Just before Christmas I was beginning to really worry about my masters research.  I had an idea for a project but no clue how to gather the data.  I still think it’s a good idea so I’ll keep it for another time…

Thankfully, I was asked to do something else, a project review.  This fitted perfectly with the core idea of my Masters programme, that it is should be about real world research.  So, over the past couple of weeks I’ve met with 6 focus groups of stakeholders and interviewed two key personnel.  I’ve got data coming out of my ears… now to get analysing and writing up.

What I have learned so far is that I really enjoyed the process.  I don’t want to speak too soon, but I think I’d like to do more of this kind of thing so if you have a project that you need evaluating or something you want to find out people’s perceprions of then give me a shout.

I might just be interested… after May!!!

Right.  I’ve decided what my Masters research will focus on.

I’m going to explore youth workers in church settings’ attitudes to social media.  I had a couple of chats over the last few days with Chris and Tim and they have helped me to focus.

So, my initial plan is:

To investigate youth workers in Scottish church based settings’ use of and attitude to social media tools.

I hope to find out

1. Who uses social media tools – demographics of use
2. What do they use and how
3. Are there policies or guidelines around use
4. what benefits do workers perceive?

How does that sound?  Your thoughts comments and insights are very welcome, as always.

I think I’ve decided to do my research for my masters on the use of social media in church-based youth work in Scotland.  I could of course change my mind again but on reflection this seems to be something that would be both interesting and worth doing.

I’d still like to have a go at ‘does youth work work?’ but think that might make a better large scale project for me and my lovely colleagues at the URC.

So, If you’re reading this and are involved in church-based youth work in Scotland let me know so I can come and interview you and your young people some time in the new year.

Anyone with any ideas and/or suggestions, please feel free to contribute said ideas anytime you like.

And I’ll try not to bore you all.  Honest.

Think that’s shocking?

Barnardo’s released a report called Break The Cycle today.  The research conducted by YouGov shows that:

• just under half (49%) of people believe that children are increasingly a danger to each other and adults
• 43% agree something has to be done to protect us from children
• 45% think that children are feral in the way they behave.

A survey conducted amongst Barnardo’s young people – just over half of whom have been in trouble – found that most of them thought that young people get into trouble because of boredom and peer pressure.

Of the 393 youngsters, aged between 10 and 23:

• 44% said bad behaviour is encouraged when the media portrays their peers as misbehaving
• 84% said young people get into trouble because of boredom
• 88% said having more things to do and places to go might stop young people getting into trouble
• 32% would go to friends for help if they were in trouble

This report reminded me of a couple of things.

The first is that very wise saying ‘It takes a village to raise a child’.  Children are not aliens. They don’t materialise on the streets from outer space.  They are ours.  Our children, grandchildren, cousins, newphews and nieces and friends.

The Scottish Children’s Commissioner found last year that 64% of adults would like to volunteer to work with children and young people but only 5% actually do.

The blame, if there is any blame to be had, is squarely with us, adults.  We ignore our children.  We leave them to do what they please because it suits us.  We don’t get involved with them.  We don’t provide clubs, organisations, sports, art, music or education because we can’t be bothered.  We’d rather watch tv and complain.

It takes a village to raise a child means that the whole of society is responsible.  We all need to take an interest, provide opportunities, volunteer.  Not someone else, you.  We’re happy to drop our kids off at clubs and organisations and Sunday School but how many of us offer to help out?

I’m almost done with my Masters in Research.  I have two modules to complete then a dissertation.  The dissertation takes the form of a small research project.  I want to get started soon and have it completed so I can graduate next November at the latest.  If I’m super organised I could graduate in July.

Being super organised would include actually choosing a topic to research.  That’s when things get complicated.

I have three potential topics:

1: Youth work and social media – models of good practice using web2.0 tools to work with young people

2: Does youth work work? – Does employing a youth worker make a difference? Probably a case study

3: Towards an evaluation framework – how could churches/projects evaluate what they do? Working towards an evaluation framework.

This is where you come in.  Any thoughts, comments, ideas, avenues to pursue and general advice and suggestions would be very welcome.

There are lots of people I know who read this blog who never or rarely comment.  It would be great to hear from some of you about this as I’d really value as much input as possible.

Stewart

The other day my colleague emailed to say that he was working with a church who were considering employing a youth worker but they had asked a question that had stumped him.

‘Will employing a youth worker make a difference?’

It stumped him because they were asking for hard proof.  Not a series of anecdotes.  Not some platitudes or fob offs.  They really wanted to know.

So, that’s my question.  Does employing a youth worker make a difference?  How do you know?  Who says?

I’ll post some thoughts soon but I’d like to hear your stories, evaluation methods and research.

The National Youth Agency (England) have just published an interim report from a study into Youth Worker’s attitudes to Social Networking. The project blog is here.

Not surprisingly only 35% of youth workers felt able to help young people take advantage of the opportunities of Social Networking as opposed to 53% who felt they should focus on the dangers of the Internet.

There are a huge range of opportunities to do good, creative work with young people using online tools and social networking sites. The Internet is here to stay. Let’s get busy using it positively.