family size and educational attainment

10 replies

sb2184x · 07/02/2018 18:57

www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ULLNB/

I am a third year undergraduate student at the University of Greenwich, studying Sociology and Psychology BSc. This questionnaire has been developed to aid my dissertation research into family size and educational attainment. This questionnaire consists of 17 questions and will take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. By completing this questionnaire, you are consenting for your responses to be used by myself in my research. All responses are anonymous, and no respondents will be identifiable in the research.

OP posts:

GiveMePrivacy · 08/02/2018 00:17

Interesting topic! Can I suggest a small edit to one of your questions? One question asks what type of school was attended - Public or Private. But that is US terminology ; in the UK, a "Public" school means an exclusive independent (private) school - historically, one which had a public charter, ie the oldest, poshest sort of private school. So, Tony Blair and Prince Charles and David Cameron all went to public schools. Nowadays it is generally used to refer to the independent schools in the HMC/GDST groups.
The terms you need, really, are 'State school' and 'Private school'.
Good luck!

EllenJanethickerknickers · 08/02/2018 00:22

I've completed it. Your questions seem aimed at under 40s. The computer question isn't relevant for anyone over 40 and some of us took O Levels not GCSEs.

GrockleBocs · 08/02/2018 00:37

I'm 47 and did O levels and we did have a computer at home Ellen. People did have Spectrums or BBCs. It wasn't the norm but it wasn't unheard of :)

EllenJanethickerknickers · 08/02/2018 00:47

True I suppose. My ExH was a computer programmer at by 1986 but we didn't have a computer at home until 1999!

GiveMePrivacy · 08/02/2018 00:58

I had a ZX Spectrum, but you could never have done your homework on one of those Aah, nostalgic now!

catslife · 08/02/2018 09:44

Having the maximum age box as 30+ makes me feel very old - is the questionnaire really aimed at parents?
I don't understand the age boxes. You have less than 18 and then 19-21 so which box does an 18 year old dc tick?
Am also not sure why you have jumped straight from GCSEs to degrees with no A levels or equivalent qualifications.
There doesn't seem to be a box for still at school / too young for university.

Vagndidit · 08/02/2018 10:04

Questions are very UK-centric as well, which is fine if you wanted to limit your data sample. I grew up and was educated in another country so the GCSE question is completely irrelevant. I have an advanced degree yet no gcse qualifications, for instance.

user789653241 · 08/02/2018 10:12

Agree, I was educated in 2 countries and have 2 degrees, but no GCSE.
Do you only want to be answered by people educated in UK?

BrendansDanceShoes · 08/02/2018 13:24

Agree that the public/private split of schooling is very confusing. I answered public as I went to state school. Also, being 40+ we had a computer at home, but it was a commodore 64, only used for games. So more like how a Xbox or PlayStation is used today. An Xbox at home wouldn't correlate with facility to do homework today ( we all know there are a massive distraction from homework)My 3rd year uni project was typed on a typewriter! You need to understand more about the history of the home computer and internet access if you are asking the 30+ year old mumsnet crowd!!!! Maybe you need to consider for us oldies how much access we had at home to books !??

TeenTimesTwo · 09/02/2018 12:03

Why is the question Gender not Sex?
As it is about education, if you must use Gender (WHY?) should you not use the 'Gender identified with whilst going through education' ?

Flip