relating to the pupil and their family are usually absent. Researchers will routinely rely on very simplistic measures of social background such as free school meals, or area based indicators of social deprivation. Whilst these measures are associated with poverty they are very poor proxies for social class, and they are a long way from providing a sophisticated representation of the social class structure in contemporary Britain.
The proposed research directly addresses the existing data related limitations. We will undertake a secondary analysis of Understanding Society. These data include detailed information on children, their parents and their households. This will be combined with official administrative data (from the National Pupil Database) to investigate the contemporary relationship between social class and school educational outcomes. Understanding Society data includes a wealth of detailed measures on the child's mother and father, and on the wider household. The design of Understanding Society is special because information on step-parents and non-resident parents is also collected. This is unique and is likely to make a distinctive contribution to better understanding children's circumstances in contemporary Britain.
There are a number of approaches to measuring social class and Understanding Society contains the information required to produce a wide array of measures. The most established measures used in the study of educational inequalities in the UK are occupation based measures, and occupations have long been considered as the most important single indicators of economic and social positions. Recently this perspective has been questioned, and a new measure of social class has been developed that is based on measures of individuals' economic, cultural and social resources. The detailed study of these resources has the potential to offer new insights into the processes which lead to educational inequalities. In this study we propose to use the rich data within Understanding Society to evaluate capital and resources based approaches to social class alongside existing occupation based social class measures. This will provide an innovative analysis of the relationship between parental social class and children's school level educational attainment in contemporary Britain.
Planned Impact
We are confident that this project can achieve both social science excellence and high impact outside of academia. The proposed project will deliver benefits to non-academic knowledge users and non-academic researchers.
The substantive aim of the proposed research is to provide an informed evidence base addressing the influence of parental social class on filial educational outcomes. This new evidence on educational inequalities will be of interest to policy makers, the third sector, the media and the general public. The dissemination of the substantive outputs of this research will result in conceptual impact by increasing awareness of the nature of educational inequalities.
Policy Makers and Third Sector Organisations
In the 2017 Green Paper 'Building Our Industrial Strategy', the government highlights the need to build a stronger, fairer Britain that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. Central to the Industrial Strategy is increasing levels of economic competitiveness through improving education. The proposed research will make a distinctive and impactful contribution to better understanding the relationships between family background and school educational outcomes, and speaks directly to a number of strands within the Industrial Strategy.
The proposed research will provide evidence on the extent to which different elements of parent's lives and jobs influence their children's educational attainment. This will be relevant to those seeking to build evidence based policies to tackle educational inequalities. The new empirical evidence provided by the proposed project will make an important contribution by providing information that is directly relevant to our understanding of social inequalities, the processes of social stratification, and social mobility. Potential knowledge users who will benefit from this new substantive evidence include third sector organisations concerned with social inequalities (e.g. the Social Mobility Foundation, the Sutton Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation). This new evidence will also be relevant to government researchers and policy makers for compiling evidence reviews and policy documents relating to education, inequalities and social mobility.
Schools, Teachers and Young People
The proposed research will be of value to teachers working with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This research will inform teaching professionals by highlighting those factors which contribute to improved educational outcomes amongst disadvantaged young people. This will benefit schools in the pursuit of improving the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young people. The outputs of this project, particularly the graphical illustrations of our key findings, can also be used as novel teaching aids to facilitate the discussion social inequality with young people themselves.
The General Public
Through sharing the substantive outputs of this project with the general public we will make a contribution to the conceptual understanding of educational inequalities in contemporary Britain.
Non-Academic Social Science Researchers
Non-academic researchers will benefit from our training workshop in the use of Understanding Society data for research in the fields of education, families and social inequality. Understanding Society data has a complex design and sampling strategy, which enables a range of specialised analyses. The challenge of using Understanding Society data is that standard data analysis techniques do not take into account the complexity of the design and selection strategy. This presents an obstacle for many non-academic social science researchers. Complex survey designs are increasingly common, for example the Millennium Cohort Study is also a complex sample. Therefore providing training to non-academic researchers through the proposed workshop will have wider applications and will broaden the user base of Understanding Society and other ESRC data investments.
The substantive aim of the proposed research is to provide an informed evidence base addressing the influence of parental social class on filial educational outcomes. This new evidence on educational inequalities will be of interest to policy makers, the third sector, the media and the general public. The dissemination of the substantive outputs of this research will result in conceptual impact by increasing awareness of the nature of educational inequalities.
