Reflections of the fieldwork: Although the majority of decisions made during this

process appear to have been correct there has been learning for the author, some of which is mentioned above and some of which may also be applicable for others wishing to complete similar research. One example would be that a couple of the interventions used, such as hitting the young person, showed a statistical link to poor behaviour. However, this cannot be advanced strongly as an argument as the question was not time specific and so it is not clear if the intervention by the parent was used as a response to the behaviour or was a possible contributory factor towards it occurring. Another question the author now wishes he had

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asked would be if the young person had been the victim of crime if the last year as other studies have shown this is statistically linked to both some types of offending and weapon on knife carrying. This supports the authors’ view that the most important reflective point would be planning. An ability to run quickly is little use if running in the wrong direction.

Due to the author’s immediate access to young people and his enthusiasm to get started he completed many hours of work that has not played a significant part in the findings of this particular piece of work. This was caused by not being clear about what the research was trying to achieve. Although it is not uncommon for a PhD thesis to develop over time, a slower more considered start would have allowed greater reading a round methodology in the initial few months which would have prevented mistakes down the line, including fairly substantial changes as a result of the VIVA.

An awareness of one’s strengths and weakness is also important when deciding what type of research to complete and the method to achieve this. The author is aware he is very good at building relationships and speaking to people from all sections of society, which means he is good at gaining access to populations and samples from which to study. These communication skills also lend themselves towards qualitative work and getting the best out of people in one to one interviews. Although competent with figures it is not his natural forte and using SPSS was hard work. Upon reflection however the author believes the mixed method approach used during this thesis was the correct method to obtain the best information. However moving forward if the author was considering an area that needed quantitative as well as qualitative work he would consider a collaboration with a colleague more expert in the use of SPSS or similar tools in order to get the best combined results.

The final reflection would be that one of the author’s initial beliefs at the start of the research, that there was insufficient knowledge about what actually works as an intervention to improve behaviour, is correct. There is much work and research to be done concerning the criminal justice system and school discipline system and the author intends to pursue research in these areas post this thesis. However that work is in the future and the following chapter will describe the findings and conclusions to be drawn from the analysis from this piece of work.

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Chapter 8 - Findings

8.1 Introduction

Although there were a few changes to the questionnaire, compared to the test questionnaire, it remained largely the same. For year seven the percentage figures used in the tables below may occasionally not add up to one hundred percent due to the raw figures being rounded up or down on a few occasions. As was already explained the data from year seven was not entered onto SPSS and was therefore only subject to basic numeric analysis rather than any form of cross tabulation. The data from years eight and nine as explained was entered on to SPSS and was therefore subjected to a more detailed analysis. As well as basic numeric analysis, this analysis involved cross tabulation and comparing various factors in years nine and eight for a correlation with committing crime and ASB, being in trouble at school, taking drugs, carrying a weapon, carrying a knife, drinking and being drunk, and identifying as a gang member.

The majority of the questions to the young people concentrated on their behaviour and what works to control that behaviour in the home, in school, and in society in general. This is because these are areas where change could be effected quickly to make a positive difference if local politicians, statutory bodies, schools and parents were minded to do so. The findings will examine the extent of criminal and poor behaviour according to young people. It will look at the amount of young people involved in risky behaviours and the consequences of those behaviours. It will look at statistically relevant factors such as parental and sibling imprisonment. It will examine how effective various parental and school disciplinary interventions are, and how much young people are influenced by these factors and their friends. Finally it will look at what young people think about some current interventions, and why young people said they stopped offending. As previously stated the perception of young people’s offending appears too high but actual level of offending admitted to by the young people of Fairfield will be examined in the section below.