As a group, we
have chosen to focus our research on child abuse, and have together agreed on
the question; “To what extent can it be argued that the
representation of child abuse in the media is indicative of Cohen’s
understanding of ‘Moral Panics’?” We chose not to research sexual abuse, as we
believe that this is an umbrella term which would prevent us conducting a study
which is both in depth and reliable, in the short time frame allowed to us. The
inclusion of sexual abuse would mean that we would have to explore subjects
inclusive of, but not exclusive to child trafficking, child labour and child
migration. This would also mean that we could not limit our research to the United Kingdom.
Though we
acknowledge the sensitive nature of this topic, we believe that it has been
well and thoroughly researched amongst the social sciences. Thus, we expect to
find a broad range of published literature surrounding the topic, which we hope
will help us when undertaking our study. We have chosen to conduct both
quantitative and qualitative research, as we understand that this will allow
for a larger data set, in which we will attempt to analyse at a later date. Due
to the subject of child abuse being high on both the public and political
agenda, we expect there to be a range of statistics readily available.
To begin with,
we were a group of three, before two other members of our class asking to join
our group. Though we allowed this, I was worried how the dynamics in our group
would flow, as I felt that had too many members. Though I was wary that a large
number would allow for some members of the group to complete more work than
others, I later felt that a larger group may be to our advantage, as it meant
we could conjure up plenty of ideas before selecting only the best. However, it
is currently proving difficult to gather the group together as a whole, though
I am sure that this will change as the project develops, as this assessment
accounts for 60% of our grade.
Formulating a
question in which the whole group was happy with proved difficult. We had first
agreed on a question had submitted a proposal, which meant that we were able to
begin conducting our research. It was later discovered that some members of the
group were unhappy with the proposed question and so we selected a new one, meaning
that we had previously wasted time gathering and analyzing data that was no
longer relevant.
Though this is
an emotive and sensitive topic, as a group we understand that it is important
to put our feelings aside when conducting research, and ensure that we refrain
from being bias. We are aware that we can not use language such as 'evil' when talking about child abuse, as this would be including our own perceptions throughout our work. Though we are allowed to include photographs on our poster, we must also be wary that there are photographs in which will be deemed unacceptable and unpresentable; as they may upset our peers. We also acknowledge that it would be greatly unethical to
perform primary research, and thus will only gather secondary data to help us
during our study (Walliman 2oo6).
I am excited,
though apprehensions, about partaking in a new form of assessment that was
previously unfamiliar to me. I am aware that working as a group will force me
to confront new challenges, but I am sure that as a group we will all work
together to enable that we complete a piece of work in which we are all happy
with.
References
Walliman, N (2006) Social Research Methods, London: Sage
No comments:
Post a Comment