Lindsay Paterson

New Statistical Methods for Analysing Social Structures: an introduction to multilevel models

Abstract An introductory account is given of developments in multilevel modelling of educational and other social data. The technique is introduced with some simple examples and its importance is explained. Examples of applications in a number of areas are given, including repeated measures designs, school effectiveness studies, area‐based studies and political opinion sample surveys. Almost all data collected in the social sciences have some form of inherent hierarchical structure, and this structure should be reflected in the statistical models that are used to analyse them. It is suggested that multilevel techniques and associated software packages have reached the stage when they can and should be applied routinely in the analysis of social data, and that failure to do so can result in potentially serious misinterpretations.

Principles of Research Design in the Social Sciences

This practical introduction for first time researchers provides a bridge between how to conduct research and the philosophy of social science, allowing students to relate what they are doing to why. It does not provide a set of rigid recipes for social scientists as many methodology books do, rather it stimulates students to think about the issues involved when deciding upon their research design.By discussing standard approaches to research design and method in various social science disciplines, the authors illustrate why particular designs have traditionally predominated in certain areas of study. But whilst they acknowledge the strengths of these standard approaches, their emphasis is on helping researchers find the most effective solution to their problem by encouraging them, through this familiarity with the principles of various approaches, to innovate where appropriate.This text will prove indispensable for social science students of all levels embarking upon a research project, and for experienced researchers looking for a fresh perspective on their object of study.

Coming down from the ivory tower? Academics’ civic and economic engagement with the community

This paper examines the degree and nature of universities’ interaction with their communities from the perspectives of individual academics. It considers whether academic values and practice tend toward a ‘detached’ or ‘universalist’ perspective in which location is largely redundant and any perceived ‘community’ has a global character, or whether values and practice in fact indicate a significant perhaps substantial degree of community engagement at a local, regional or national level. We explore interaction with the community which takes a broadly ‘civic’ form, and that which is of more specifically economic relevance. This issue is of great importance at a time when higher education has become a more obvious object of political scrutiny, both in terms of its use of public funds and its more general social and economic purpose. Our findings are based on a postal questionnaire administered to a sample of academics, and a series of follow‐up interviews with a smaller sub‐sample of respondents. We conclude that academics exhibit a strong commitment to engagement and interaction with their communities both in principle and practice; that such interaction often takes place at a variety of geographical levels; and that it is often accomplished under less than propitious circumstances.

Social class and educational attainment: a comparative study of England, Wales and Scotland

This article examines variations among England, Wales, and Scotland in the association between social origin and educational attainment and the role that different national educational policies may have played in shaping these variations. The findings show that country variation in the association between origins and attainment was mostly or entirely due to variations in overall levels of attainment. Moreover, inequality was the highest where the proportions attaining a particular threshold were the highest—upper secondary school or higher in Scotland. The authors propose a refinement of Raftery and Houts theory of maximally maintained inequality that takes into account that the trajectory of inequality is not linear: inequality can widen in the initial phase of expanding opportunity, en route to an eventual contraction, because the most advantaged groups are the first to exploit any new opportunities that policy changes offer. The results show that country differences in educational policy have not yielded different changes over time in the association between origin and educational attainment.

The Three Educational Ideologies of the British Labour Party, 1997-2001

The dominant academic conclusion about Labours education policy since 1997 has been that it is mainly a continuation of Thatcherism. This is inadequate. There are three strands of Labour practice in education: a renovated version of social liberalism, a form of weak developmentalism, and a type of new social democracy that is in the mainstream of European thinking on the left. One significant source of ideological diversity in government is now the devolved responsibilities for educational policy that are held by the Scottish Parliament and (to a more limited extent) by the National Assembly for Wales.

Socio‐economic status and educational attainment: A multi‐dimensional and multi‐level study

Abstract The socio‐economic status of school pupils is best measured by multiple indicators. Some indicators belong to individuals, and some to families; both levels can make an independent contribution, as can separate indicators for mothers and fathers. Multiple indicators allow an efficient and conceptually appropriate treatment of item non‐response. Because this can provide a full description of the SES of one‐parent families, a distinction can be drawn between family structure and family SES. SES is also relational, operating through social groupings such as schools. A statistical analysis of all these propositions is provided using data from Fife, Scotland. The statistical structure of the SES of 16‐year‐old school pupils is investigated, and a statistical model is developed of the relationship between SES and attainment in public examinations. This relationship is estimated both with and without a control for measured ability on entry to secondary school. The modelling shows that several dimensions...

Trends in Higher Education Participation in Scotland

Scottish higher education has expanded and diversified in the last two decades. Most notably, compared to the early 1980s, participation in the mid-1990s has risen disproportionately among people aged over 21, people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, women, and (probably) minority ethnic groups. Students are more likely to move away from their home region on entering undergraduate courses, although they are not much more likely than before to leave Scotland altogether. Although participation from Scotland generally has risen more rapidly than participation from elsewhere in the UK generally, at some Scottish institutions the proportion of undergraduates coming from outside Scotland is growing. The system as a whole is not becoming markedly more part-time, although there has been a rise in the very small proportion of people who are studying for first degrees part-time (as opposed to HNDs etc). The share of higher education taking place in further education colleges has grown sharply, but nearly all of that has been for HNDs etc rather than degrees. The expansion has been driven partly by general social change (including the intergenerational effects of previous educational expansion), partly by special entrance schemes to encourage students from social backgrounds that have not in the past been strongly associated with entering higher education, and partly by government policy. These pressures will continue, and will probably be reinforced by the imminent reform of post-16 assessment and curriculum in Scotland, producing for the educational stage immediately preceding higher education for most students a unified framework embracing both academic and vocational courses.

An introduction to multilevel modelling

This note is a guide to the basics of multilevel modelling. It outlines the principles rather than technical details. For a fuller account of the theory and methods, see Goldstein (1987, especially chapters 1, 2 and 3) or Raudenbush and Bryk (1986). The terms “multilevel modelling” and “multilevel regression” are used more or less synonymously in the literature, and so I draw no distinction between them here.

The survival of the democratic intellect: academic values in Scotland and England

Using the results of a sample survey of academics in higher education institutions in Scotland and England, the paper assesses attitudes to the civic role of higher education. It places these in the context of debates about core academic values, about the public accountability of higher education institutions, and about the devolution of political power in the United Kingdom. It finds that there is widespread attachment to a civic role for higher education, alongside strong attachment to traditional academic values. These values are not significantly influenced by individual academics’ gender, age or social class of origin, and differences by academic discipline are not as strong as might be expected. Academics in Scotland tend to hold a somewhat more civic view than academics in England. This national difference seems to be a product of distinctive national systems, since academics of English origin in Scotland share in the majority Scottish views.

Higher education and European regionalism

Abstract Higher education has been a key part of nation building in Europe since the early nineteenth century, first as a device to unify previously localised cultures, and later as the main source of skilled personnel for expanding states. However, that era is probably now coming to an end, as the governing structures and sociological role of higher education changes to serving regional and local interests. This change coincides with, and is partly caused by, the growth of regional nationalism in Europe, and many of the new governing contexts for higher education have been influenced by, or even founded on, regional cultural assertion. Is this change only a matter of using higher education to promote regional economic effectiveness? What is the likely political relationship of higher education to these regional governing structures? What is left of the cultural role of higher education?