Social inequality and uses of online resources: perspectives highlighted from an investigation of a large online data set

This report offers details arising from an initial exploration of the accessible data set, undertaken at a time when SAM Learning were developing their own means to access the data, in ways to support analytical exploration. It should be recognised that this exploration is intended only to offer some insights into the forms of query that could be developed, and the value that could be gained from further investigations. The document does not intend to offer a complete or final picture; this document provides a glimpse of the potential that can be gained, and shows ways that have been used currently to begin to describe and analyse features of the data to indicate what they might offer if explored more fully, particularly for those concerned with policy and practice. The enquiry of the data set reported here is focused on a specific question of importance at practitioner and policy levels: do data indicating access and use of online resources support evidence relating to social inequity that arises from other existing sources? Other sources suggest that students who come from lower level socio-economic backgrounds (and who achieve less in terms of subject attainment) may be more limited in their access to online resources. Does the SAM Learning data set support this suggestion, or not? This question was selected by the authors of this report, as a focal question through which to explore the depth and width of the data set, and its potential for offering insights into specific questions