Key Idea: The internal assessment is 25% of the grade and is marked out of 30 against five criteria. It is an investigation you carry out and write up as an analysis — and the word analysis is where most marks are won or lost, because the criteria reward description least.
The stages
- A focused research question
- Methods — interview, observation, close reading of texts
- A written analysis that answers the question with the evidence
Ethics
- Informed consent: purpose and use explained
- Anonymity offered and respected where wanted
- No pressure to discuss what a participant would rather not
Watch for
- A topic rather than a question
- Findings reported, then a conclusion that does not follow from them
- Generalising from one interviewee to a whole tradition
The test for a workable research question
- Narrow — answerable in the space, so depth is possible
- Answerable — you can name the evidence that would settle it
- Religious — a study of religion, not of a community with religion as background
- If you cannot name the evidence that would answer it, you have a topic
A participant unsure how their words will be used gives the answer they think is expected. So a study with unclear terms records what a community thinks it ought to say rather than what its members hold. Consent and anonymity are not a formality to complete before the real work; they are a condition of the work being any good.
Explain the difference between description and analysis in an internal assessment.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Explain how a student should handle a discrepancy between what an interviewee says and what an official text states.
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
What is the internal assessment worth? 25% of the grade, marked out of 30 across five criteria. It is an investigation written up as an analysis.
How do you test a research question? Ask what evidence would count as an answer. If you can name the sources and the kind of finding that would settle it, it is a question; if not, it is a topic.
Name two ethical requirements for interviews. Informed consent, with the purpose and the use of the material explained; and anonymity offered and respected where the participant wants it.
What does analysis require of each piece of evidence? That it is selected because it bears on the question, attributed to whoever actually said it, and followed by a sentence saying what it shows.
Exam tips
- Name the evidence that would answer your question before you commit to it.
- Attribute every claim. "One member of the congregation described it this way" is a strength.
- A discrepancy between an interview and a text is a finding, not a problem.
- Follow every finding with a sentence saying what it shows. That is analysis.