You may recall that in my previous post about group work, I was enjoying working within a large group as we all had many ideas about our research and project. However as our project went on and our research had to become more specific we had problems agreeing on which direction we were heading, our topic was child abuse and with this there were many avenues we could go down. As 'child abuse' is such an umbrella term, we realised we would have to narrow our research down in order to have a concise set of results from our research. We decided to not look at child sexual abuse as the topic is so broad, however this did pose us difficulties, for example there were many more news articles on child sexual abuse than articles on domestic child abuse, which we wanted to study. Despite this minor set back, we eventually found enough data and research in order to draw a conclusion from. In my previous blog on secondary data and its use in social scientific research, I stated that a major problem with secondary data is, sometimes we cannot be sure that the source of the data is reliable. This was another problem we came across, the statistics we gathered from all three media sources, The Sun, The Guardian and The BBC did not reference their statistics where cited; therefore they lacked credibility and reliability. Similarly we also looked at statistics from the NSPCC, which we used as our main source of official statistics. This was good as their were plenty of statistics at our finger tips; however as they were charity statistics we had to be careful and not take them at face value as they may have been biased.
Regarding the group itself, I became frustrated... the lack of attendance became a huge issue as it hindered our progress, when all of the other groups were preparing and researching, myself and another member of our group became annoyed as we could not get on with our work without the rest of our group as they all had relevant information which we could not access. This meant we were rushing towards the end of the project and did not finalise everything properly. The lack of attendance caused tension and a divide within our group, which again hindered our progress which then led to arguments. Despite this, I was pleased with the way we presented our findings and research to our peers, however I was a little annoyed as one of our group did not turn up! Our poster looked good and I was pleased with the layout and design, however we were late getting it printed so we had to display it on the interactive screen; which in my opinion took the edge off. It was interesting to see what the rest of the groups had chosen to research and there was a lot of variety, E.g the current university strikes, the death penalty and abortion laws in Ireland. I thought this was brilliant as each group presented their ideas and findings, it was also interesting to see and hear about the variety of research methods they used.
In conclusion, as much as I enjoyed the experience of working in a group and carrying out a social research project, I would not like to do group work again at university unless it was with a smaller number. I found the group and the dynamics in the group too difficult to work with and the poor attendance made the research project extremely difficult as it was hard to correspond and move forward.
Sunday, 11 May 2014
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
A blog on the use of secondary data in social scientific research.
"Secondary analysis involves the re-use of pre-existing qualitative data derived from previous research studies. These data include material such as semi-structured interviews, responses to open-ended questions in questionnaires, field notes and research diaries." (Heaton 2004:1)
The use of secondary data in social scientific research is popular amongst many social scientists as there are many benefits to the researcher. These include high-quality data can be obtained, data is available on a large scale, allows for comparative research; therefore the researcher can easily identify patterns, trends and shifts in the data. Another advantage of using secondary data is that most of the data is available to the public for free; therefore not putting the researcher at expense. Secondary analysis is usually used for two main purposes; firstly they can be used to investigate new or additional research questions; alternatively they can be used to verify the findings of previous research (Heaton 2004). This shows that secondary data in social scientific research is versatile and can be used in various ways.
Despite the numerous advantages of using secondary data in social scientific research, there are also numerous disadvantages. For example, some of the data may be dated and therefore inaccurate as times have changed as Gillies and Edwards (2005) warn that utilization of qualitative datasets generated in the past: requires more than a simple historical comparison of data. The focus of ... studies shift over time, limiting the contextual commensurability between different historically and culturally specific data sets and generating numerous conceptual and methodological questions...relevant themes and accounts are likely to be embedded within a range of topic areas that were previously ascendant. There are also ethical concerns, such as participant consent, this can be an issue as the participant may not have agreed to be used within the research being carried out. There are also other general weaknesses to using secondary data in social scientific research, for example the researcher cannot add questions if they wish, also there may be scepticism surrounding the quality of the research the conditions in which the research was carried out. Another big problem with using secondary data is it requires the use of the "sociological imagination" (Mills 1959) , this is the idea that there are stories and reasons behind the data, however the researcher cannot access this.
