Impact of Immigration Law on Women and Children fleeing Violence

MODULE SS7168: RESEARCHING VIOLENCE AND EVALUATING INTERVENTIONS
ASSESSMENT 2: RESEARCH PLAN
This assessment involves thinking about a research question and developing a methodological approach which will enable you to answer it.
We encourage you to use this assessment to think about the question and methodological approach for your MA dissertation.
(the dissertation topic is “Impact of Immigration Law on Women and Children fleeing Violence”
The plan should include:
– A 2000-word review of the existing literature on your topic, with an emphasis on research methods and any gaps in the knowledge base
– Use this to lead into your research question and why it needs answering
– How you are going to answer it – your methodological approach and why it is appropriate.
There are three possible approaches
1. A detailed critical engagement with existing material – this is called secondary analysis. This may be existing research, policy documents or other
materials. Here you need to discuss your search terms/approach, how you are going to find and select your material and the question/s you are going to
explore through it.
2. Doing secondary analysis of an existing dataset – asking a new or different question that was not explored in the original study. You need to establish
access to a dataset (there are a number of public ones and the ESRC holds an archive of quantitative and qualitative datasets).
3. Collecting original data to explore an topic about which there is limited existing research. If you choose this option you need to have a section on how you
would have done this before social distancing and how you will adapt to take account of this, including some reflections on ethics. In this case your literature
review will be much shorter.
TIPS
• Try to develop an actual question, rather than just an area of study. So rather than ‘Action Plans on VAW and Human Rights’, an actual question would be
‘How far does the Greater London Authority (or a specific country) action plan on VAW meet human rights standards?’
• Show how your methodological approach will enable you to answer your question, and think about whether it is doable in terms of your skills, resources and
time.
NOTE: Remember what we say about interviewing survivors – that this is only ethical if you need their voices to answer your question. If you have no
experience in offering support, we will not accept this for your dissertation. There are plenty of other people you can interview.
The text should be around 4000 words.