Violence in High Schools: A Research Proposal Overview

Introduction and Purpose

Violence in schools has been an issue of great concern in our culture for many years, and never more so than today. Society has demanded accountability and practical intervention to address the problem at its source. Parents, educators, and students are asking for ways in which they can make changes within schools and recognize problems before they escalate to violence. This work is a proposal for the study of the phenomenon of violence within the high school-aged group. The study will be divided into three areas: data analysis, interviews, and observation, and will be conducted over a four-year period following students from freshman to senior year.

The work will examine the history and present records of each student studied, looking for signs and symptoms of problems in every way possible. It will create a base for comparison between works done on younger children and other works associated with high school-aged students, and will attempt to demonstrate differences and similarities in patterns of behavior among violent or potentially violent students. The need for a greater understanding of the motivations behind student violence is clear, as the demand for intervention grows stronger across every area of the culture.

Significance of Studying High School Violence

The study would be beneficial for all future research on this issue and for an overall greater understanding of the phenomenon of violence in schools. It is especially important to focus on the high school-aged group because these students potentially exhibit the greatest degree of violence due to their pre-adult psychology. This work may give all parties — parents, students, and educators — a greater understanding of the signs, symptoms, and effects of actions that could exacerbate rather than prevent violence.

Parents, students, and educators need clear and defined answers to tough questions about school violence, and it is through research that these answers can be found. This work could also impact the data collection and intervention processes of officials, streamlining those processes for future ease of understanding. Moreover, this research could add to the growing body of knowledge about the intervention and prevention of violence in schools, including the possible removal or reduction of stressors that trigger violence and intervention at a stage that could produce earlier results in violence reduction.

Data Analysis of Violence Incidents

Data analysis is crucial to a greater understanding of the history of violence within schools and the base of data available for study. This work will look at both past and present incidents of violence and pre-violent behavior. Analysis of reported incidents of violence will be conducted in all local high schools. A realistic understanding of records of violence will give researchers a greater knowledge base for how incidents have been handled in the past and at what level of severity intervention is typically performed. It would also provide a greater understanding of how involved officials have been in addressing the psychological state of offenders and victims.

Researchers will look for pre-high school warning signs, where available, on students who have committed violent acts or who are considered potentially violent by school officials. A baseline for the number and severity of incidents will also be gathered. This will assist researchers in developing a baseline for the frequency of violent incidents and in identifying the types of warning behaviors a student may have exhibited before the most recent events occurred. Understanding early behavioral warning signs is a key component of effective prevention planning.

Conclusion

The summation of the project will consist of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of all three aspects of the study — data analysis, interviews, and observation — compiled into an empirical research paper. Together, these methods provide a comprehensive, triangulated view of violence among high school students, with the ultimate goal of informing more effective prevention and intervention strategies for schools, families, and communities.