Reference List
Mills, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York, Oxford University Press.
Gillies and Edwards (2005) Secondary analysis in exploring family and social change:addressing the issue of context Vol. 6, no1. Art 44
Heaton, J (2004) Secondary analysis of Qualitative data: an overview Historical social research, Vol 33-2008- No. 3, 33-45
Friday, 25 April 2014
"The UK should abandon its current drugs policy because the war on drugs is not being won" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26026025
The quote "war on drugs" was first used by President Nixon on the 17th June 1971 (Nixon cited in Bertram et al 1996:104) and was used to describe the actions needed in order to overcome the drug epidemic. Forty years after President Nixon said this, the Global Commission on drug policy stated that the "war on drugs" had failed. It is estimated that drug trafficking across the world exists as a $400 billion trade ( Newburn 2012:439).
The UK has a tough approach to Drugs and Drugs use, drug addiction is not seen as a health matter, but a matter that needs to be dealt with by the Criminal Justice system. This has led to drug addicts becoming marginalised in society, and the general public stigmatising those who have drug misuse problems. Many politicians including Nick Clegg suggest that we need new and different approaches to dealing with drugs and drugs users. This inevitably would lead to a decline in drug use and be a step in the right direction to combating the "war on drugs". The way in which the British society and the government handle drug addiction is widely debated and this has led to it becoming a controversial subject. Clegg, however argues that it is time to change "Mr Clegg said British politicians owed it to young people in the UK and countries like Colombia to look at different approaches - although he insisted he was not advocating full legalisation (BBC 04/02/2014).
Personally I feel that as country we need to decriminalise Drugs and drug use as this would change the way society deals with the problem of addiction from a legal and treatment perspective. There are numerous advantages of decriminalising drugs, for example The idea behind Decriminalisation is the possession and use of drugs is handled as a public health problem and not a criminal activity. Cases of substance abuse and addiction are handled by counsellors, psychologists and social workers instead of professions within the criminal justice system such as the police.This would mean the CJS would become freed up to deal with more important cases. Another advantage of decriminalisation is stigma and labelling attached to drug use would cause a paradigm shift. In the book ‘The drug takers: the social meaning of drug use’ (1971) the criminologist Jock Young studied marijuana users and found that the more the media reported on the group of young people smoking weed, the more the young people became socially excluded and marginalised.However decriminalisation would mean that peoples perspectives would change on those who use drugs and would mean drug users would become more accepted into wider society.
Portugal decriminalised all drugs in 2001, this has led to a dramatic fall in addictions and an increase in the amount of people seeking treatment for their drug use and abuse. There has also there has been a decline in Drug Trafficking and a decline in other drug related problems, such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths from drug overdoses.I understand that there are limitations to decriminalisation, for example it may encourage drug use, however I feel the UK would benefit from similar legislation and ideas about the way in which drugs should be dealt with. The legalisation debate continues to be discussed and debated amongst academics; therefore there have been numerous social research projects and the production of numerous academia on the topic. Research carried out and published in the report ‘A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across the Globe’ is the first report to support Release’s campaign ‘Drugs - It’s Time for Better Laws’ researched into the decriminalisation and the impact it has had in countries all over the world, for example findings suggest that
Germany continues to have moderately high rates of use of cannabis, cocaine and LSD, the prevalence of use among adults is significantly below that of the UK
In Portugal, recent and current reported drug use declined among 15 to 24 year olds from 2001 to 2007.
On the criminal justice side, Portugal has reduced the number of criminal drug offences from approximately 14,000 per year to an average of 5000 to 5500 per year after decriminalisation (release 2013: 24, 30, 32)
These statistics show just how successful decriminalisation is and continues to lower the number of addicts and the amount of drugs on the streets across the world.
