Investigation into the Internal and External Communication methods of a school (BCS GCSE - attained full marks)
A Report to Investigate the Internal and External Communication
Systems in Kirk Balk School
To: Mr. M. T. Evans (BEd, FRSA)
From: John Saunders (11R)
Date: 11th November 2002
Introduction:
In this report, I will investigate two systems of communication that are in place:
- Internal Communication - Communication between two people within the school.
- External Communication - Communication between a person within the school, and a person outside
of the school.
The report will outline:
- The research methods I use.
- The findings of my research.
- A comparison between internal and external communication, based on the findings of my research
- Recommendations of improvements, which I suggest you use in the future.
- An indication of the implications for the school and its employees.
Contents:
Research:
To gather information for the report, I used secondary research such as websites, which were suggested to us, and textbooks within our reach. I also distributed questionnaires to different people who are involved with the school, because I wanted to get a first person view of what communication in Kirk Balk is like.
I distributed the questionnaires mainly to: Pupils; Teachers or Head of Departments; and the SMT. I thought that they would have the most knowledge of the school, because they are more likely to be out and about in classrooms during the school day. Office staff and Cleaning people would tend not to be as much, so I don’t think their opinion would be as certain.
The research I did is on the next few pages…
Research Notes:
Primary and Secondary Research:
Primary and secondary researches are different types of the same thing. Primary research is research that is found from its original source, like from a scene of a crime or from the ‘horses mouth’. Examples of primary sources are: interviews, questionnaires, observations (e.g. From a museum), diaries, case studies or autobiographies (Although these could hold a biased view from the person who wrote it).
Secondary research is research that isn’t from its original source, like from a textbook or a website that documented on the topic it’s telling us about. Examples of secondary research are: websites, textbooks, encyclopedias, videos, magazines or newspapers, and CD ROM software.
Primary research can be good because you can get an eye-witness view of something if it is part of a real place or thing, rather from a picture from a textbook or website. It’s also good because it is almost impossible to get data wrong without you knowing about it, because the information you will find out from a primary source isn’t passed down any grapevine.
Disadvantages of primary research is that sometimes you may have to travel hundreds, or even thousands of miles to get it, because for example, the primary source may be located in a different continent. Another disadvantage is that it could be incredibly hard to get hold of, if the source isn’t available to the public – because every primary source will be unique. Also, if a primary source was written by the person that is being researched (e.g. in an autobiography), they may have a biased or an unfair opinion on the person who wrote the source.
Secondary research can be good because it is easy to get hold of. You can simply pick up a textbook or get access to the internet to have lots and lots of information – you could even have different versions of the same source you are researching, so you can compare them. Another advantage is that it should be pretty cheap, because you would only need to purchase a textbook or pay for a small part of a phone bill for a website to access the source.
Disadvantages of secondary research are that it could be slightly inaccurate, because it will have been passed down from the grapevine, and the authors of the source will be simply writing what they have heard about the source. Also, if the topic that is being researched isn’t too popular with the public, or it isn’t well known of, then information from textbooks or websites may be harder to find, or they may not document on the source in too much detail.
After this research I have talked about, I think I am going to use a mixture of each source. I am going to use primary research mainly with questionnaires (see table below), and I am going to use secondary research mainly with things like textbooks or websites (see table below). This is because I want information from real life situations (such as communication within a school), but yet I want facts on what communication is from the view of an expert (like in a textbook or on a website).
From this, I’d say that secondary (e.g. Textbooks/Websites) would be better to use, because the information used would almost certainly be correct (or otherwise the source wouldn’t have been published). In other words, secondary information would be more suitable for this report bearing in mind I don’t have quite so much time. Here is a summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the main methods of primary and secondary resources I will use:
