u/lizard-rustler17

* i posted this on another sub prior to this, so sorry if that’s considered spam! i just want help really badly

** also i am not an undergrad! i am in high school but my country requires research for all people grades 11-12, or at least they did up until this newest batch (they changed the curriculum which makes me sad)

I am currently pursuing a research project as a requirement for my Senior High School curriculum, and it is focused on what communication looks like in the only group home in my province.

I wanted to take an ethnographic approach, but I’m 17 and not even independent yet so that’s for sure a no-go. I’m also the only person in my research group because we were grouped by common interest, and I was one of only two people who wanted to pursue communications/journalism research, and the only one in that pair who wanted to pursue something related to disability.

Our teacher is currently asking us to make our research instruments, but I don’t know what to do or how to make it because I’m inexperienced, and I’ve only met my respondents once on a donation drive (they rely on donations to stay afloat as they are privately run) prior to the conception of my research paper, where we had very minimal interaction.

I’m really scared of not getting the questionnaire and administration right because my topic is really sensitive, and it matters a lot to me especially because we don’t have many policies in place regarding the kind of treatment and accommodations given in group homes in my country.

I only have low support needs autism and medium support needs ADHD, and my respondents have a wide range of disabilities, including autism, Down’s syndrome, and cerebral palsy according to the website of the religious order who run the group home. They also have a wide variety of ages; some of them I presume are younger than pre-teens, and the oldest one I know of is 34 years old.

How do I craft a research questionnaire that is accessible enough? Any other tips on carrying out disability research? Any tips for a stupidly young and youthfully stupid guy navigating the world of research? Please help!!! I will love you forever and ever and ever. Also I can send my ongoing research through DMs if you ask for it (it has my real name and my school on it and I don’t feel like doxxing myself)

So sorry if this is not the place for this kind of discussion, I just don’t know where else to go. I am currently pursuing a research project as a requirement for my Senior High School curriculum, and it is focused on what communication looks like in the only group home in my province.

I wanted to take an ethnographic approach, but I’m 17 and not even independent yet so that’s for sure a no-go. I’m also the only person in my research group because we were grouped by common interest, and I was one of only two people who wanted to pursue communications/journalism research, and the only one in that pair who wanted to pursue something related to disability.

Our teacher is currently asking us to make our research instruments, but I don’t know what to do or how to make it because I’m inexperienced, and I’ve only met my respondents once on a donation drive (they rely on donations to stay afloat as they are privately run) prior to the conception of my research paper, where we had very minimal interaction.

I’m really scared of not getting the questionnaire and administration right because my topic is really sensitive, and it matters a lot to me especially because we don’t have many policies in place regarding the kind of treatment and accommodations given in group homes in my country.

I only have low support needs autism and medium support needs ADHD, and my respondents have a wide range of disabilities, including autism, Down’s syndrome, and cerebral palsy according to the website of the religious order who run the group home. They also have a wide variety of ages; some of them I presume are younger than pre-teens, and the oldest one I know of is 34 years old.

How do I craft a research questionnaire that is accessible enough? Any other tips on carrying out disability research? Please help!!! I will love you forever and ever and ever

tw mentions of self harm and suicide

There are 4 major universities in my country, and my parents want me to get into at least one of them. The earliest entrance exam out of the 4 is in about a month, and I’ve had all summer to review. Instead of looking out for my future and doing that, I spent those 3-4 months rolling around in bed. These exams are pretty hard, either due to the volume of topics included or the time pressure, and I haven’t been able to review for anything more than basic algebra, and these tests cover every lesson from 7th to 11th grade. If I can’t pass these exams, I won’t be able to achieve my dream of being a historical/disability studies researcher, because I won’t be able to get the quality education and massive upper hand from these universities, especially when it comes to the one with the soonest entrance exam. I feel like total shit. I know that I desperately need meds, have known it since the middle of 11th grade when I fully crashed and lost my handle on everything I was good at. I had more than 10 assignments missing at one time, I never slept for more than 5 hours per night (or just never slept at all), and I became irritable and less participative in class. My writing skills weathered it more than my other skills, but writing one sentence felt like pulling teeth. Which sucks because I love learning!! I love to write and read and research and argue and be creative, but I can’t do any of it because of this piece of shit disorder. I wish I could just pull myself up and force myself to do it, but I feel so numb to every deadline. I can’t get myself to focus, can’t get myself to even brush my teeth without persistent physical pain forcing me into it. No matter how early I get up, or how late I sleep, or how many alarms I set or to-do list systems I set up or workbooks I have in front of me, no matter how many fun apps I delete from my phone I just can’t get anything done. I only know maybe 3% of what I need to know to get a subpar grade on any of the 4 entrance exams, and I could totally catch up if my brain would stop holding what I need to do over my head like a grade school bully with some kid’s lunchbox. I really do need medication, and I used to have it! But my stupid 14 year old self got too in his feelings and decided to overdose on them and land himself in the hospital for 3 days. Which made them take my meds away, and which made medication and even therapy later on a touchy subject with the family. And now my family is open to getting me meds again, but it’s taking so damn long to get a session with a psychiatrist, and it will probably take even longer to actually get a perscription, and by then the entrance exams will have come and gone. I don’t know what to do myself. I really don’t. I feel like the stupidest, laziest guy on the planet, and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I let my future pass me by all because of some bullshit in my brain.

I just finished the series and was wondering this, seeing as a lot of weird and unusual things happen to these characters over the course of the show. I think locked up (getting held prisoner in Yerba and having to do a group dance to a Jackson 5 song) could be a good contender for a lot of the main cast, but there's definitely been weirder things than that.