Reference list
The UK has a tough approach to Drugs and Drugs use, drug addiction is not seen as a health matter, but a matter that needs to be dealt with by the Criminal Justice system. This has led to drug addicts becoming marginalised in society, and the general public stigmatising those who have drug misuse problems. Many politicians including Nick Clegg suggest that we need new and different approaches to dealing with drugs and drugs users. This inevitably would lead to a decline in drug use and be a step in the right direction to combating the "war on drugs". The way in which the British society and the government handle drug addiction is widely debated and this has led to it becoming a controversial subject. Clegg, however argues that it is time to change "Mr Clegg said British politicians owed it to young people in the UK and countries like Colombia to look at different approaches - although he insisted he was not advocating full legalisation (BBC 04/02/2014).
Personally I feel that as country we need to decriminalise Drugs and drug use as this would change the way society deals with the problem of addiction from a legal and treatment perspective. There are numerous advantages of decriminalising drugs, for example The idea behind Decriminalisation is the possession and use of drugs is handled as a public health problem and not a criminal activity. Cases of substance abuse and addiction are handled by counsellors, psychologists and social workers instead of professions within the criminal justice system such as the police.This would mean the CJS would become freed up to deal with more important cases. Another advantage of decriminalisation is stigma and labelling attached to drug use would cause a paradigm shift. In the book ‘The drug takers: the social meaning of drug use’ (1971) the criminologist Jock Young studied marijuana users and found that the more the media reported on the group of young people smoking weed, the more the young people became socially excluded and marginalised.However decriminalisation would mean that peoples perspectives would change on those who use drugs and would mean drug users would become more accepted into wider society.
Portugal decriminalised all drugs in 2001, this has led to a dramatic fall in addictions and an increase in the amount of people seeking treatment for their drug use and abuse. There has also there has been a decline in Drug Trafficking and a decline in other drug related problems, such as sexually transmitted diseases and deaths from drug overdoses.I understand that there are limitations to decriminalisation, for example it may encourage drug use, however I feel the UK would benefit from similar legislation and ideas about the way in which drugs should be dealt with. The legalisation debate continues to be discussed and debated amongst academics; therefore there have been numerous social research projects and the production of numerous academia on the topic. Research carried out and published in the report ‘A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across the Globe’ is the first report to support Release’s campaign ‘Drugs - It’s Time for Better Laws’ researched into the decriminalisation and the impact it has had in countries all over the world, for example findings suggest that
Reference list
Bertram, E. (1996). Drug
war politics the price of denial. Berkeley, University of California Press.
Newburn, T. (2012). Criminology.
London, Routledge.
Release (2013) ‘A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across
the Globe’ http://www.release.org.uk/sites/release.org.uk/files/pdf/publications/Release_Quiet_Revolution_2013.pdf (accessed 06/04/2014)
Release (2013) ‘A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across
the Globe’ http://www.release.org.uk/sites/release.org.uk/files/pdf/publications/Release_Quiet_Revolution_2013.pdf (accessed 06/04/2014)
Friday, 21 March 2014
A blog on group research/ ethics
As part of this module, one of the assessments is to use social science research methods and put together a research project. The result of this will be our group presenting a poster presentation in front of our peers. At first, I was a little bit worried about working within a large group (I am in a group of 5), however I soon realised that this was an advantage to an extent, because it meant that we all had plenty of ideas about the project and what we wanted to achieve through our research. After much debate, we finally agreed on a topic to do our research project on, we chose child abuse, and in particular the portrayal of child abuse in the media. Formulating our question was difficult as it was hard to be specific about what we wanted to research and present on, we realised that in order to get a decent grade, we would have to choose a "do-able project" (Marshall and Rossman 1995). This would have to involve carrying out the research carefully and consistently, whilst constantly checking that we are conforming to practical, theoretical and ethical practicalities.
