space only a portion of the data from parent questionnaires is reported here. Further details
may be found in Ireson and Rushforth (2005).
Samples
School samples. When selecting schools to take part in the research, the main aim was to
obtain a sample of pupils from a range of socio-economic backgrounds and demographic
areas who were attending state maintained schools. A stratified sampling strategy was
adopted to select schools from 6 local education authorities (LEAs) in England, two in inner
city areas, two in suburban areas and two counties. To ensure that the sample represented a
range in terms of socio-economic status, the initial selection of LEAs was based on figures
provided by DfES giving percentages of pupils in each LEA eligible for and taking free
school meals. An analysis of these figures revealed that one third of LEAs had less than 11%,
one third 11-19% and one third over 19%. Based on this categorisation, two LEAs were
selected from each level. To ensure that the sample also represented a variety of forms of
secondary provision, one LEA in each category was comprehensive and one had some
selective secondary schools, such as grammar schools or specialist schools.
Education advisors in the LEAs were contacted for more detailed information about
demographic characteristics of their area. They were asked to provide names of primary and
secondary schools in affluent, less affluent and more deprived areas. Post-code matching was
also used to obtain primary and secondary schools with similar demographic catchments and
some secondary schools were asked to supply the names of their main feeder schools. Schools