Policy Makers and Third Sector Organisations
In the 2017 Green Paper 'Building Our Industrial Strategy', the government highlights the need to build a stronger, fairer Britain that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. Central to the Industrial Strategy is increasing levels of economic competitiveness through improving education. The proposed research will make a distinctive and impactful contribution to better understanding the relationships between family background and school educational outcomes, and speaks directly to a number of strands within the Industrial Strategy.
The proposed research will provide evidence on the extent to which different elements of parent's lives and jobs influence their children's educational attainment. This will be relevant to those seeking to build evidence based policies to tackle educational inequalities. The new empirical evidence provided by the proposed project will make an important contribution by providing information that is directly relevant to our understanding of social inequalities, the processes of social stratification, and social mobility. Potential knowledge users who will benefit from this new substantive evidence include third sector organisations concerned with social inequalities (e.g. the Social Mobility Foundation, the Sutton Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation). This new evidence will also be relevant to government researchers and policy makers for compiling evidence reviews and policy documents relating to education, inequalities and social mobility.
Schools, Teachers and Young People
The proposed research will be of value to teachers working with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. This research will inform teaching professionals by highlighting those factors which contribute to improved educational outcomes amongst disadvantaged young people. This will benefit schools in the pursuit of improving the educational outcomes of disadvantaged young people. The outputs of this project, particularly the graphical illustrations of our key findings, can also be used as novel teaching aids to facilitate the discussion social inequality with young people themselves.
The General Public
Through sharing the substantive outputs of this project with the general public we will make a contribution to the conceptual understanding of educational inequalities in contemporary Britain.
Non-Academic Social Science Researchers
Non-academic researchers will benefit from our training workshop in the use of Understanding Society data for research in the fields of education, families and social inequality. Understanding Society data has a complex design and sampling strategy, which enables a range of specialised analyses. The challenge of using Understanding Society data is that standard data analysis techniques do not take into account the complexity of the design and selection strategy. This presents an obstacle for many non-academic social science researchers. Complex survey designs are increasingly common, for example the Millennium Cohort Study is also a complex sample. Therefore providing training to non-academic researchers through the proposed workshop will have wider applications and will broaden the user base of Understanding Society and other ESRC data investments.
Organisations
Publications
Connelly R
(2020)
Social class inequalities in educational attainment: measuring social class using capitals, assets and resources
in Contemporary Social Science
Gayle V
(2020)
Social class inequalities in Scottish school qualifications
in Contemporary Social Science
| Description | This project is ongoing and there are seven months left until its completion. The key findings described below are preliminary and will develop over the next months. The overall research objective of the project is to deepen the sociological understanding of the relationship between parental social class and children's school educational outcomes in contemporary Britain using Understanding Society (the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study) and linked administrative educational data. We have undertaken analysis of social class inequalities in GCSE attainment using this data resource. 1) Historically, occupations and the occupational structure have been central to the sociological conception of class. However, more recently, an alternative theoretical basis for the measurement of social class has been popularized, largely influenced by Bourdieusian theory. We have applied a Bourdieusian approach to the study of social class inequalities in GCSE attainment using a rich source of linked administrative data from the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study. Our main conclusions were that there are a range of unresolved methodological issues when attempting to operationalise social class from a Bourdieusian perspective. When we compare the conclusions that can be drawn concerning educational inequalities using traditional occupation-based measures of parental social class and the new measures of social class we find that these measures largely overlap. There were no new additional insights evident when using the Bourdieusian measure. 2) Whilst analysing the linked UKHLS and administrative education data we have developed a deeper understanding of the nature of these data and its drawbacks. The linked individuals provide a relatively small sample size spanning multiple school year cohorts, and there are large amount of missing data. We have therefore augmented our analyses with research using additional large scale social survey and administrative data resources. 3) Our main substantive findings is that there are persistent inequalities in GCSE attainment. We have developed work which examines subject level inequalities in GCSE attainment and we propose a new approach to measuring GCSE outcomes which uses latent class analysis. We have also used administrative education data from Scotland to consider school level educational inequalities in comparative perspective. 4) Throughout the project we have also attempted to ensure that we produce and share our research in an open and transparent manner. We have shared our project materials openly using the Open Science Framework. We have also held several training workshops which have sought to share good practice in producing transparent social science research. This work uses existing social survey data as well as administrative data accessed via a secure lab. This presents unique challenges when undertaking transparent research. We have therefore sought to share these insights widely through our training events. The training events have been attended by postgraduate students, academics, third sector and government researchers. These events have led to requests for further information, and invitations to provide further training events on this methodological topic. |