Despite this being a harrowing topic, we felt that this was a well researched topic within the social sciences,as it is constantly on the public and political agenda. It has been difficult to agree on what research methods we are going to use, and this has led to a few clashes within the group. We eventually decided to use a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative research methods, as we feel this will give us access to more information and make the analysis of data easier. Another problem we have encountered is that it has been difficult to get the group all together at the same time and the same place, I have found this frustrating as it is difficult to make progress if half the group is absent.
The second part of this blog post is looking at the ethical problems we are faced with when researching child abuse. A major ethical concern we faced was we could not carry out primary research because of the nature of our topic; as it would have been too upsetting and risqué to carry out. Another ethical concern was we needed to make sure we approached this topic in a sensitive but academic style because of the nature of the topic, researching into cases such as Baby P and Victoria Climbie proved to be very emotional, however we had to put our feelings and emotions aside and focus on the task at hand, this proved to be very challenging as we had to remain impartial.
Despite this being a harrowing topic, we felt that this was a well researched topic within the social sciences,as it is constantly on the public and political agenda. It has been difficult to agree on what research methods we are going to use, and this has led to a few clashes within the group. We eventually decided to use a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative research methods, as we feel this will give us access to more information and make the analysis of data easier. Another problem we have encountered is that it has been difficult to get the group all together at the same time and the same place, I have found this frustrating as it is difficult to make progress if half the group is absent.
The second part of this blog post is looking at the ethical problems we are faced with when researching child abuse. A major ethical concern we faced was we could not carry out primary research because of the nature of our topic; as it would have been too upsetting and risqué to carry out. Another ethical concern was we needed to make sure we approached this topic in a sensitive but academic style because of the nature of the topic, researching into cases such as Baby P and Victoria Climbie proved to be very emotional, however we had to put our feelings and emotions aside and focus on the task at hand, this proved to be very challenging as we had to remain impartial.
Friday, 7 March 2014
Blog on Advantages and Disadvantages of quantitative methods
The definition of Quantitative research is research that uses numerical analysis and reduces data to figures. Quantitative data is usually carried out using a scientific approach, following a series of steps.
These are:
These are:
1) Development of a hypothesis & what the researcher
expects to find during the research process
2) The development of the research methods being used to conduct the research
3) Conducting the research
4) Collection of the data
5) The analysis of the data collected
6)The evaluation of results
There are numerous examples of Qualitative date, for example The crime survey for England and Wales (previously known as the British crime survey) is a mass scale survey carried every year by the department of national statistics, it was estimated in 2010/11 around 51,000 people were interviewed (Gov.uk 19/01/2012). Further examples of quantitative research are questionnaires, structured interviews and content analysis. Arguably one of the most well known pieces of qualitative research ever conducted was Emile Durkheim's study of suicide (1897). His aim of this study was to "demonstrate that this apparently most personal of acts is ultimately determined by society, and that the suicide rate is therefore a 'social fact' (Scott and Marshal D:2009). He used secondary data and analysed suicide statistics from different countries, he looked at things such as employment rates, religion and marriage status. From this Durkheim came up with this definition of suicide "the term suicide is applied to all cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim himself, which he knows will produce this result" (1897). He also went on to identify 2 types of suicide these are egoistic suicide, anomic suicide, altruistic suicide and fatalistic suicide.
There are numerous advantages of using quantitative research methods, for example the research is easy to control,this means that the researcher can easily change the variables and change which direction the research is going in. Another advantage is when comparing data it is easier to identify patterns, trends and correlations compared to using qualitative data; as qualitative data is usually personal to the individual and therefore more difficult to identify patterns. Using quantitative methods for research also means it is easier to repeat the research again; therefore making the research more reliable and precise. This also means that the same research can be carried out numerous years later, this would be interesting because this allows comparisons and contrasts to be drawn from the data. The data collected from quantitative research enables the researcher to perform a sophisticated statistical analysis; therefore the researcher gets the most out of the data that has been collected.
