A mass walkout by prison officers in protest at conditions in jails in England and Wales could lead to an increase in violence rather than help address the crisis. The guardian 

I think action of this sort does nothing to help that process and locking prisoners up for 24 hours a day, which may be the consequence of what the POA are doing, only increases the risk of violence, it doesn’t help us address it.” The guardian 

When the high court ordered up to 10,000 striking prison officers back to work on Tuesday, it put an end to a 24-hour walkout organised by the Prison Officers’ Association (POA). The officers were protesting about chronic staff shortages and growing levels of violence and self-harm in prisons. The guardian. 

The officers’ concerns are backed up by the data, which shows declining staff levels and an increase in assaults on staff. The prison population in England and Wales remained relatively stable between 2010 and 2015, at around 85,000, according to figures from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The guardian 

I will also make sure to look at both sides of the argument in order to make a non-bias assessment on the situation. More so, I will then be conducting a questionnaire which I will control by making sure every person that does the test does it the same way and has the same questions. I will use this test to discovers what people think about violence in prison and whether they think it is acceptable. I also want to find out whether my audience feel that prison staff should retaliate in a different way as what they do. Furthermore, this then means that everyone gets the same assessment, it also means that I can collect the results easily. Once I have performed my questionnaire, I will use these findings, along with my information to discuss the possibility whether having more, or less staff matters with the assaults caused by inmates on staff. I can also find out how much information people know around the topic of assaults on prison staff and how frequent it is happening. If the tests show that people didn’t know or heard of these findings, then this shows that maybe it isn’t being put forward as much as it should with it being such a serious subject. 

Once I have my findings, I will present them in a report type fashion which will allow the reader to see how I found the information and how I came to my conclusion. It will start with me first explaining my research and what taught me, I will then follow by explaining my conclusion and any other results I found along the way. Finally, I will present my findings using graphs, charts and tables to show and prove evidence to support my conclusion. 

Furthermore, once I have all my data and findings, I am hoping to be able to come to a justified conclusion for my research subject. I am also hoping to have clear evidence to support my conclusion by using realistic sources and by making sure I study my data carefully so I understand it fully and so it makes sense to me. Overall, once I have come to a conclusion, I am hoping I come to a non-bias conclusion by looking at both sides of the argument and using all my information to the best of my ability. 

From my research I am wanting to achieve a settled conclusion as to whether the amount of prison staff which are leaving UK prisons is due to the fact of prison staff being assaulted by inmates. I want to find out if there is anything UK prisons can do in order to reduce or stop the amount of assaults conducted on prison staff from inmates. I want to discover whether having less prison staff causes more issues within the prison walls and why so many assaults are taking place as they are.

My final subject for my research will be how many prison officers are assaulted daily and how many end up in A&E because of this. From an independent report ‘an average of two prison officers need to go to A&E every day after being attacked by inmates, new figures show, amid soaring levels of violence in jails and mounting pressures on staff.’ (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/prison-officers-ae-inmates-prisoners-accident-emergency-poa-a8521206.html). The Guardian states and shows figures that there was 8,429 assaults on prison staff from inmates in the 12 months to December 2017, so this works out around 23 assaults per day this was an increase of 27% from the year before. Of the attacks on officers, 864 were classed as serious, such as those requiring medical treatment or resulting in fractures, burns or extensive bruising. (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/26/prison-violence-in-england-and-wales-hits-record-levels). 

Overall, I believe that these stories are the best sources to help me in my investigation into prison officer assaults. I can find clear statistics from each one and I can also link a few stories together to create a more stable argument. 

Quantitative data is very easy to display the information in a format that it can be given to anyone and they would be able to understand it. This means that my questionnaire will be accessible to anyone who answers it as my questions will be very basic. Quantitative data is collected by focusing on numbers and mathematical calculations. More so, quantitative data is clear and specific, accurate and reliable if properly analysed, it can also be easily communicated via charts and graph and many large datasets already exist that can be analysed.According to (https://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-quantitative.html)

During my research I will be using a range of both types of data, the reason I am going to use both is because I will be able to form a stronger report at the end. One reason for this is because if I use quantitative data, I will be able to see what percentage of the group think one way compared to the rest of the group. I will then be able to present the data in graphs and tables. However, the reason I will use qualitative data is because I will get a range of different answers but more than this, I will get personal opinions so this will help me decide which side my argument could go. 

Finally, all the data I collect from my questionnaire will be analysed, counted and collected into a document, this will then help me to use that data to create tables and graphs, which will then be used in my further study to explain what the questionnaire has taught me. More so, I will then be able to see any trends created within my study. The answers given by people who maybe want a career in the prison service may all be very similar in how they see the way the prisons work and how violence is getting more and more abrupt as the years go on, and then the answers from the people who don’t want a career within the prison service will be very different to the people who want to be.