Topic outline

  • Example 1: What initiatives could secondary schools put in place that would be useful in supporting students with climate anxiety?

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    What is the question asking?

    This question seeks to understand what initiatives that secondary schools could implement that would be useful in supporting students with climate anxiety. This question is specific in several ways. 

    Firstly, it is seeking to find what initiatives could be put in place to support climate anxiety. This means that it's limited to initiatives that could be put in place in secondary schools  to support students. We have limited the field of research and the sorts of programs or initiatives that we could be asking questions about.

    Secondly, it's asking how useful these could be. As we want to ensure that whatever is implemented supports students and is the best at support them, we need to determine what will be the most useful.

    Then, the question is asking after a specific group of people: school students. We are limited to researching those in secondary schools. This means any research methodology should be aimed at this age group.

    Finally, the question is asking specifically about supporting students who experience climate anxiety. This means our research methodology should be designed around this, not around any other experiences.

    Currently, the University of South Australia is conducting research around this topic through work in Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Research and Education. While there may not be research that directly aligns with our question, there are likely to be people who already know about this topic. 


    Ethical considerations

    There are several ethical considerations to keep in mind while completing this research. 

    • The majority of teenagers are under 18. You may be as well. Do you need to ask for parental consent for those under 18 to participate in your research?
    • You are asking questions about anxiety and mental health - a topic that has the potential to cause distress or harm. Ensure that you design your research sensitively. As you are not a qualified mental health professional, steer clear of asking questions about feelings regardless of your relationship with your research participants. Perhaps use a survey instead of other methodology so participants can answer questions privately in a quiet space. Make sure that you provide  mental health resources  for those who may need them. 
    • Ensure that participants are voluntarily participating in the research and know that they have the right to withdraw. 
    • Utilise the data you collect with respect and integrity, this means paraphrasing and quoting honestly. 
    • Ensure that you are storing all research data securely, in particular participant questions and responses which may be sensitive and should be kept confidentially.


    Research Methods

    What research methods should we use to answer this question?

    Literature Review

    Some ideas for how we could do this are:

    • Reading journal articles
    • Watching documentaries or presentations by experts
    • Listening to podcasts
    • Reading books


    Interviews

    Some ideas for sources we could contact are:

    • Researcher
    • Wellbeing staff at your school
    • Mental health organisation


    Surveys

    Some ideas for sources we could contact are:

    • Groups of students from your school


    Data analysis
    We've collected some data, what next? As the data that we have collected is qualitative in nature, so mostly words, it's ideal that we use qualitative analysis for this. 



    What else should we be considering? Two important criteria in the Research Project are validity and reliability. You can ask these questions of each of your sources. 

         Validity

    In research, validity relates to how well the research measures what it is supposed to measure. Validity can be divided into two groups: internal validity and external validity. Internal validity determines if the research findings match reality, while external validity determines whether the research can be replicated in another environment.

    For example, if you are intending to research the impact of different treatment on adolescents suffering from depression, but your questions only relate to medication, you are not measuring the full impact of different treatment options. This research has low validity.

    Questions to ask of your sources:
    • Does this source measure what we need it to measure?
    • Is it appropriate for the research question?
    • Where is this source from?
    • Is it too old? 
    • Do either of these matter for the content that we are using?
         Reliability

    In research, reliability refers to the degree to which research produces consistent results. There are three sorts of reliability in research: test-retest reliability (does the research produce the same or similar results every time?), internal consistency (is the research measuring what it is supposed to measure?), and inter-rater reliability (do all researchers get the same or similar results?). 

    For example, if research is biased towards an opinion it can be considered unreliable. If you are seeking to understand the benefits of renewable energy, you can't limit your research to interviewing mining companies about what they perceive to be the benefits. You have only conducted research with a biased source. 

    Questions to ask of your sources:
    • Where did we find this source?
    • Is the source an expert?
    • Has it been peer reviewed?
    • Does it agree with other sources?
    • Is the source biased towards someone's opinion? 


    Sample resources 

    Here are some sample resources that we used for our research:

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