| Exploitation Route | Substantively our findings document the persistent nature of social class inequalities in GCSE attainment. These findings should be useful to policy makers, third sector organisations and the general public. Re-asserting the continued relevance of occupation based measures of social class in the study of educational inequalities should be informative to policy makers and third sector organisations. The robust nature of social class inequalities despite the methods used to investigate the inequalities and the operationalisation of parental social class emphasise the intractable nature of this inequality. Methodologically, the work of this project will be of value to non-academic researchers. The research code used to produce the analyses in this project will be made freely available online. This will serve as a useful resource which will aid other researchers working in this field. We have provided workshops in research transparency and reproducibility which focus specifically on the analysis of Understanding Society data and linked administrative data. These workshops will be of value for developing the research practice of researchers working with these data resources. All of our training materials have been made accessible online and can be accessed widely by government, third sector and academic researchers, as well as students. |
| Sectors | Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
| URL | https://osf.io/vgfnr/ |
| Description | National Centre for Research Methods: Analysing Complex Surveys |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | This workshops was attended by researchers from government (ONS), researchers from government, and academic researchers. At the conclusion of the workshop participants noted that this workshop had allowed them to overcome data analytical problems which they had been facing, and that it will allow them to progress with their research. |
| URL | https://www.ncrm.ac.uk/training/show.php?article=11003 |
| Description | SLLS Conference: Transparency and Reproducibility Workshop |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://osf.io/32gbk/ |
| Description | Surviving the Reproducibility Crisis: Skills in Research Transparency for Quantitative Social Scientists (University of Edinburgh, Research Training Centre) |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/about/events_calendar/school_events/2020_2021/surviving_the_reproducibility_... |
| Description | The Challenges of Reproducible Research and Teaching it - 'Love your Code' UKDS & ONS 14th February 2020 |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://osf.io/jh3av/ |
| Description | Transparent and Reproducible Social Research Using Stata Workshop |
| Geographic Reach | North America |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://osf.io/vgcn2/ |
| Description | Understanding Society Conference: Transparency and Reproducibility Workshop |
| Geographic Reach | Europe |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| URL | https://osf.io/6eyfp/ |
| Title | Best Practice in Open Social Science |
| Description | The methodological contribution of this project has been a focus on research transparency and open science throughout. We have provided workshops and training to students, academic researchers, third sector researchers and government researchers on best practice in open social science when analysing existing large scale social survey data sets. We have modeled good practice by making all of the resources we have created openly available on the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/vgfnr/ We have uploaded code snippets which will be useful to other researchers (https://osf.io/yrb3k/) and we will continue to do so as the project develops. Upon publication of associated papers we will seek to make the code available on this page. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2019 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | We have received a lot of interest from researchers who have attended our training events. We have received requests for further information, and invites to provide further training. We have been invited to provide a blog post for the Understanding Society blog (https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2019/12/11/transparent-research-%E2%80%93-why-sharing-code-is-important) and we have been invited to contribute an entry to the Sage Encyclopedia of Social Research Methods. |
| URL | https://osf.io/vgfnr/ |
| Title | Open Social Science: Social class inequalities in educational attainment: measuring social class using capitals, assets and resources |
| Description | This project has aimed to experiment with open social science techniques. Outputs from this project have been made available on the project OSF page (https://osf.io/vgfnr/). The full code is made available for the analysis underlying this journal article: Connelly, R., Gayle, V., & Playford, C. (2020). Social class inequalities in educational attainment: measuring social class using capitals, assets and resources. Contemporary Social Science, 1-14. This provides code for the analysis of the UKHLS with linked administrative education data. This ensure that the analysis underlying this research is transparent. This may also serve as a training tool. |
| Type Of Material | Data analysis technique |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The open sharing of research code will contribute to improving the quality of social science research. |
| URL | https://osf.io/gyn57/ |
| Description | Q-estival, 9th September 2019, University of Exeter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Vernon Gayle presented, 'Transparent and Reproducible Social Data Science - A reflection on tools and techniques suitable for lifecourse and equality research' at the Q-estival event at the University of Exeter, 9th September 2019. Event webpage: http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/q-step/events/q-estival/ This event shared methodological work from the project with undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Exeter Q-Step Centre. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/n3jtm/ |
| Description | SLLS Conference: Transparency and Reproducibility Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was offered as part of the 2019 Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, University of Potsdam, 24th September 2019. Website: https://www.sllsconference.com/ We led a workshop that was attended by an international group of academic, third sector and government researchers from a range of fields. Following this event we have had many further requests for advice / further information. We have also been invited to provide further training. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/32gbk/ |
