EPQ and enrichment ideas

• Climate Change, Sustainability and Environmental Impact

We have material on climate change, sustainability and environmental impact. Try reading these stories on sustainable living, British attitudes to the environment and whether those attitudes have changed over time.

Look at these research reports on climate change:
Climate Crisis Misinformation: Industry Report, March 2021 – Page 1 – Opinium Research – The AMSR Online Archive;
Climate Crisis Misinformation: Consumer Report, February 2021 – Page 1 – Opinium Research – The AMSR Online Archive;
`Net Zero’ Polling, 23 September 2021 [Detailed attitudes to climate change, Excel tabulations] – Opinium Research – The AMSR Online Archive

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Suggestion: Perhaps do some research of your own on what your generation thinks about climate change and what they are prepared to do about it. Perhaps use the questions in the Opinium research report?

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• International Relations, Conflicts and Geopolitical Issues

Today’s historians are more interested in Opinion Polls than ever, as they show how the public really thought at the time. Why not look at this compilation of polls on the Iraq war: Polls on Iraq, 2001-2010 – Page 1 – Opinion Poll Reports – The AMSR Online Archive, and contrast the findings (ie the views of the public at the time) with the various recent books on the subject (ie the authors views on what happened).

Read the MORI newsletters of the time for contemporary comment: British Public Opinion Issue 25.04 2003 Spring – Page 1 – MORI British Public Opinion – The AMSR Online Archive– ‘No Baghdad Bounce for Mr Blair’, or British Public Opinion Issue 24.04 2001 October – Page 4 – MORI British Public Opinion – The AMSR Online Archive, for comparative figures on how past conflicts were viewed. Here’s a link to the MORI Collection: Browse – The AMSR Online Archive

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Suggestion: An interesting topic would be to compare the views of the public on the Iraq War at the time and how they evolved, to the public’s views of the earlier Falklands War and how they evolved.  The Falklands War enhanced Mrs Thatcher’s reputation, whereas the Iraq War did not enhance Tony Blair’s reputation. Was that because of the context or the times (eg Britain’s relative position in the world), the nature of the conflict, the different players/allies involved, or the different characters of the Prime Ministers, and the way they handled the conflict?

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• Global Health Concerns including the effect of Pandemics

If you are interested in the effect of the Covid Pandemic, look at: Kantar Covid-19 Barometer webinar, Wave 8 (fieldwork August 13-17 2020) – Page 3 – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive
Or look in our Verian Collection and search for Covid to see what else you can find: Browse – The AMSR Online Archive.

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Suggestion: An interesting EPQ topic might be the effect of Covid on your generation and how it might affect you going forward. You could conduct  research amongst a sample of people of your age, and gather their opinions.

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• Public Health Issues

Explore attitudes to health issues such as smoking and binge drinking.

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Suggestion: Young people today smoke less and drink less alcohol – what have they substituted, if anything? Do they vape, take drugs, eat ultra processed food, go to the gym or just immerse themselves in social media? Why not do a survey of young people’s awareness of health to understand how they view the major public health issues of our day?

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• Mental Health, its portrayal in Media and Societal perspectives

You could compare views of the effect of the 2007 financial crisis on mental health :How the economic crisis is impacting on our mental health and wellbeing – Page 2 – Papers and Offprints – The AMSR Online Archive and The impact of the economic crisis: towards a new consumer and market research model – Page 1 – Papers and Offprints – The AMSR Online Archive with views of how the Covid pandemic or the recent Cost-of-Living Crisis have affected Mental Health: Have you noticed the cost of living `ease’? How has the cost of living impacted your mental health? – Vox Pops Videos – The AMSR Online Archive

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Suggestion: Perhaps do your own video research as part of your EPQ?

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• Human Rights

The Archive has information on a wide range of topics, including immigration, crime, capital punishment and corporal punishment.

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Suggestion:  An interesting subject to consider is that there is still strong public support for Capital Punishment in certain circumstances – and it still is practised in many countries – but there is no sign that the UK government will ever re-introduce it. Is this a failure of democracy in your view? Should the will of the majority always prevail? Compare the current proposed Assisted Dying legislation, which has majority public support, but the government seems unable to pass. Is this also a failure of democracy?

