tammy

My research proposal draft

what is the cause of depression in teenagers?

During year 11 at my previous school I did a semester of research project to prepare me for this year’s class. Last year I did mine on Shakespeare. This year I wanted to change my topic a bit as to find out about something I don’t have much knowledge about. I still wanted to do something about theatre or acting as I have always been interested in that. As I have never had the opportunity to do any acting or drama classes in high school, I found this my opportunity to learn more about that area. At first I chose to do my topic on costumes, and the making of them, but I couldn’t find a solid question for that so I decided against it. Then I ended up choosing; how the current times affect the performances of rock eisteddfod and how has it changed throughout history. I decided to change my research topic one more final time after recent events that affected my life. I decided to change my topic to what is the cause of depression on teenagers. I realise that changing my topic so late in the term will not be helpful, but I believe that I will get more information on this topic than my previous choices and learn something that may become a beneficial outcome in my life. As sad as it is, I have a few friends that have had, or are suffering from depression and I find that learning what they are going through will be helpful for me as there friend. My final product will be a 1500 word essay of my findings along with a website that I will produce that contains information I find out about depression and ways to get help. I plan to start my research by organizing a questionnaire, to gain a better understanding of people’s opinions on depression on teenagers. Having collated the questionnaire results I will have a general understanding of on depression on today’s teenagers and what are the causes. I’m going to find information by asking teachers at school and people that have had any experiences with depression. I will talk to counselors and get information from my psychology text book. My main source of information will be coming from the internet and books, and my secondary source will be people. If possible I plan to meet with people that deal with depression and help treat it. I hopefully will get more of an understanding of the condition. I plan to find out a lot of my information in the early stages of this assignment and work on making a website for the most part. As I believe that the website will be the main changeling part about this subject. I want to make a website because in today’s society, the teenagers that are suffering from depression are more likely to use resources such as the internet rather source out help lines or counselors etc. I plan to keep a weekly journal of how I am progressing throughout the research project lessons, containing my thoughts and my reflections. As a lot of the people that I will interview for my questionnaires will be under 18, it is an ethical consideration that I will need to consider while in the process of the questionnaire. I will need to have a brief letter explaining what my research is about and what I hope to achieve. I will need to ask the participants that are under the age of 18 to get signed permission to do the questionnaire by their legal guardians or parents. By getting permission from the participants parents I will be able to use the information they may give me for my final paper for research project. · The capability that I have chosen for my research project is learning. My research topic requires me to; locate, collect, organize, evaluate, analyze, and use information which is all aspects of learning. I will be developing my knowledge and understanding of the cause of depression in teenagers using a range of different research processes.
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