Help! Any Research ideas welcome

[Lozzie]

Hi everyone,

I am studying at College and have been instructed to think of a research topic ( preferably incorporating aspects of the social sciences & Health studies maybe) and think of a research question which relates to this topic.  The question has to be something that isnt easily answered via textbook research as I will be required to do sampling of some kind.  Anyone got any ideas.


The next assignment I have to think of a Health Promotion and present it to the class once I have done the research i.e Who am I to target this at and why? strategies used/behavioural psychology etc and present a product (leaflet, video, poster).  Ensuring that I am critical of amy findings or acknowledge problems encountered.

I have done so well on my other assignments as they have been essays and stuff but am not very good at thinking outside the box.  I think I am going to find the above quite difficult so any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.  xx

[SWM]

any areas that you have interest, knowledge or experience in?

[Lozzie]

Erm I have interests in Sociology & Psychology. Even some of Social Policy but can't seem to rack my brains for a topic & question that may incorporate these fields. I did have some ideas like Schizophrenia or depression (Is is genetic?) but then disregarded this as the question is easily established with text book research. Then thought about changing the question to Impact of Schizophrenia/depression on family life? but thought that this would be complex to research in terms of methods of sampling.

As for the Health Promotion one I was thinking Prostate cancer and promoting awareness to get examined. Still trying to think of something innovative. . Thanks for replying btw

[SWM]

would you be able to incoproate the two and save yourself some leg work.

for example a research project around social policies and their impact on mental health. eg. does investment (or lack of) in social services result in higher levels of depression (or suicide) or something like this. your health promotion campaign might focus on encouraging depressed people to be more involved with social support networks.

[Lozzie]

My tutor said that ideally we should try and keep the two assignments separate, however that's not to say that students haven't linked them in the past and have been successful. Thanks for your suggestions. I may use that suggestion for my research report. Do u think I would be able to obtain adequate info from social services. Do you think this would perhaps be the way to go in beginning to research this question?

Health Studies I was thinking to take a look round some local surgeries at leaflets and to see where I can be critical and see how I could make improvements on it. Would of liked to make a small commercial but think this might be a little to adve

[Lozzie]

Sorry..
adventurous for me.....

[Lozzie]

Have just had a thought tonight! I am really interested in behavioural Psychology. Nature bs nuture type thing and what drives people to act in different ways. What do you think of this as a research question? Role of environment in Personality development? With my hypothesis being something like: the environment is significant and is responsible for defining human characteristics. Humans personality development is limited to that of his environment.

This is just a roughy thought. What does anyone think? Please be constructive if necessary. Thanking you

[SWM]

your proposed question could bring something interesting, i like it. reminds of me of Maslow's theory in a way. achieving potential based on needs met within the environment. it owuld be interesting to see what aspects of personality development can be associated to environmental conditions.

throw some of your ideas for questions into google scholar and see what papers you get back.

re. Social services,  if the country you live has a freedom of infromation legislation then you should be able to request all manner of business info. such as ammount of funding were that funding went etc. you should also be able to dig up things like did the amount of suicides in the area increase if spending decreased or did depression increase or hospital admissions.

there is already bits of research about this.

[Lozzie]

Yeah that's what I was thinking as I incorporated Maslow, Rogers and (Humanistic approach and attachment theories)etc into my last Psychology assignment and was really interesting. Have looked at some books and lots on social Psychology, which should help. Also can incorporate Sociology & elements  of Health. Have googled it and seen someone has done a paper on this but not sure what stance they have taken on this so will try Google Scholar as you suggest.
Thanks for the feedback & advice on types of research. You have been really helpful. Thank you

[Lozzie]

Oooh if anyone comes accross any ideas for Health Promotions in the next few weeks and ideas on how to go about research in promoting it. Then would love to hear them. Thanks