The sampling technique that I have chosen to employ is the use of an opportunity sample as it will be completely opportunistic as to which students from each class will participate. I also propose where possible that the sample will comprise of twenty-five students form each of the following year groups at each participating school:
- year 7
- year 9
- year 11
Questionnaire:
The main method I have chosen to employ is the use of self report questionnaires. The questionnaires will be designed to investigate the prevalence of bullying as well as students reactions to the measures put in place by their school in order to prevent bullying through the use of a mixture of open and close ended questions.
The questionnaire will also ask close ended questions to gain an insight into some environmental factors, such as travel to and from school and the accessibility of substances such as alcohol and drugs. The questionnaire will remain anonymous at the student’s discretion, although personal details will be asked for example to determine a particular religion or race. In practice young people find the decision to seek help very difficult, and for many it is viewed as an admission of failure in their own and others' eyes. [Le Surf and Lynch, 1999; Garland and Zigler, 1994], therefore, I feel that confidentiality is a key issue.
The nature of the topic and contrasting circumstances of respondents required sensitive, complex and sometimes sample-specific research tools.
Questionnaires are appropriately suited to researching racist bullying in schools as they can retain a certain level of privacy, which may not be possible with other methodologies, such as unstructured interviews. There will be little involvement from myself after the initial structure of the questionnaire therefore, eliminating any real possibility of researcher bias on my part.
The use of a questionnaire will also allow me to access large amounts of data quickly although due care will need to be taken in my designing of the questionnaire as to produce questions that are unambiguous and direct to area of research. Neglecting to do this would result in extra difficulties being made apparent whilst analysing the data.
Sample Questions:
- Have you ever been the victim of bullying?
Yes No
- Have you ever participated in calling someone names?
Yes No
- Does bullying occur in your school?
Yes No
- Do you think that bullying is tackled well in your school, or could more be done to prevent it?
Well Quite Well More could be done Nothing effective is done
I believe that the use of questionnaires is an appropriate method to employ as it meets the needs of the research. As previously mentioned, questionnaires can allow for a certain degree of privacy which for example, unstructured interviews would not. It will also enable me to obtain a view on racial bullying from a students stand point, rather than from a bystanders which may be achieved through observation. This will increase the validity of my findings as it will enable my data to be a truer representation of the level of racist bullying that is actually occurring in secondary schools in Britain.
The data I will obtain from the use of such a questionnaire will enable me to categorise students in terms of race and gender in order to determine whether racial bullying is directed towards certain racial groups more than others and whether it is more prevalent is single sex schools, rather than mixed, therefore satisfying my objectives.
Questions will also be designed to asses and to identify the tactics put in place to prevent racially aggravated bullying and student’s reactions to these tactics. I shall design these questions so that they are open-ended so as to obtain a greater depth of information from the students.
Teacher Ratings and Peer Nominations:
As a secondary research method, I have elected to use both teacher ratings and peer nominations. I believe, and I am sure you will also, that it is important to understand whether it is in fact certain individuals within secondary schools that commit bullying or whether it is in fact random. Students often participate in bullying to go along with the crowd, but feel uncomfortable with their own behaviour, (this was found in a study led by Dorothy Espelage, PhD, Christine S. Asidao, and Shontelle Vion, of the University of Illinois at Urbaba-Champaign). I want to find out from my research whether there are any ringleaders in bullying and whether they share any character tendencies. From using teacher ratings and peer nominations, I hope to determine whether racial bullying exists in particular social groups or whether it is in fact just random.
A key point to mention with the use of this method is the necessity for the provision of confidentiality where possible. Students will be unlikely to name and shame those they consider to be bullies if they fear a consequence for doing so. Therefore peer nominations should be obtained through asking students to write the names of those who commit racially motivated bullying down or in some instances it could prove to be effective to supply the students with a print out of student’s faces and then ask them to highlight any that they consider to be a racist bully.
Those who report bullying other often state that they are bullied themselves. This study examined the accuracy of teacher, peer and self-ratings of bullies and victims:
Diana L. Paulk, Susan M. Swearer, PhD, Sam Song and Pauleete Tam Cary of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln questioned 83 sixth-graders and six sixth-grade teachers about bully and victim behaviour. They reported:
About 75 percent of students had been bullied, victimized or both bullied and victimized during the1998-99 school year.
Students, more than teachers, over identified other students as bully-victims rather than just bullies or just victims.
By using this method, I believe that I can achieve my objectives as it will enable me to identify how both bullies and victims are perceived and then from this whether or not anti-bullying methods are being employed correctly in different secondary schools.
Data Analysis:
The data obtained from the close ended questions in my questionnaire will quantified and put into visual diagrams where appropriate so that my results are clearly visible and to enable ease of comparison between schools as well as between age groups. Qualitative data collected will take longer to analyse as should be expected. I shall interpret what is presented before me in an objective manner so as not to bias the data obtained.
Ethical Issues:
I am aware that great care needs to be taken when approaching the subject of racial bullying in secondary schools. As well as the BSA ethical guidelines, it is important to note that this topic of research is a sensitive subject, and this needs to be observed throughout the duration of the research. Confidentiality must be given in order to gain the trust of the respondents, which is greatly important.
Ethical issues must also be taken into account when designing the questionnaire so that bias does not appear to be present.
Dissemination:
I hope from my research to provide new knowledge from the data obtained with regards to the effectiveness of anti-bullying measures.
I believe that my data may be put to use if issued to the participating schools so that the data can be used to improve anti-bullying measures and identify any problems that may not previously been apparent.
The data may be used in other schools in order to increase the awareness of racial bullying in secondary schools. It may prove effective to in fact get students involved in preventing bullying, say for example in anti-bullying days where students spend the entire school day addressing racial issues alongside other forms of bullying. Taking an active role in the prevention of bullying may be effective in a number of schools. Older children could be issues with visual diagrams of my results and asked to interpret them in order to further discover the student perspective of bullying.
References:
Le Surf, P. and Lynch, G. (1999) Exploring young people's perceptions relevant to counselling: a qualitative study. In: G. Lynch (ed) Clinical counselling in pastoral settings. London: Routledge.
Garland, A. F. and Zigler, E. F. (1994) Psychological correlates of help-seeking attitudes among children and adolescents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 64 (4): 586-593.
