community justice sectors Know how research can be used to: Improve service delivery Test and review existing knowledge Explore social trends and influence policy making Be able to give examples of each of areas. Using the ONS website, investigate crime rates in the local area. Ask students to present a one side summary of their findings (this could link to the difference between qualitative and quantitative data). Using any newspaper reports on recent pieces of research from the sectors, consider what implications the findings may have for service users and service delivery. 3.8.2 Methods Learn about the following primary methods: Survey method using an interview include the structured interview with a prepared schedule of items and the unstructured, e.g. clinical interview Advantages of this method in studying beliefs, attitudes and feelings Advantages of structured interviews in enabling comparisons and statistical generalisations to be made Advantages of unstructured interviews, including access to qualitative data Limitations of both techniques including risk of interviewer bias and inability to reveal cause-effect links Survey method using a questionnaire Survey Unstructured interview Clinical interview Structured interview Semi-structured interview Interview schedule Items Watch an episode of a chat show such as Graham Norton or Jonathan Ross. Use this to illustrate an unstructured interview approach. Consider why this is appropriate in this context (advantages). Consider in what circumstances this approach would not be useful. Students to prepare a schedule of items for an interview with another student. This could be on a topic pre-selected by the teacher. Ensure that there is “Research Methods in Health, Social and Early Years Care” by Sandy Green. Nelson Thornes. “AQA A2 Health and Social Care” by Richard Smithson. Philip Allan Updates. “Researching Health” DVD. Classroom Video Limited. “An Introduction to Sociology” by Ken Browne
These include rating scales, open and closed questions Time should be taken to devise any questionnaires carefully looking at possible pitfall and carrying out a pilot within the group or target population to avoid error Advantages of this method in avoiding effects caused by the presence of the researcher Limitations should include low return rate from respondents leading to a self-selected and unrepresentative sample. Observation This is a way of measuring the frequencies of a small range of behaviours using a prepared list of behaviour categories Observation studies vary in two main ways. Firstly the choice between participant and non-participant observation. Secondly the choice between overt and covert research. Limitations including the possible effect of being observed on the behaviour and physiological state of the participants, ethical issues of privacy and inability to reveal cause-effect links. Qualitative data Quantitative data Interviewer bias Cause-effect link Questionnaire Rating Likert scale Open questions Closed questions Target population Pilot study Return rate Sample Self-selected sample Unrepresentative sample Overt observation a mixture of different question types. Collate responses as a group or individually/in pairs. Present qualitative and quantitative data in appropriate formats. Look at examples of census questionnaires and discuss uses of the data collected. British Crime Survey, victim surveys and self-report studies as examples of research into crime and deviance. Observational study of the school/college common room. Tally charts to record certain types of behaviour.
3.8.5 Results * Numerical data should be processed to produce summary data in the form of percentages, and the mean, median and modal results as appropriate Results should be presented clearly using descriptive statistics, i.e. pie charts, tables and bar charts where appropriate to aid understanding. Check that all students know how to calculate percentages. Brief session covering this as appropriate. Colleague from ICT to present a session on graphs and how to alter default computer settings. “The Good Study Guide” by Andrew Northedge. Open University Press. 3.8.6 Assessment You need to produce a portfolio of evidence and reflective log choosing one area of research, which relates to one of the four sectors. When you are doing this, other units in your health and social care course or a career that you are interested in pursuing might influence your choice of topic. Then, you will find out about previously-published literature into this area, which will help you to design, carry out and report on your own empirical study, which should include primary data which you have collected yourself. Your portfolio of evidence should not be a shared exercise or based on a whole group topic, but wholly your own work. Work which does not demonstrate independence cannot be awarded high marks. Your work for assessment must include the following sections and subsections: Section A: The completed reflective log The reflective log forms part of the CRF and can be found on under coursework administration. The log should be completed throughout the research process. Although the responsibility for this lies mainly with the student, there is one section for the teacher to complete. Section B: Role and impact of research