Issues with only using secondary data for the presentation

Initially for our presentation we wanted to do some primary research on university students who are members of university sports teams and whether they consumed more alcohol than other students who were not members.The reason we wanted to do this was due to the fact that we have friends who are within sporting groups, and one of us thought that it was just all students that consumed a lot of alcohol, whereas the other believed it to be sports teams members who drank more so than other students. However, due to the issues around us performing our own primary research we were unable to do so. We wanted to make up online questionnaires/surveys which we would ask both students who are members or sports teams and those who are not to answer. We were going to ask students at UCLan and at other universities around the UK where we had friends. After finding we only had allowance to do primary research within our own class, then we decided there was no way this would be possible to achieve.

That was when we decided to change our mind to focus on students as a whole and the reasons behind their high levels of alcohol. We did some brief research before we decided for definite that this would be our research focus to make sure there was enough secondary research available. Once we found there was we were able to continue with our poster.

One of the issues I found with using secondary data is that you never quite manage to find the exact answer to the questions you have in your head, whereas if you were able to do your own research you would find this by making it a question in the questionnaire. As Heaton (1998) found, the compatibility of the data all depends on the quality of the data which is being used, and how best it fits to the research you are trying to find. 

Another issue is to do with ethics. As we did not conduct the original research, we do not know that all the ethical issues were followed and abided by in the first place. Given that you cannot get additional consent for research that has already taken place, it is up to the researcher to make a judgement about whether the re-use of data is acceptable to be used. Growing interest in re-using data make it imperative that researchers in general now consider obtaining consent which covers the possibility of secondary analysis as well as the research in hand; this is consistent with professional guidelines on ethical practice (British Sociological Association 1996).

Overall, the secondary data I found I was quite pleased with, and we did have quite a lot of good data, but there was still the odd question I wish we could have had a straight answer for that I did not find on the results we found.

• British Sociological Association (1996) 'Statement of Ethical Practice'.
• Heaton, J., (1998) 'Secondary analysis of qualitative data'. Social Research Update, Department of Sociology, University of Surrey, Issue 22

Alcoholism in University Students - What are the reasons for such high levels of consumption?

As this is the topic of my poster presentation I figured it would be a good idea to write a blog on this too, including some of the findings we came across on the way. Originally the topic we were going to look at was to do with whether sports teams drank larger amounts of alcohol than other students, but due to ethical limitations on doing our own primary research we decided to change to just look at the reasons for alcohol consumption among students.

Drinking behaviour among university students has been highly criticised in recent years, the age group of 18-24 has been identified as showing the highest rates of alcohol use and problem drinking (Kandal & Logan, 1984). Heavy drinking among students results in many problems; some only minor such as hangovers and missing classes, some much more serious such as fights and sexual assaults. One researcher found that approximately 1,825 18-24 year old students enrolled in university institutions each year from alcohol related causes, mostly due to motor vehicle crashes; nearly 700,000 students are hit or assaulted by another drinking student each year, and 97,000 are victims of alcohol related sexual assault or date rape (Hingson et al. 2009). 

A survey conducted by CORE Institute on the Alcohol and Drug use of university students found that the biggest reason for drinking alcohol among students was for social reasons, such as breaking the ice, enhancing social activity and gives people something to do. A large 53% say that it facilitates sexual opportunity and 20% say it makes them feel sexier (CORE, 2011); a slightly worrying figure considering the earlier of the number of amount of sexual assaults. Young et al (2006) found that enhanced sexual performance and experience was a noticeable factor in his study also. Peer pressure wasn't mentioned within the CORE study, however other researchers found this within the form of university groups and societies, particularly sporting societies. Membership within a university sports team was found to be in correlation with heavy drinking, and the reason behind this was to do with conformity levels (Hutching et al. 2011), thus showing the effect that drinking alcohol excessively may be more to do with how they are perceived to their peers and fitting in with them.

Although there are individual reasons for the consumption of alcohol, the correlation between alcohol and students suggest that there is a reason for the link. Due to alcohol consumption being a mainly social exercise and that people report having more fun and enhancing relationships whilst under the influence of alcohol, it would suggest that consuming alcohol is to do with how people fit in with their peers and their opinion of them. People who drink are likely to be friends with others who drink similar amounts, and if one person doesn't drink as much usually they may do so to fit in with them.

• Kandel, D. B., & Logan, J. A. (1984). Patterns of drug use from adolescence to young adulthood: I. periods of risk for initiation, continued use, and discontinuation. American Journal of Public Health, 74, 660-666
• Hingson, R. W., Zha, W., & Weitzman, E. R. (2009). Magnitude of and trends in alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18–24, 1998–2005. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, Suppl 16, 12–20.
• CORE (2011) Alcohol and Drug Survey, Executive Summary. Accessed on http://core.siu.edu/pdfs/report11.pdf on 01/05/2013
• Young, R., Connor, J., Ricciardelli, L. and Saunders. J., (2006) The Role of Alcohol Expectancy and Drinking Refusal Self-Efficiacy Beliefs in University Student Drinking. Alcohol & Alcoholism Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 70–75
• Huchting, K.; Lac, A., Hummer, J., and LaBrie, J., (2011) Comparing Greek-Affiliated Students and Student Athletes: An Examination of the Behavior-Intention Link, Reasons for Drinking, and Alcohol-Related Consequences. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education 55 (3): 61-81.

Using Blogs for Academic Research - Is this Ethical?

It is estimated there are tens of millions of blogs currently used on the internet, the most public environment. Due to the internet being such a large public space, some researchers suggest that there need not be any code of ethics, as these bloggers must be aware that people may use their blogs as sources of information, such as research or journalism (Eastham, 2011). However we all know that with any sort of research, ethics should be considered, therefore in terms of privacy and consent should there be a code of ethics for blogs too?
If something is posted into a public space, and there is no log in needed to view it, then technically you would consider it public property. Wilkinson & Thelwall (2010) say that there shouldn't be restrictions placed on data on the internet, and that if it has been posted to a public domain then it should be publicly obtainable. They also argue that those who post online can't complain about a breach of privacy as the fact that the information they have posted has been in a public space makes the information public. 
'Privacy' is a word which meaning changes through time, and also depending on the context. Unless there is a log in method placed on a blog then there is no way to limit who the audience is. Therefore many go for the use of a pseudonym, which can hide their identity in a particular public space. Bruckman (2002) found that some use pseudonyms for use just of their blogs, and others use them for all social activity on the web. Some also use avatars for their online picture, which may be a graphic representation, or a picture of their choice. This furthers the mystery of who the author is, making a more private setting in a very public space. Bloggers make conscious privacy choices that researchers then must discern and respect. The blog that is identified via a search engine and that is open to responses from others is clearly a public blog.
It would be almost impossible to get consent from bloggers to use their research in others work all the time, therefore it should really be up to the blogger them self to assess whether what they are posting in a public space is within their comfort zone to be used by others. If the blogger takes reasonable steps to hide their identity and only post things they are happy with being used again then there should be no need for any code of ethics. 

• Bruckman, A. (2002). Studying the amateur artist: A perspective on disguising data collected in human subjects research on the Internet. Ethics and Information Technology, 4, 217–231.
• Eastham, L. (2011) Research Using Blogs for Data: Public Documents or Private Musings? Research in Nursing & Health, 34, 353–361
• Wilkinson, D. & Thelwall, M. (2010). Researching personal information on the public Web: Methods and ethics, Social Science Computer Review. Available online at http://ssc.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/08/16/0894439310378979 (last accessed 15/05/2013)