| Description | Social Surveys and Social Statistics Research Group All Hands Research Seminar Day 19th June 2019, University of Stirling |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Social Surveys and Social Statistics Research Group All Hands Research Seminar Day, 19th June 2019, University of Stirling. This paper presents some interim methodological reflections on transparent and reproducible collaborative research from this project project. The project's work was shared with academics and postgraduate researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/2435z/ |
| Description | Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Conference, 25th - 27th September 2019, University of Potsdam |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Society of Longitudinal and Life Course Studies Conference, 25th - 27th September, University of Potsdam. Research Paper: Similarities and Differences in Social Class Inequalities in School Outcomes Vernon Gayle, Roxanne Connelly and Chris Playford. This paper investigates the new insights offered by occupation based and Bourdieusian social class measures using the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Study and Linked Administrative data. This conference was attended by an international group of researchers from academic and non-academic organisations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/2cnf9/ |
| Description | Stratification Seminar, 28th - 30th August 2019, VU Amsterdam |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | These are the presentations given at the Social Stratification Research Seminar 2019, 28-30 August 2019, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Roxanne Connelly: An Alternative Investigation of Social Class Inequalities in School Attainment: Occupations, Capitals and Resources Vernon Gayle: 'Then we wrote a gazillion comments' - Methodological reflections on collaborative transparent and reproducible stratification research Chris Playford: Social class inequalities in GCSE Attainment: The class position of complex modern families Conference Programme: http://www.camsis.stir.ac.uk/stratif/2019/stratif_conf_2019_prog_2.pdf Conference Webpage: http://www.camsis.stir.ac.uk/stratif/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/2qbkv/ |
| Description | The Challenges of Reproducible Research and Teaching it - 'Love your Code' UKDS & ONS 14th February 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Dr Chris Playford gave a presentation as part of the UK Data Service and Office for National Statistics 'Love your Code' event. 14th February, Office for National Statistics, London. This presentation draws on experiences of open social science research practices used throughout this project, as well as through Dr Playford's teaching experience at the University of Exeter Q-Step Centre. The audience included government and third sector researchers, and professionals involved in data curation and data management. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/jh3av/ |
| Description | Transparent and Reproducible Social Research Using Stata Workshop, UC Berkeley, DLab |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was provided at the UC Berkeley DLab, based on methodological developments from this project. Transparent and Reproducible Social Research Using Stata Workshop Tue, March 17, 2020 - 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM D Lab Berkeley There is increasing concern across a wide range of academic disciplines that empirical results cannot be reproduced and research results cannot be verified because of a lack of transparency in the research process. Undertaking social research with 'real' data is routinely messy and complicated and this workshop focuses on the practical aspects of statistical analyses of research data. In the workshop we will showcase how to organise and execute a transparent workflow, how to produce dynamic documents in Stata, and how to use Stata within the Jupyter notebooks ecosystem. This workshop was delivered online via Zoom due to Coronavirus social distancing measures. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://dlab.berkeley.edu/training/transparent-and-reproducible-social-research-using-stata |
| Description | Understanding Society Conference 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Project papers presented at the Understanding Society Scientific Conference 2019. 2nd to 4th July 2019. University of Essex, Colchester, UK. Paper 1: An alternative investigation of social class inequalities in school outcomes. Paper 2: Mr Chalk the Teacher: using innovative panel data to investigate children's consistency in reporting their parent's occupations. This conference involves academics as well as third sector and government researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/6qruy/ |
| Description | Understanding Society Conference: Transparency and Reproducibility Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Undertaking Transparent and Reproducible Longitudinal Data Analysis 2nd July 2019, Understanding Society Conference, University of Essex Across a wide range of academic disciplines there is increasing concern that empirical results cannot be reproduced because of a lack of transparency in the research process. These concerns have led to numerous calls for social researchers to undertake data analyses more transparently and for results to be reproducible. This workshop is a short practical introduction to undertaking transparent and reproducible research with longitudinal data. Using illustrations from Understanding Society and the British Household Panel Survey the workshop will introduce participants to the fundamental concepts of undertaking transparent social research that is reproducible. The focus of the workshop will be developing and executing a transparent workflow and generating reproducible results. The workshop will draw on insights from data science and e-research that can inform the social science longitudinal data analyses, such as the concept of 'literate programming'. The workshop will also introduce participants to tools that assist in developing and executing an efficient, transparent and reproducible workflow in longitudinal data analysis (e.g., using Jupyter notebooks and git repositories). This workshop attracted around 30 participants which included academic, government and third sector researchers. Masters and PhD level students also attended the event. Following this event we have been asked to provide guidance to academic and non-academic researchers on their research practice. We were invited to write a blog post for the Understanding Society Blog (https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/blog/2019/12/11/transparent-research-%E2%80%93-why-sharing-code-is-important) and we were asked to provide an entry for the Sage Encyclopedia of Social Research Methods. All of the materials associated with this event have been made openly available here: https://osf.io/6eyfp/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/6eyfp/ |
