SACE Stage 2 Society and Culture flashcards

33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

School assessment weighting

School-based assessment in SACE Stage 2 Society and Culture contributes 70 percent of the final subject grade, made up of the Folio and the Interaction.

External assessment weighting

The external assessment component, the Investigation, contributes 30 percent of the final grade and is marked externally by SACE rather than by the school.

Folio

Assessment Type 1 in Society and Culture; a collection of tasks requiring inquiry, source analysis, and evidence-based conclusions, weighted at 30 percent.

Interaction

Assessment Type 2 requiring students to participate in a social or cultural action and reflect on its purpose, process, and outcomes; weighted at 40 percent.

Investigation

Assessment Type 3, the external assessment; an independent inquiry into a social or cultural issue, reported with methodology, findings, and analysis; weighted at 30 percent.

Performance standards

Five grade descriptors from A to E that describe the quality of student work across knowledge and understanding, inquiry and application, and communication.

Moderation

A quality assurance process in which teacher judgments of school assessment are checked against the performance standards using samples of student work across schools.

Hypothesis

A testable statement proposing a relationship or explanation about a social or cultural phenomenon, guiding the direction of inquiry and data collection.

Research question

A focused question that frames an inquiry, specifying the issue, population, or context to be investigated and the evidence needed to answer it.

Primary research

Data collected firsthand by the student, such as interviews, surveys, or observations, generated specifically for the investigation rather than drawn from existing sources.

Secondary research

Analysis of existing information such as reports, statistics, media, or academic sources, used to contextualise and support an investigation.

Informed consent

An ethical requirement that research participants understand the purpose of the study and voluntarily agree to take part before data is collected.

Confidentiality

An ethical principle requiring researchers to protect participants' identities and personal information, often through anonymisation and secure data storage.

Anonymity

A research condition in which participants' identities are not known or recorded, protecting them from being linked to the data they provide.

Ethics in research

Principles guiding social research, including informed consent, confidentiality, avoidance of harm, and special care for vulnerable groups such as minors.

Methodology

The justification and description of the research methods chosen, explaining how data will be gathered, sampled, and analysed to address the inquiry.

Qualitative data

Non-numerical information such as interview responses, observations, or texts, analysed for themes and meanings rather than statistical patterns.

Quantitative data

Numerical information such as survey results or statistics, analysed using counts, percentages, or other measures to identify patterns.

Sampling

The process of selecting participants or sources for research; the sampling approach affects how representative and reliable the findings are.

Reliability

The extent to which a research method or measure produces consistent results if repeated under similar conditions.

Validity

The extent to which research measures or explains what it claims to, rather than being distorted by bias or confounding factors.

Bias

A systematic distortion in research design, sampling, or interpretation that skews findings away from an accurate representation of the phenomenon.

Social and cultural concepts

Key ideas such as identity, culture, power, gender, and socialisation, used to analyse and interpret social phenomena in inquiry tasks.

Cultural relativism

The principle that beliefs and practices should be understood within their own cultural context rather than judged by another culture's standards.

Ethnocentrism

The tendency to evaluate other cultures by the standards of one's own, often leading to misjudgement or undervaluing of cultural practices.

Socialisation

The lifelong process through which individuals learn the norms, values, and behaviours expected in their society or cultural group.

Referencing

The consistent citation of sources used in a report, acknowledging authors and allowing readers to locate the original material.

Plagiarism

Presenting another person's words, ideas, or data as one's own without acknowledgement, a breach of academic integrity that can attract penalties.

Reflection

A considered evaluation of one's own learning, decisions, and the effects of an interaction, linking experience to social and cultural understanding.

Action in Interaction

The planned social or cultural activity undertaken in Assessment Type 2, designed to address a need or issue and then evaluated reflectively.

Conclusion in inquiry

A judgement about whether the hypothesis or research question was supported, grounded in the evidence gathered and acknowledging limitations.

Limitations

Constraints affecting an investigation, such as small samples, limited access, or time, which should be acknowledged and considered when interpreting findings.

Literacy requirement

A SACE requirement that students demonstrate the literacy skills needed for their Stage 2 studies, embedded in the communication criteria of assessment tasks.