I wonder if any academics out there can help me with something? In my story the mc is approached by 3 university students doing a thesis based on anti-social behaviour. The mc has recently been released from a young offenders institution and they would like to use him as one of several case studies.

My questions are a) does the above sound feasible enough to develop further and b) how would they get him to participate ie what’s in it for him? Would it be believable if there were a small cash incentive involved and if so how would that be funded?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks
kitkat

Long time since my university days ... but my guess would be:

(1) Yes this sounds very feasible
(2) Universities would certainly pay some small costs towards subjects agreeing to be interviewed for research, but, as you suggest, not very much. Probably not enough to persuade someone into doing it who didn't otherwise want to. Perhaps your MC might get involved for other reasons, such as: it sounds like fun; he needs the company; he fancies one of the researchers; he wants his story to be told to the wider world...
(3) The only other thought I have about this is that it seems unlikely that three students would be working on a thesis together. Normally (from my limited experience) each student works on their own thesis. However it could be part of a coursework exercise during the academic year or something like that ?

I know that at my university there are big ethical issues with this kind of thing - not that it shouldn't be done, but about how you do it, anonymity, informed consent, qualitative data handling and protection and so on. If you had a dig around the sociology dept pages of your local university website I'm sure you'd turn up a lecturer who'd be willing to answer a few email queries, and a nose among the syllabus might suggest the kind of project that would involve more than one student.

Emma

Hi Kat,

Emma's right about the ethical issues surrounding something like this. Commonly university's will offer a small cash incentive. At my own uni it's very common for some sort of prize draw to be held among participants, the prize is usually an iPod or something similiar.
I'm not sure about incentives though for people who had carried out criminal activities. Go with Emma's suggestion and see if you can't find a sympathetic sociology lecturer who can answer all your questions!

Emma

Thanks Griff, Emma and Emma.

As this is not an integral part of the story and can be changed if necessary I will eventually seek advice from my local Uni, it sounds like the best way to go. I think in the meantime I will keep plugging away at editing as this is more important at the moment - no point in bothering the university if the actual story is no good!

Thanks,
kitkat