Functionalists focus on the functions, both manifest and latent, of social institutions; therefore, one of the aspects an educational researcher can study from the functionalist perspective is the relationship between education and inequality and how, even though it is not one of its manifest functions, it contributes to the reproduction of inequality.
If an educational researcher wants to use the symbolic interactionist perspective, he can focus on the characteristics of relationships between students and teachers, the communication patterns that take place in the classroom and how the interactions children have in school affect their self-concept.