Limitations of quantitative data include, it can be difficult to pinpoint cause and effect, therefore it is difficult for the researcher to understand the full story behind the data that was given. Another disadvantage is quantitative data can lead to assumptions, such as that the facts given are true and the same for all people all of the time. Whereas qualitative research identifies that everyone is different and everyone has had different life experiences, this is then taken into account in the research.
Reference List
British Crime Survey (19/01/2012) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/british-crime-survey-methodology
DURKHEIM, E. (1951). Suicide, a study in sociology. Glencoe, Ill, Free Press.
SCOTT, J., & MARSHALL, G. (2009). A dictionary of sociology. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Monday, 24 February 2014
A blog on blogs
It is clear to see that within the last 10 years there has been a rise in the 'linkless blogging culture' (Wakeford and Cohen 2008:311); this is due to information being made easier to share online and the increase in social networking. After just a simple google search of the top 100 blogs in the UK, I was surprised to see the variety of content, fashion, music, architecture and food to name but a few. The sociologist Frank Furedi, in his book 'Therapy culture: cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age' unpacks the society we live in today and our obsession with making the private public. He suggests that "The erosion of the boundary that separates the public from the private is one of the chief accomplishments of therapy culture" (Furedi 2004:5). This suggests that this lack of privacy in our lives is due to the progression of the society that we live in.
http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/
The blog above is the most popular fashion blog in the UK; therefore it is has had the most views compared to other fashion blogs. The blog contains photography, reviews, articles and polls, which are all centred around fashion. The blog has many components making it user friendly, for example the layout is easy and simple to follow and the blog is also interactive. Making the blog interactive means that users can become involved with the blog, for example posting comments and interacting with other people who have similar interests; this therefore enables a community to be formed. The reflects current trends at the time and is constantly updated to provide the latest in fashion news; this enables the viewer to become aware of the newest trends. It is evident that fashion and the way in which we look plays a key role in our society as we have become style and fashion conscious.
According to the sociologist C R Mills " the sociological imagination is the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society" (Mills 1959:3). This suggests that the wider society has influence on our experiences and the development of ourselves. This shows that society has taught us to become obsessed with the way we look. The blog also comments and rates on what celebrities are wearing this again reinforces the idea that fashion interests people, it also shows that celebrities can influence what people wear and their tastes and preferences when it comes to style. The blog also allows the user to connect with other social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, this means that the user can access more fashion related news and share posts with their friends; therefore again building up an online community and circle. It can be argued that this blog is aimed at a particular age group, the 20s - 30s woman, therefore it has a narrow audience.
Using blogs as a form of social research
Like all social research methods, blogs have both advantages and disadvantages. Many researchers argue that blogs allow access to thoughts and feelings that have not been prompted by the researcher; therefore it is natural data. Blogs are a good research tool as they are constantly being updated to provide new material, this therefore enables the researcher to access up-to-date information. This is also useful for identifying patterns, shifts and correlations in the data, for example when looking at social class, gender and ethnicity. There are a wide variety of approaches when it comes to blogs, for example blogs can be both quantative and qualitative, this enables the researcher to acess a wide range of data and sources. There are practical, theoretical and ethical problems when it comes to using blogs as a form of social research, however the main argument with the use of blogs is the public- private debate. This is a question of has the writer of the blog written their blog for public use or is it private and restricted, therefore this poses many ethical questions. The theorist Hookway states that many blogs are "personal not private" (Hookway 2008:105) therefore people have written them with the intention to be seen.
