A research project to look if bullying is spiralling out of control Essay

For my research project, I decided to look at bullying, which is a contempery issue as over recent months it has received a lot of media attention. My hypothesis was bullying is spiralling out of control. I used a wide range of research methods using both primary and secondary sources of information including questionnaires, interviews and internet research. I also considered ethical issues and problems this research may of encountered Introduction I have decided to do my research topic on bullying. Over recent months bullying has received a lot more media attention for a number of different reasons. One reason is the new form of bullying called Happy Slapping. This is whereby bullies record their victims being physically abused on their mobile phones. Also many serious incidents of bullying taking place such as 15 year old Natasha Jackman who was recently stabbed in her eye, back , head and chest in her school dinner queue. In July of this year the beat bullying campaign was launched, fronted by many famous stars. Bullying was defined as ‘longstanding violence, mental or physical, conducted by an individual or a group against an individual who Is not able to defend himself or herself in that actual situation’. I wish to find out if bullying is spiralling out of control or that people are becoming more aware of how common bullying is. I plan to use a wide range of research methods including both primary and secondary sources. One method I will be using is questionnaires. I will give these to children in year 6 and adults between the age of 40-55 to find out their views on bullying. I will also interview a head teacher of a school to find out her views and I will also interview a primary school teacher. I will use a unstructured format to help me get more information. I will also ask in the interviews about how the schools deals with bullying and if they think bullying is getting worse or society is becoming more aware of it. Secondary methods I will use are internet and newspapers. I will consider any ethical issues that I may come across and try to avoid them by using the appropriate methods. One ethical issue I need to consider is confidentiality of the respondents. Also I need to be aware of emotional damage respondents may have and always be considerate. I will also get full consent from participants to carry out my research and debrief them fully. Literature review Over recent months bullying has been increasingly talked about in the media. Sports stars Kelly Holmes and Rio Ferdinand are among the Celebes who have signed up to the beat bullying campaign to try and tackle bullying in schools. Around one in four primary school children and around one in three secondary school children are bullied at some point in their school life according to official estimates. Children were encouraged to wear a blue wristband as a sign of solidarity. The campaign encouraged children to talk about their bullying problems and to remember their not alone. http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/ni/programmes/breakfast There has also been research done to find statistics about the issue. The NSPCC published a list of key findings. They found 31% of children experienced bullying during childhood, a further 7% were discriminated against and 14% were made to feel different. A quarter of young adults bullied by their peers during childhood reported they suffered long term harmful effects as a result. Also research involving2300 pupils aged 10-14 from schools across England found 30% of children did not tell anyone that they had been bullied. This percentage was higher for boys and older children.