Dissertation

XBubbliBunniX

Hi,

Currently in my third year of a psychology degree...this year i'm supposed to be writing a dissertation but as of yet i still have to find a topic that i have any great interest in...

I was thinking something along the lines of attitudes to alcohol and link it then to norms and specific personality types...but at the moment to me it appears to be a very second rate idea...i have no idea how i would expand on upon it... any help would greatly be appreciated...

Black Swan

Recommend that you access Dissertation Abstracts and do a key word search with alcohol, norms, attitudes, and personality. With the dissertations that show, search their last chapters where "recommendations for future research" are often suggested. You may find your topic here, along with a citation justifying your dissertation.

XBubbliBunniX

i've tried this but there doesnt seem to much information on the topic...another direction i was thinkin would be sexuality...though again i would have no idea in which direction to take this

Odysseus

Both Alcohol and Sexuality are very big areas, that's good as a starting point but then you need to be a tad more specific. Say with the alcohol maybe something like looking at treatment models in Ireland. One with a lot of scope would be comparing treatment models used in various treatment centers such as the disease model against say CBT there is a lot of material available around that.

hotspur

Perceived social norms and alcohol use has been a research area over the past few years, especially in interventions with student populations.

I have a folder of what is supposed to be papers on it in my bookmarks but it seems curiously sparse, I must have deleted them. Here are the only links still in it:
http://www.higheredcenter.org/files/product/hws.pdf
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-112247913.html

Here is a good list of references for it:
http://www.icap.org/PolicyTools/ICAPBlueBook/BlueBookModules/3SocialNormsMarketing/tabid/164/Default.aspx

You will find enough of research on it if you look, check out the Journal of Studies on Alcohol for example. There was a marketing researcher in DIT Aungier street doing a PhD in it a few years ago, but I can't recall his name.

JuliusCaesar

What works for me when I have a vague idea, is to talk with someone about it. (Someone in your class, for example, or a lecturer/tutor/whatever.) The more questions they ask about it, the more you can narrow down your interest to something workable. Sometimes of course you lose interest along the way. But write down EVERY idea! I forget great ideas I had on the bus....

TheyKnowMyIP

Why not write about how Psychiatry locked away a man who commited a minor offence for 25 years on the basis of mere opinion and a complete lack of objective evidence?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/historic-hearing-begins-into-broadmoor-patient-seeking-his-freedom-2362090.html

Looking forward to my ban for speaking the truth.

Odysseus

TheyKnowMyIP wrote: »

Why not write about how Psychiatry locked away a man who commited a minor offence for 25 years on the basis of mere opinion and a complete lack of objective evidence?

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/historic-hearing-begins-into-broadmoor-patient-seeking-his-freedom-2362090.html

Looking forward to my ban for speaking the truth.

When I seen you post in AH I expected to see you here. People do not get banned for telling the truth, and if you have anything to contribute to the topic I would suggest you start a new thread. In this thread the OP is seeking advice on their thesis.

BTW this is the psychology forum not the a psychiatric one, you are welcome to start a thread it is an interesting topic, but it does not to be based upon facts.

TheyKnowMyIP

Odysseus wrote: »

When I seen you post in AH I expected to see you here. People do not get banned for telling the truth, and if you have anything to contribute to the topic I would suggest you start a new thread. In this thread the OP is seeking advice on their thesis.

BTW this is the psychology forum not the a psychiatric one, you are welcome to start a thread it is an interesting topic, but it does not to be based upon facts.

I may have some very big problems with Psychiatry, but let me get this straight, I do not have outright issues with Psychology. Infact, after some retrospective research, I have changed my mind on Psychology. It does have merit, just like Philosophy. Both have uses in Maths for example.

Psychology is far less harmfull. I don't hear of Psychologists locking people away for 25+ years.

I won't derail a legitimate thread any further btw

kitkat.3b4t

XBubbliBunniX wrote: »

Hi,

Currently in my third year of a psychology degree...this year i'm supposed to be writing a dissertation but as of yet i still have to find a topic that i have any great interest in...

I was thinking something along the lines of attitudes to alcohol and link it then to norms and specific personality types...but at the moment to me it appears to be a very second rate idea...i have no idea how i would expand on upon it... any help would greatly be appreciated...

Hi there. Starting a dissertation can be very daunting. When I did mine I found that as I researched literature I was able to get a clearer idea of what i wanted to talk about. Its good to have a working title and an outline of what you want to research, but its also a good idea to be flexible at the beginning.

When you do your literature rewiew you can then decide chapter titles and even the amount of words in each chapter. Dissertations have to be constructed, from the bottom up, starting with a loose design and progressing to something more solid towards the end!!! Thats just my opinion!!!