The topic of school violence is an acute social problem, and its addressing is of high practical importance in view of drawing attention to the issue and an opportunity to describe the existing challenges. As the intended type of study, a cross-sectional descriptive study is planned. To obtain objective and valid data, the sample involved will include participants who have a negative experience of bullying or violence at school. As the criteria for engagement in the research, age will be the main demographic characteristic since target group members should be older than 18. Participants will be interviewed about their experiences of violence or bullying at school, and in accordance with their data, basic correlations will be made. For instance, as Goodrum et al. (2018) state, school officials are responsible for creating special prevention programs that address the threat of violence. One of the questions to the participants will be whether they have had the experience of membership in such programs and whether they have been effective.
The key study variable will be the incidents of physical violence at school. Data from study members will be collected to identify common aspects and premises of the issue, and a look at the situation after graduation will provide more objective and valid justifications. In case participants recall similar situations and the reasons for the manifestation of violence among adolescents observed during their schooling, additional correlations may be obtained. De La Rue et al. (2017) draw attention to the alarming statistics of dating violence among adolescents in 9th-12th grades (8.7%) and note the relationship between age and the manifestation of uncontrolled aggression (p. 8). In this regard, the cross-sectional study will collect the information from a large number of participants with identical negative experiences of violence or bullying.
References
De La Rue, L., Polanin, J. R., Espelage, D. L., & Pigott, T. D. (2017). A meta-analysis of school-based interventions aimed to prevent or reduce violence in teen dating relationships. Review of Educational Research, 87(1), 7-34.
Goodrum, S., Thompson, A. J., Ward, K. C., & Woodward, W. (2018). A case study on threat assessment: Learning critical lessons to prevent school violence. Journal of Threat Assessment and Management, 5(3), 121-136.