Research project By Saffron

My Chosen Topic of Research and Official and Unofficial Sources I chose to research and write about children in war torn countries. I found two articles – one by the BBC and one by ABC news – and compared them using the five W’s. The BBC’s article used a lot of emotion and power in their writing unlike their usual factual pieces and ABC’s article tried to find the positive in a bad situation which was reflected in their style of writing. Official sources are sources which are released primarily for press use – they come from a ‘reliable’ and ‘trusted’ source like a police department or the government. Unofficial sources are sources that anyone can access and anyone can write, for example quotes newspapers have acquired from a person in public or on social media such as facebook. Primary research means it comes directly from the researcher who conducted the study. The information is most useful when you need specific information on a field. Secondary research is  found from sources other than your own, e.g. the internet, which is what I have done by researching these articles. My Chosen Topic of Research and Official and Unofficial Sources

Comparison of primary research to secondary research I found that the information I had gathered from my secondary research (the news articles mentioned previously) were valuable since it came from news reporters who have actually been in Syria witnessing the crisis. My own (primary) research, however, gained insight towards the public’s views on the topic. The news articles were typically much more emotive than people who were involved in my vox pops and answered my questionnaire, possibly because they were less informed about the situation compared to news reporters therefore were not particularly bothered.

Vox pops Vox pops are interviews with people which provide a snapshot of public opinion. The questions are open which means people are able to give an emotional, involved response. I put together 3 questions about children in war that I would later go out and ask the public. I made sure that my questions had variety by using ‘what’, ‘why’ and ‘how’ at the start of each one. I also made sure that my questions were not leading in any way. I feel they were effective because the responses I received were varied and emotional – each person had something different to say for each question. The interviewees were also diverse in themselves which also gave for mixed yet valid opinions.

Qualitative and Quantitative Quantitative is statistical data expressing a certain quantity, amount or range and only uses closed questions (yes and no answers). The pros of using this method is that it’s precise, easy and quick to read and shows the general outline of public majority opinion. The downfall of this method is that the data can’t be analysed in depth like qualitative can. It can also be costly. Qualitative research is carried out using open questions, meaning that people are able to give their own personal opinion. The pros of using this method is that it is dynamic, flexible, open ended and allows a broader database. The cons, however, are that responses are difficult to represent as a whole and aren’t as precise as quantitative.

Questionnaire With all the information I had collected so far, I designed a questionnaire which would establish my target audience. The questions were closed and I tried to make them have a lasting emotional effect on my audience by the time they were finished answering them. The pros of primary research like this are is it is fairly easy to do, it is quick and cheap for a small sample and you can get the specific answers you want (by using closed questions). The cons of primary research is the fact that by the time you have completed the research it may be out of date. It is also time consuming if doing a larger sample.

Target audience I found that my target audience was mostly middle aged men and women because my mum had her friends answer them. This gave a varied response since some responses were from people my age too (despite them being in the minority). Their answers were less forgiving and more stern than a younger person’s would have been, in my opinion. For example, one of my questions, “Does the fact that over half of Syrian refugees are children make you feel differently towards them?”, received a very mixed response when I expected different since it was supposed to relate to them emotionally. 37.50% of my audience answered yes, 30.00% answered no and 32.50% answered possibly. This shows that the older generation are still quite harsh towards the immigrant crisis and reluctant to feel empathy towards them.

Effectiveness and limitations Overall, I think my questionnaire was effective however if I were to do it again I could improve a couple of questions so I could gain more valid and useful responses. For example, the question “Do you think the UK government should continue to permit airstrikes that are killing many children a day?” could have been worded differently since, of course, most people would answer no to that – and they did. Also, since I know that my target audience is middle aged men and women, next time I would challenge the stereotypes they have of children immigrants.