Reference List
http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/
The blog above is the most popular fashion blog in the UK; therefore it is has had the most views compared to other fashion blogs. The blog contains photography, reviews, articles and polls, which are all centred around fashion. The blog has many components making it user friendly, for example the layout is easy and simple to follow and the blog is also interactive. Making the blog interactive means that users can become involved with the blog, for example posting comments and interacting with other people who have similar interests; this therefore enables a community to be formed. The reflects current trends at the time and is constantly updated to provide the latest in fashion news; this enables the viewer to become aware of the newest trends. It is evident that fashion and the way in which we look plays a key role in our society as we have become style and fashion conscious.
According to the sociologist C R Mills " the sociological imagination is the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society" (Mills 1959:3). This suggests that the wider society has influence on our experiences and the development of ourselves. This shows that society has taught us to become obsessed with the way we look. The blog also comments and rates on what celebrities are wearing this again reinforces the idea that fashion interests people, it also shows that celebrities can influence what people wear and their tastes and preferences when it comes to style. The blog also allows the user to connect with other social networking platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr, this means that the user can access more fashion related news and share posts with their friends; therefore again building up an online community and circle. It can be argued that this blog is aimed at a particular age group, the 20s - 30s woman, therefore it has a narrow audience.
Using blogs as a form of social research
Like all social research methods, blogs have both advantages and disadvantages. Many researchers argue that blogs allow access to thoughts and feelings that have not been prompted by the researcher; therefore it is natural data. Blogs are a good research tool as they are constantly being updated to provide new material, this therefore enables the researcher to access up-to-date information. This is also useful for identifying patterns, shifts and correlations in the data, for example when looking at social class, gender and ethnicity. There are a wide variety of approaches when it comes to blogs, for example blogs can be both quantative and qualitative, this enables the researcher to acess a wide range of data and sources. There are practical, theoretical and ethical problems when it comes to using blogs as a form of social research, however the main argument with the use of blogs is the public- private debate. This is a question of has the writer of the blog written their blog for public use or is it private and restricted, therefore this poses many ethical questions. The theorist Hookway states that many blogs are "personal not private" (Hookway 2008:105) therefore people have written them with the intention to be seen.
Reference List
- FUREDI, F. (2004). Therapy culture: cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age. London, Routledge.
- Hookway, N. (2008) "Entering the blogosphere" some strategies for using blogs in social research 'Qualitative research 8 (1) 91-113
- MILLS, C. W. (1959). The sociological imagination. New York, Oxford University Press.
•WAKEFORD, N. and
Cohen, K. (2008) ‘Fieldnotes in Public: Using Blogs for Research’, in N. Fielding, R. M. Lee & G.
Blank (eds.) The SAGE Handbook of Online Research
Methods, pp 307-326. London:
SAGE.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Blog on Autoethnography - Community membership
Autoethnography - Community membership
It is clear to see that the cultures in which we live and the community in which we are members of, shape who we are and our social interactions. The sociologist Durkheim describes being part of a group in society as a form of social solidarity (Durkheim 1893). This suggests that these groups and communities bind people together as one; this then creates unity and a common ground between them. I have had numerous experiences of being part of groups throughout my life for example, Girl Guiding and other youth groups, however the group I am going to focus on in this blog is the police cadets. I have been involved with the police cadets for the last two years and I now help run the course by running sessions and supporting the younger cadets. I got involved with the police cadets because I have always been interested in a career in the police.
Police cadets is a brilliant organisation as it teaches young people about what the police do and more importantly develops young people, by developing their skills and potential. I think it is vital that young people get a good representation of our police force as today it is easy to take the opinion that the police are corrupt, racist etc. The media today is very critical of the police force and tends to focus on the negatives and not the positives, a good example of this is the 2011 London riots where the police were heavily criticised for the way they handled and approached the disorder. Similarly there is a lot of mistrust between the police and minority ethnic groups, with many communities arguing that they are "over policed and under protected" (Macpherson report cited in McLaughlin 2007:21) this suggests that the relationship can be troubled, an example of this mistrust is the high levels of stop and search. This has lead to numerous moral panics (Cohen 1987) surrounding the police and ethnic minority groups.