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• Criminal Justice Reform

A subject of particular interest is how to prevent re-offending: Breaking the cycle of offending: making the views of young people count: good ideas wanted – Page 2 – Papers and Offprints – The AMSR Online Archive is a qualitative project conducted for The Prince’s Trust in 2007 in which over 40 young people who had experience of the criminal justice system took part in a consultation. This short report covers Key Findings, What makes a Difference, and a set of Recommendations including: ‘Greater incentives to take on education courses in prison’ and ‘Invest in schemes that provide training and supported employment for ex-offenders, led by ex-offenders’. The report says that ‘The Prince’s Trust plans to establish a new mentoring service for young offenders and will be working closely with Government and the Probation Service on a range of initiatives to help reduce re-offending’. Read the 2013 report on the results of this initiative: Re-offending Analysis: The Prince’s Trust- “Through-the-Gate” Mentoring Pilot.

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Suggestion: Think about whether you feel the research was worthwhile? Perhaps a longer timescale is necessary? What does conducting research with people who have lived experience give you compared with research with experts? Should you always do both? Can you find other experiments on re-offending and recommend a way forward?

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• Ethical Considerations

Here are three reports that will give you a range of views about ethics in various situations:
Ethics in social research: the views of research participants – Page 2 – Guides and rule books – The AMSR Online Archive
Business Ethics – Making The World a Better Place – Page 1 – MORI Reports – The AMSR Online Archive
Benchmarking public opinion on the management of radioactive waste: final report – Page 1 – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive

Or read this essay on public opinion of Britain’s nuclear weapons.

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Suggestion: Consider some ethical considerations that affect your own life, and how they could be addressed. For example: grade inflation in examinations: does it devalue your own work?  The growing inequality in wealth distribution in the UK: how could wealth be more equally distributed? High proportions of young people do not vote in elections: what might the long term effects of this be on democracy in the UK?  You could survey young people’s opinions and propose possible ‘solutions’  – either Qualitatively or Quantitatively – for any of these issues.

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• Technological Advancements

You can explore how technology has changed using data from TGI.

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Suggestion: Think about doing research with older people (born 1960 – 1970) to understand how different it was to grow up in the 70’s and 80’s before the age of mobile phones – how did they communicate with their friends? Or those born in 1970 – 1980 and grew up in the 1990’s when mobile phones and computers were just becoming common – do they remember their first experience of computers, what difference has technology made to their lives? Perhaps extrapolate your findings to what the effect of current Technology will be on your life? 

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• Innovation in the Home

One of our favourite reports that sheds light on what life was like for women in the 1970’s is The Continental Quilt story.

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Suggestion: You could conduct a qualitative survey of your grandmothers, family and friends to understand how life has changed for women. Or read Professor of Cultural Studies, Sussex University, Ben Highmore’s book ‘Lifestyle Revolution’ which will tell you all about how changes in the home in the last 70 years have changed everything about the way we live.

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• Media Influence

Take a look at this essay by Sheila Byfield, an expert media researcher, Do the media reflect society or create it? Sheila gives her opinion on media and consumer behaviour, comparing the habits of young people in the 1970’s with now. It covers why people use media, the choice and importance of the different media, new ways of marketing/promotion (Taylor Swift/Kim Kardashian), and the new power of users. It also looks at the disadvantages of the new media.

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Suggestion: How have media habits changed over the last few years? What effect did Covid have? You could perhaps conduct some interviews with young people on the advantages and disadvantages of social media, and the effect that ‘influencers’ have on them.

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• Culture and Sport

Explore the role of politics in sport by reading this story on the Olympics or explore whether football fans are now more representative of the population. Or read this longer article about Politics and the Olympics.

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Suggestion: Think about how much Politics interferes in other sports or sporting events. Trace the development of the Black Power Salute from 1968 to today. What happened to the two US athletes? What other political events have affected the Olympic Games? Trace the Olympic reaction to performance enhancing drugs. George Orwell, the author of Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), described international sport and the Olympics as ‘war minus the shooting’. Do you agree?

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• Cultural Identity: Teenagers

If you are interested in how much young people have changed in the last 40 years, this NOP Review from 1979 has a section on ‘The Habits of Young People’ and covers everything from smoking , drinking, to sports, hobbies, pet ownership and the use of cosmetics! NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.20 1979 August – Page 12 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive. Or look at this report on teenagers and their attitudes in the 1970s.

