AQA - Sociology

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Assessment Criteria for AS & A2

Assessment 1

To gain marks for this assessment objective you need to be able to do the following:-

Ÿ         The names of sociologists.

Ÿ         The major details of their theories.

Ÿ         The important concepts or key ideas / terms they use.

Ÿ         The main piece of evidence that they use.

Ÿ         The methods of research they used to gain their evidence.

Your writing must be in clear sentences, well structured and follow a logical pattern. 

Assessment 2

You need to use your knowledge and understanding of Sociology as follows:-

Identification - this suggests that you can see ‘trends’ in data given to you.

Analysis - you can make sociological sense of the arguments and draw relevant conclusions.

Interpretation - you can offer your own explanation for a theory or piece of evidence.

Evaluation - this could be called asking awkward questions about the research that has been                            done.             These are the things you should be asking:-

1.      How was the evidence gathered?

2.      When was the research carried out?

3.      Can this evidence be checked?

4.      Does the writer have a theoretical bias i.e. Marxist / Feminist / Functionalist

5.      Does the writer taken into account ethnicity, gender and class?

In reality you need to take on the role of judge and jury.

In both AO1 and AO2 you will be treated differently at levels AS & A2.  You will be expected at AS to perform to the level of a notional average 17 year old.  At A2 you will be expected to perform to the level of a notional 18 year old.

The link between AO1 & AO2 is a secure knowledge base.  This will allow for all of the above criteria to come into play.  So my advice is read, read, read and read on ......and on ....