Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Any ideas for a dissertation subject focussing more on practical research?

Of course I will still need to do a lot of reading regardless of which topic I choose. However, I know I will do a lot better if I find a topic that will require me to particularly prioritise actually going out and find my own research. For example, conducting different interviews, going to a prison or youth detention centre, creating an experiment etc.

Any ideas?

Reply 1

Notoriety

Aye, as above. Open questioning of youth offenders could only really about their experience of the criminal justice system, which is a criminological concern. Nowt to do with law.

Reply 2

Notoriety

Socio-legal is common, where data and surveys are used to supplement a point. But I don't see how what OP is doing really meets that.

Socio-legal tends to require some data analysis training, which is why MRes and PhDs often get such training -- and real academics conduct data analysis in their articles. Bachelor's law students are a bit too inexperienced for sociological work in general.

Reply 3

04MR17

Volunteer Section Leader

Thread moved accordingly to Social and Political Sciences.

Reply 4

NetworkProblem

Original post by surplus98

Your post is very vague. Are you an UG or PG student?

I think the possibility of you conducting field work with an offender population is extremley unlikely. For research within Her Majestey's Prison and Probation Service you have to go through the IRAS process, which is very strict. I work within the sector and wanted access to a sample for my MSc dissertation and was told by the research committe that they would not consider approval for a study that was under PhD level. The IRAS process is so stringent that the institution I study at has now stopped accepting dissertation proposals that would require a student to have IRAS approval.

You may have better luck with Youth Offending Services though, or a sample of ex offenders who are working with charities?

Think about what interests you, or what you have enjoyed learning about. Do some reading around these topics and look for a gap in the literature. If you are interested in youth justice, perhaps you could explore racial bias? I know this is well researched in terms of the Criminal Justice System in general, but not sure what exists in terms of youths.