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Suggestion: You could reproduce this research and analyse and comment on the differences, the reasons for those changes, and whether life is better or worse for young people now. Football and Rugby are not even mentioned as sports played by young women, for example! Alcohol consumption and smoking should have reduced considerably from that time. The next section of the same report is on ‘Young Londoners (18-19’s) and Sex’ which might also be worth repeating for historical and cultural comparison. NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.20 1979 August – Page 17 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive

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• Cultural traditions: Hobbies

If you are interested in hobbies, crafts and how people use their leisure time this is a fascinating account from 1979: Attitudes towards leisure and the use of products in the area of hobbies and crafts – Page 2 – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive; A qualitative study with the following objectives:

1. 1. To identify how people view their ‘spare’ or ‘ leisure’ time
   2. How much they feel they have and their attitudes towards it.
   3. To observe and analyse how people fill their unplanned leisure time. What exactly do they do and how do they feel about it?
   4. To identify the needs which are not being fulfilled. What people would like to do with their leisure time

The historical perspective shows how attitudes to work and leisure have shifted since the 60’s and gives a fascinating perspective into the thinking of the late 70’s.

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Suggestion: Things have changed a great deal since 1970 – it would be interesting to replicate the study and explain the changes that have occurred.

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• Cultural traditions: Pet ownership

There are many aspects of pet ownership to explore: ownership, segmentations of owners, pet names, cultural change (eg people kept caged birds in the 1960’s and 70’s, but they rarely do now), the importance of vets; aspects of cruelty to animals. Here are some sources to get you started:

The British People and their Pets: The Harris Poll, 7th and 11th January 1970 – Page 1 – Opinion Poll Reports – The AMSR Online Archive – covers dogs vs cats, favourite dog breeds, where does your dog sleep at night, favourite pet’s name… how have all these changed in 50 years? Quite a lot, I think you will find!

NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.7 1976 July – Page 8 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive covers cats and dogs – ownership, age of pets.

NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.40 1983 February – Page 13 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive covers ownership of all kinds of pets, and use and satisfaction with vets.

Political, Social, Economic Review 1975 November – Page 6 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive ownership of all types of pets, multiple ownership, use of vets, satisfaction with vets prices.

https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/770/rec/ addresses animal protection – the importance of it, attitudes to hunting, farming, experiments on animals, domestic animal and wild animals.

NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.68 1988 January – Page 7 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive looks at animal welfare – such as attitudes to battery hens and other kinds of treatment of animals

Qualitative Research on Soft Moist Cat Food – Page 2 – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive: this 1973 qualitative study includes an excellent analysis of owners attitudes to their cats – have attitudes changed?

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Suggestion: You could devise a research study to explore current attitudes to animals and pets – how do people expect things will change in the future? Will horse-racing be banned, perhaps? Will the current ways of keeping domestic pets be looked upon as cruel in the future?

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• Cultural Traditions: Food

Food is an extremely important part of culture. Read this extremely good (1979) analysis of food trends in the 1970’s when we moved from meals to snacks: women started working in increasing numbers, men started helping in the kitchen, foreign food was introduced, microwaves and food mixers came in… it was a fascinating time! The Running Buffet Parts 1 and 2 (Eating habits and Trigger Study) – Page 1 – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive. 

Read this report from 1971 to see attitudes from the beginning of the decade: Exploratory research into Snacks – Page 2 – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive. Initially housewives were negative about convenience food as they saw it taking away their skills. Convenience food had to be ‘justified’ – see :Qualitative Research on the Curry market – Page 2 – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive (also from 1971).

If you want to see how things developed look at: Trends in food consumption 1996 – Page 7 – Reports of projects – The AMSR Online Archive which will give you trends in food consumption 1987-1996 eg P127 increase in oven chips, rice, pasta… We have many studies on food which you could use to map trends in family structures, women’s role, etc.

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Suggestion: Changes in food consumption have led to increased obesity in the population with all the consequent effects on health and longevity. The ‘Pharma’ world has responded with weight loss drugs – which are proving popular – but are they really a solution? What actions should be taken to reduce obesity in the population? Or should everyone be allowed to eat whatever they like?

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• Cultural Change: Advertising

You can use the Archive to explore the use of music in advertising, or Brands, advertising and culture – Page 1 – Papers and Offprints – The AMSR Online Archive explores the status of brands and the level of advertising literacy, whilst Understanding culture in international marketing – Page 1 – Papers and Offprints – The AMSR Online Archive explores the need to understand customers and compare their culture, particularly in the context of globalisation (both papers from the early 1990’s).

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Suggestion: You could explore this collection in the Archive: Browse – The AMSR Online Archive for many short papers on Advertising such as Does humor make ads more effective? – Page 1 – Millward Brown – The AMSR Online Archive or Do men and women respond differently to ads? – Page 1 – Millward Brown – The AMSR Online Archive or Making the most of multimedia advertising – Page 1 – Millward Brown – The AMSR Online Archive and lots of other papers.