| Description | University of Edinburgh Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group Seminar: Youth Data: Past, Present and Future |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This seminar was delivered as part of the University of Edinburgh Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group Online Seminar Series. The seminar series brings together academic researchers and students, but the online format of the seminar series has also allowed government researchers and practitioners working with children and young people to attend. The seminar led to discussion of the nature of data that is required for research on inequalities in childhood and youth, critical issues which balance scientific principles and economic and practical constraints were discussed. In this presentation we outlined a potential blue print for collecting data on young people that is suitable for contemporary high-quality social science research. The UK leads the world in the collection of nationally representative birth cohort data. These studies have provided enviable data resources for youth studies. The absence of the collection of a new birth cohort in the 1980s sparked the first crisis in youth data. The establishment of the Millennium Cohort Study provided a slow-burn solution to this problem. Unfortunately, valuable lessons were not learned. Once again serious gaps have emerged in the UK social science data portfolio and we are living through a second, and more serious, crisis in youth data. We argue that administrative data resources provide some useful information but should be analysed with caution because the quality of data can vary. Administrative resources also tend to contain fewer of the key variables required for routine social science analyses. Regional studies have collected potentially useful youth data but tend to be smaller in scale and limited by their geography. We illustrate that data from young people that are collected within household panel studies offer partial solutions in the current crisis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ed.ac.uk/education/rke/our-research/children-young-people/childhood-and-youth-studies-re... |
| Description | University of Edinburgh Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group Seminar: Youth Data: Past, Present and Future |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This seminar was delivered as part of the University of Edinburgh Childhood and Youth Studies Research Group Online Seminar Series. The seminar series brings together academic researchers and students, but the online format of the seminar series has also allowed government researchers and practitioners working with children and young people to attend. The seminar led to discussion of the nature of data that is required for research on inequalities in childhood and youth, critical issues which balance scientific principles and economic and practical constraints were discussed. In this presentation we outlined a potential blue print for collecting data on young people that is suitable for contemporary high-quality social science research. The UK leads the world in the collection of nationally representative birth cohort data. These studies have provided enviable data resources for youth studies. The absence of the collection of a new birth cohort in the 1980s sparked the first crisis in youth data. The establishment of the Millennium Cohort Study provided a slow-burn solution to this problem. Unfortunately, valuable lessons were not learned. Once again serious gaps have emerged in the UK social science data portfolio and we are living through a second, and more serious, crisis in youth data. We argue that administrative data resources provide some useful information but should be analysed with caution because the quality of data can vary. Administrative resources also tend to contain fewer of the key variables required for routine social science analyses. Regional studies have collected potentially useful youth data but tend to be smaller in scale and limited by their geography. We illustrate that data from young people that are collected within household panel studies offer partial solutions in the current crisis. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.ed.ac.uk/education/rke/our-research/children-young-people/childhood-and-youth-studies-re... |
| Description | University of Edinburgh Q-Step Centre Seminar Series 14th October 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Vernon Gayle presented this paper as part of the University of Edinburgh Q-Step Centre Seminar Series: http://www.q-step.ed.ac.uk/ Title: Similarities and Differences in Social Class Inequalities in School Outcomes This presentation was attended largely by postgraduate students and researchers with an interest in social inequalities and the application of quantitative data analysis methods. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/tk5xg/ |
| Description | University of St Andrews Population and Health Research Group Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Social Class Inequalities in GCSE Attainment: A comparison of occupation-based and capital, assets and resources-based measures of social class. Roxanne Connelly, University of York Vernon Gayle, University of Edinburgh Chris Playford, University of Exeter Despite developments in education systems, and a raft of policies directed towards combating inequality, there is a clear and persistent negative relationship between parent's social class and filial educational outcomes in the UK. There are a plethora of measures of social class, and social stratification more widely. Occupation based measures are most frequently used, although more recently the propriety of such approaches have been questioned. An emerging school of thought advocates the use of more culturally based measures as the most appropriate indicators of an individual's social class position, an argument predominantly influenced by the work of Bourdieu. In this seminar, we compare and contrast the insights provided by occupation-based social stratification measures with those provided by a capitals and resources based social class measure developed using Latent Class Analysis. We utilise data from Understanding Society (the UK Household Longitudinal Study) linked with administrative data on school General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination results. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://osf.io/hjqse/ |