Researching well-being using sociological research methods

You are required to research the topic of well-being to be able to undertake a sociological research project that uses observation, questionnaire and interview as required research methods. You are required to plan, carry out and evaluate your research project using a research report as the main form of assessment evidence. (3000 words)

Introduction/ Literature review

(Brief overview of research project)

· What is well being

· What is contributing factors to well-being

eg. physical well being (health), economic well-being (income, wealth, employment) social and emotional well-being (education, social support, peers, family, social relationships) psychological well-being etc.

· How is well-being measured (Self reports evaluation)

·

*I have chosen to research “How social relationships influence physical well-being”

· Review material and information relevant to my research (What is social relationships and is there any supporting or similar research relating to how social relationships influence well-being)

· In hindsight what do you think is going to be difficult or easy with this research

(The aim is to recognise to which extent an individuals social relationships influence their physical wellbeing, taking into consideration the individuals level of involvement in social groups and the individuals willingness to conform. By distingusing the individual’s level of involvement in social groups, it will give the researcher a better measurement of the level of influence social relationships contribute to positive decision that benefit an individuals well being or contrastly poor decisions that negatively affect an individuals well being.)

· Briefly evaluate three areas of research within the topic of wellbeing

(education, income, employment)

Methodology

· Explain and justify the use of observation, questionnaires and interview in relation to the aims of the research

· Explain what ethical considerations need to be considered and what ethnic protocols you are putting in place before undertaking field work (eg consent form)

Findings

· Draw conclusions from data gathered through observation, interview and questionnaire

· Critically evaluate the use of observation, interview and questionnaire methods making clear links to your own research

Observation- intrusive having to stand behind students in the canteen and earwig their conversation, also it was time consuming as i had to wait for the right candidate to talk about what they were going to eat and in a college canteen full of bursting teenager they had other topics of conversation

Interview- (group interview) some candidates influenced the others answers, a group of 3 candidates weren’t representative of the larger population

Questionnaire- we handed the questionnaires out at the end of a lesson, candidates were eager to go home and didn’t fill the questionnaires out properly, I could not gather in depth information about candidates

Conclusion

(Brief summary of the main points of your research and possible recomendations for future research)

A reference list that uses the Harvard referencing system

Links that might help

http://people.bath.ac.uk/ecsscw/But_what_is_Wellbeing.pdf

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_387750.pdf

http://www.cdc.gov/hrqol/wellbeing.htm#three