Police cadets enables me to feel like part of a group, for example we all take part in the same activities and wear the same uniform; this therefore gives us a sense of identity and belonging. Identity according to postmodernists is important for the development and continuation of a diverse and cultural society, for example the theorist Stuart Hall stresses the importance of cultural identity in his book 'Cultural representations and signifying practices (1997).Similarly symbolic interactionists such as George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer argue that the sense of identity reflects the self which is now view as "a set of identities that can be evoked individually and simultaneously in situations, but once evoked individuals actions are directed at having others verify an identity and or identities" ( Sage publications ch 16:332). This suggests that different identities make up the self and this in turn is reflected by other peoples interactions with us. When wearing the uniform there is an overall sense of pride and this is reflected in my behaviour when wearing the uniform as I am a representative of the police force.
An important part of the police cadets is involvement within the community, for example we get involved with charity projects and community centered policing. This is a great way to build bridges with the local community as it shows there is a positive link between young people and the police.
Autoethnography
I think Autoethnography is a very useful approach to research as it enables the writer to give their own views and thoughts on the subject matter they are researching. It enables us (as readers) to understand the writers cultural and personal experiences, and gain an in depth understanding into their way of thinking. The use of autoethnography can clearly be seen in many blogs on the internet; this suggests it is a popular form of research as it can be both both informative and unstructured.
An important part of the police cadets is involvement within the community, for example we get involved with charity projects and community centered policing. This is a great way to build bridges with the local community as it shows there is a positive link between young people and the police.
Autoethnography
I think Autoethnography is a very useful approach to research as it enables the writer to give their own views and thoughts on the subject matter they are researching. It enables us (as readers) to understand the writers cultural and personal experiences, and gain an in depth understanding into their way of thinking. The use of autoethnography can clearly be seen in many blogs on the internet; this suggests it is a popular form of research as it can be both both informative and unstructured.
Reference list
COHEN, S. (1987). Folk devils & moral panics: the creation of the mods and rockers. Oxford, Basil Blackwell.
DURKHEIM, E. (1933). The division of labor in society. New York, Macmillan.
practices. London, Sage in association with the Open University.
MCLAUGHLIN, E. (2007). The new policing. London, SAGE
Sage Publications, Symbolic Interactionist theories of identity ch 16
Sage Publications, Symbolic Interactionist theories of identity ch 16
Monday, 17 February 2014
Blog on Social Reseach
Police Responses to Diversity: A Social Representational Study of Rural British Policing
in a Changing Representational Context - evaluation of research methods used in this study - Morant and Edwards (2010)
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7d4f8ffc-7071-47e3-8625-1515be0d505b%40sessionmgr113&vid=7&hid=106
As I have previously mentioned a big sociological interest of mine is the British police force today; in particular the extent to which our police force today is diverse and reflects the society in which we are in today. The article states that "The last decade of British policing has seen enormous reforms in how the police interact with members of ethnic minority groups, and respond to diversity in modern society" (281:2010), This suggests that policies and reforms in laws have created a more diverse force. Events such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 sparked huge reform in the British police force as the Macpherson report (1999) deemed the police "institutionally racist", it also stated that the ethic minority groups were "under policed and over protected" (Macpherson report cited in McLaughlin 2007:21), this in turn lead to an increase in mistrust and an overall dislike of the British police force. However much more is now done in order to maintain a healthy relationship between the police and communities.
It is clear to see that diversity within the police force is now seen as an important part of having a well rounded police force; and with this in mind many criminologists and sociologists are employed to carry out research into the effectiveness of diversity policies. The area of research and topic looked at in the article is a social representational study of rural British policing in a changing representational context. This suggests that the study aimed to produce data and findings that would lead to either new theory or support pre-existing theory.
