Explore the various reserach methods and how effective they
This essay has given me an opportunity to explore a subject that has for a long time impacted on my work. The young people with whom I work travel to my sessions using public transport and due to the negative experience they often have they can arrive feeling agitated, angry, upset or confrontational. Because of this it effects my sessions and of course also impacts on the young people. The aim of my research therefore is to gain a better understanding of young peoples experiences of public transport and the impact that this has on them. Once I have this information I hope to not only be more informed about young peoples experiences of public transport but also to be able to use it to work with them to improve their experiences. For the purpose of my research I decided that the most effective way to gather my information would be through a questionnaire. Questionnaires are an inexpensive way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents (however this assignment dictates a small sample group). My aim is to have a well-designed questionnaire that if used effectively would gather information on both the overall question as well as information on specific issues. Having previously used questionnaires I am aware t
One of the major disadvantage of questionnaires is the inability to probe responses. to identify points of user dissatisfaction with public transport and how these negatively affect the young peoples travel experienceDue to the fact that my research was inspired by the young people I worked with I felt that it was important to involve them in writing the questionnaire itself. By doing this I hoped to address all their main issues and concerns. In other words, how would it be possible to reach insightful conclusions if one didn't actually know what they had been looking for or planning to observe. Qualitative research with transport users and staff shows that noisy and rowdy young people, especially in groups, cause anxiety to others. It is difficult to imagine identifying a problem and its cause, let alone its solution, from responses to broad and generalizing questions. An important aspect of young people's experience on public transport which affects their perceptions of personal security is the attitude of adults, both other passengers and staff, towards them. The specific questions I asked gave me this general view. For all age groups, the most popular person to tell about an incident was a parent or parents. Whilst fewer young people aged between thirteen to fifteen experienced incidents, nearly a third of these related to bullying and sixteen percent involved having something stolen. I used open ended questions when discussing the issues with the young people so as to be able to gather the most amount of information. I hope that by passing information such as this onto the young people it will have a positive impact on their views. The comments I received from the young people were in some ways more insightful than the questionnaires themselves and therefore had I of allowed space for this I would have been able to record this feedback. The results needed to be treated with caution due to the small sample size and the fact that there has been no statistical analysis of the results. In the light of my research I intend to hold a discussion group with the young people I work with to discuss my findings and then look at ways that we can improve young peoples experiences of public transport.
Common topics in this essay:
Crime Concern,
Crime Concern1995,
Interpretation Results,
,
Waltham Forest,
public transport,
peoples experiences,
personal security,
transport staff,
public transport staff,
Defining Objectives,
Council Nexus,
Administering Questionnaire,
Determining Sampling,
Writing Questionnaire,
peoples experiences public,
passengers staff,
bus drivers,
experiences public transport,
experiences public,
gain understanding,
experience public,
perceptions personal security,
tell incident,
experience public transport,
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