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• Cultural Change: Art

If you are interested in Art Galleries, here’s a paper from 2003, entitled: The Testino Effect: Second International Qualitative Conference (Lisbon) – Conference Papers – Page 1 – Conference Papers other than Market Research Society – The AMSR Online Archive. It’s a case study looking at how quantitative research identified the need to further explore attitudes through the use of qualitative research – and the impact the qualitative research had on the marketing and branding strategy of the National Portrait Gallery.  Basically: ‘The Mario Testino exhibition attracted an audience which was younger, more female and less middle class, so appeared to be making the Gallery appear more accessible for all’. Much was learned.

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Suggestion:  You could use the case study results to look at how the National Portrait Gallery has developed since 2003. How have galleries in general had to change their stance, including who their sponsors are, in the last 20 years?

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• Forecasting the Future

It can be fascinating to see how badly people forecast the future. Here’s a Harris Poll from 1971: Science and Space Travel: Do We Want Them? People thought that birth control (35%) and heart transplants (28%) would be of much more benefit to mankind than computers (21%). Were they right? The differences by age are quite revealing… Science and Space Travel : Do We Want Them? The Harris Poll, 15 – 21 March 1971 – Opinion Poll Reports – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)

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Suggestion: You could design a study to see what people think now about Travel to the Moon (and Mars), whether there is life elsewhere in the Universe, do they believe in UFOs, whether life is better now than 100 years ago and what it will be like in 100 years time, what inventions they think will be of the most benefit to mankind in the future. You could add some interesting questions of your own.

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• Economic Crises

Take a look at this essay on The great inflation to see the effect of inflation on women. Or, as mentioned above, here is an opinion on the effect of the 2007 financial crisis on mental health: How the economic crisis is impacting on our mental health and wellbeing – Page 2 – Papers and Offprints – The AMSR Online Archive.

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Suggestion: One of the biggest effects on young people of recent economic trends has been the unaffordability of housing. Far fewer young people own their own house now than they did in the 1990’s. You could look at the statistics and conduct a survey with a representative sample of young people to understand how they feel about this and to propose potential solutions.

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• The Nature of Work

The job market has changed considerably over the last few decades. Here’s a paper on job creation which you could build upon – Job Creation 1987-89: the contributions of small and large firms – Page 1 – Papers, Ehrenberg and Goodhardt collection – The AMSR Online Archive.

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Suggestion: You could look at all the new jobs that have been created e.g. parcel delivery and what impact they have had on the British way of work and life.

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• The Rise and Fall of Political Parties

The rise of the Reform Party is extraordinarily interesting. Perhaps you would like to do a dissertation on the history of UK Political Parties? And put Reform into context? Here is an overview of what we have on the Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party and the Liberal Party – and a little on the Conservative party under Mrs Thatcher (Link to Lorna Lawrence piece) (and the Emil Kunna article? Links not present)

We also have qualitative research including a study on The Fluctuating Fortunes of the SDP by Peter Cooper (who was one of the great pioneers of the use of Qualitative research) which you might find intriguing – especially to compare to Reform several decades later?:The Fluctuating Fortunes of the U.K. Social Democratic Party (paper originally presented at 83rd ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) Conference, Barcelona 1983) – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)

And an HSBC PANEL of Conservative voters – Why the Tories lost the 1997 election – which is an interesting alternative take on that election, and compares to more recent events.HSBC panel of 1000 Conservative voters 1994-1997: why the Tories failed in the 1997 election (presentation) – Opinion Poll Reports – The AMSR Online Archive (oclc.org)

And I particularly like (Query: Who is ‘I’ – for the reader’s benefit?) this qualitative report on people’s perception of Mrs Thatcher and Neil Kinnock Brands as people People as brands. A study of political brand values – Page 1 – The CRAM Peter Cooper Collection – The AMSR Online Archive: Mrs. Thatcher is like “a Tank”, or “a Land Rover”, a “Range Rover” or a “Batmobile” – she would drive right up the middle of the road, dominate, lean towards the showy/flashy makes, and cope with the rough ground’.  ‘Neil Kinnock however, is more like a “Rover” or “Ford Orion” (average, not quite reliable)’.