The methods used in this study are both quantative and qualitative, as both data and personal findings were recorded. Semi- structured interviews were carried on 10 officers who were geographically located in rural communities and their response to the recent increase in migrant workers working on the land etc. The researchers titled the semi- structured interviews "the experiences of police officers in this region of interacting with diverse ethnic minority communities"(Morant and Edwards 2010 84). This suggests that the researchers wanted to create an overall picture of policing diverse groups from the experiences of front- line officers within local communities and gain an understanding of how their work has impacted the relationship with diverse ethnic minority gorups. "Interview questions were designed with a clear focus on personal experiences of practical policing situations" (Morant and Edwards 2010:85) interviews were then conducted in private rooms at police stations with both times and dates chosen by participants, each interview lasted 45 minutes and anonyminity was put into practice at all times.
The findings from the research provide an interesting read, for example the study found that
" Across many examples of police practice, two
inter-related characteristics of recent immigrant groups are central: lack of cultural assimilation and language and communication difficulties. These are experienced as barriers or challenges to respondents’ aspirations to treat these groups fairly, with associated implications for their sense of professional competence and identities" (Morant and Edwards 2010:289) this suggests that the police officers who were questioned found it difficult to interact with the diverse ethnic groups because of barriers for example, language and culture. Another finding suggests that officers are ofetn scared of coming across as "institutionally racist" and therefore are sometimes reluctant to deal with diverse ethic groups. Finally the research suggests that although policing continues to move on and become more and more diverse it terms of dealing withe community, more still needs to be done in order to break down barriers.
Reference list
MacPherson Report (1999) The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry:
Report of an Inquiry by Sir William MacPherson of Cluny, Cm 4262–1, London, The
Home Office.
MCLAUGHLIN, E. (2007). The new policing. London, SAGE.
Thursday, 30 January 2014
Introductory Blog
After previously carrying out sociological research and finding it fairly challenging, I am a little apprehensive about this module. The research I have undertaken previously was a project working alongside Lancashire Constabulary into binge drinking in underage young people, and in particular how they obtain alcohol (fake I.D, brothers and sisters, parents etc). This was a good experience as it enabled me to be involved with an entire research project, from initial planning of questionnaires etc to the analysis of data and the presentation of our findings. We used both quantitative and qualitative research methods, which both had advantages and disadvantages, for example,despite anonymity some people in our sample were reluctant to fill out a questionnaire due to the research being carried by Lancashire Constabulary.
I have numerous research interests, however my main research interest is the British public's perceptions and thoughts on the current police force in Britain, in particular the question "is the British police force an accurate representation of the British public today, when looking at gender, ethnicity and class?" I am interested in this area because after my degree I hope to join the police force as an officer, at the moment I volunteer and help run Lancaster's police cadet group, which has lead me to develop a keen interest in policing. I am also interested in the ways in which the media report on the police and how this has impacted on young people's views on the police.
I hope to build up my knowledge of sociological research methods, and learn how researchers apply their findings into their academia. I also want to learn the advantages and disadvantages of using both quantative and qualitative research methods when looking at the practical, theoretical and ethical. I am a bit apprehensive about this module as I found studying research methods at A-level fairly difficult and boring, however the lectures and workshops have reassured me that research methods can be interesting and engaging.
I have numerous research interests, however my main research interest is the British public's perceptions and thoughts on the current police force in Britain, in particular the question "is the British police force an accurate representation of the British public today, when looking at gender, ethnicity and class?" I am interested in this area because after my degree I hope to join the police force as an officer, at the moment I volunteer and help run Lancaster's police cadet group, which has lead me to develop a keen interest in policing. I am also interested in the ways in which the media report on the police and how this has impacted on young people's views on the police.
I hope to build up my knowledge of sociological research methods, and learn how researchers apply their findings into their academia. I also want to learn the advantages and disadvantages of using both quantative and qualitative research methods when looking at the practical, theoretical and ethical. I am a bit apprehensive about this module as I found studying research methods at A-level fairly difficult and boring, however the lectures and workshops have reassured me that research methods can be interesting and engaging.
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