Lastly – here’s a rather fun question about Mrs Thatcher’s lack of popularity compared to Prince Charles. From an NOP Review from June 1988 – so towards the end of her tenure. NOP Political, Social, Economic Review Issue no.70 1988 June – Page 10 – NOP Reports – The AMSR Online Archive. And the results were:

Q. Who would you rather have as Prime Minister – Prince Charles or Mrs Thatcher?
BASE: ALL (n = 1086)

Prince Charles   31%
Mrs Thatcher     38%
Neither               28%
Don’t know          2%

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Suggestion: Do these reports give you some ideas for interesting questions?  You could repeat the ‘Brands as People’ study on any of Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch, Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson. It would make a great project!

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If you decide to conduct your own research to support your EPQ, watch our video ‘5 Tips for conducting research for your EPQ’ to help you shape your research project. The type of EPQ you are doing may affect your choice of research:

EPQ Type	Most likely research options
Investigation/Field study	In-depth qualitative and quantitative research techniques
Artefact/Performance	Market research, stakeholder surveys, artist / designer / performer studies, research into materials, processes & creative techniques
Dissertation	Secondary research, usually structured around a literature review, plus interviews

 

Case study: Romance in the 1970s

With all the news about teenagers’ sex-texting and advice to parents to start talking to their children about pornography from the age of 9, we can be forgiven for cynical thoughts about the end of romance in our culture. What’s love got to do with it? we might ask. Has good old-fashioned ‘romance’ died? Still 95% of people claim to have sent a Valentine’s Day card at some point in their lives, surely it can’t all be over for romance? The Archive can tell us more about Romance in the 1970s.

So let’s dig into the Archive and see what romance really meant in the past. First a definition:
Romance: a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life: “the romance of the sea”

If we look through the CRAM collection – which is the work of an eminent early qualitative researcher, Peter Cooper – we can see how products were marketed in the 1970s to appeal to the desire for romance.

For example, here are some comments from Babycham advertising testing reports:
‘Babycham has potential in terms of its warm, dreamy, romantic images, its presence which can suggest that something will happen, the sense of excitement etc’.
‘Light, bubbly, innocent fun’
‘…promise in terms of romance, fun, light hearted sophistication’.
‘…excitement, good humour, echoes of Christmas, romance, fairy tales, magical’

And for Black Magic chocolates:
… Black Magic may be losing some of its excitement, romance, and magic, and is becoming rather mundane and safe.
The research explored: feelings about Black Magic, with special· regard to romance, love, excitement, mystery, quality, and mystique

There are projects on fragrances and, less obviously, deodorants for men. Romance comes into them all!

We can also look at reports describing people. For example, in a project for Boots, ‘The Teenage Enigma’ (1974), we see that young women had really rather limited horizons at the time:
… Nearly all respondents considered that the chief landmark in their futures would be marriage and many gave this as their sole ‘ambition’. On the whole, they expect to be married by 22 or 23 and to have 2 or 3 children before they reach 30

By 1974 contraception had been available for some years, and attitudes to sex before marriage are discussed in the report. You’d have thought that this would be the start of romance going out of the window but no…
“Even the most promiscuous girls are very romantic about marriage” (Teacher)

There was huge readership of women’s magazines in the 1970s including the kind of women’s magazines that deal almost exclusively in real fictional short story romances—Boy Friend, Red Letter, Secrets, Family Star, Marilyn, Red Star, Mirabelle, Marty, Romeo, Valentine and Roxy. Barbara Cartland was a bestselling author of romantic fiction.

In fact, we see that almost anything which was out-of-the ordinary was thought to be romantic in the 1970s – flying, foreign holidays, even smoking ‘exotic’ cigarettes was seen to add mystery, glamour, excitement and romance to a person. Normal life was rather humdrum and unexciting – romance was escapism from the everyday – it led to fun and love.

In these days, where ‘every day is Christmas’ relative to the 1970s, a lot of what was seen as exotic in the 70s has become commonplace – and the modern world has brought its own set of problems – and yet we still see little girls who love Disney princesses, tens of thousands of £££s spent on fairy tale weddings and exotic holidays, dating sites doing tremendous business. Perhaps romance is still alive and well?

If we look at modern research on young people in the archive we see concerns with serious matters: Housing, Mental Health, Technology, Climate change.

In the 1970s housing (availability, mortgages, inflation) was the big issue. But Mental Health, Technology and Climate Change were hardly registered. Basically young people worried about the usual things that young people worry about (themselves, what they looked like etc and having enough money and getting on in life). They weren’t much engaged in the news and politics.

Now, if anything, the pressures on young people through social media are greater than ever, so the need for escapism must be greater than ever. The evidence lies in the success and popularity of video games, romcoms, Disney princesses, fairy-tale weddings and all that.

Romance is dead. Long live romance!