Instructions
Considering your proposed research question(s) and design, reflect on each of the “Topics to Consider” at the end of the chapter. After reviewing the NCU Institutional Review Board (IRB) application with respect to your currently proposed study, write a reflection on how your future IRB application would have to address each of the ethics requirements listed in Standard V of the AAMFT Code of Ethics, available in this weeks Books and Resources for the Week.
Length: 2 Pages
References: Support your work with a minimum of five scholarly resources referenced on a separate page at the end of your memorandum.
https://www.aamft.org/Legal_Ethics/Code_of_Ethics.aspx
THIS IS THE CODE OF ETHICS TO FIND INFORMATION PER ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
https://ncu.libguides.com/irb/submit
HERE IS THE NCU IRV need to read per assignment instructions
Proposed research question: The problem to be addressed by this study is that poor sexual satisfaction for one or both marital partners is a leading cause of relationship distress for….
The aim of the present study is to determine how sexual counseling programs and sex education may help to develop healthy relationship between couples and intensify marital quality. This study will enable to determine how sex education enhances relationship between couples
Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student's Guide Research Design In: Introducing Qualitative Research: A Student's Guide By: Rosaline Barbour Pub. Date: 2019 Access Date: January 17, 2022 Publishing Company: SAGE Publications, Inc. City: 55 City Road Print ISBN: 9781446254608 Online ISBN: 9781526485045 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526485045 Print pages: 46-77 © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This PDF has been generated from SAGE Research Methods. Please note that the pagination of the online version will vary from the pagination of the print book. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526485045 Research Design Aims • This chapter equips the reader to develop an appropriate research design. • It shows how to make a case for a specific piece of research. • Hints are provided on formulating and firming up research questions and the role of theory in shaping the focus of research. • It provides advice on matching research questions with appropriate methods, or combinations of methods. • It outlines the principles underpinning case study selection. • It explains the principles of qualitative sampling and shows how to use purposive sampling to advantage in order to facilitate comparisons. • The importance of sequencing of methods and timetabling are emphasized and examples are presented. • Finally, this chapter demonstrates the importance of placing qualitative research in context and equips the reader to critically examine the limitations of her/his own studies. Introduction This chapter guides the reader through some of the choices which have to be made in the course of putting together a research proposal and embarking on a piece of qualitative research. Many research methods texts urge the novice researcher to start with their research question and to plan their research design accordingly. However, this rather glosses over the potentially fraught issue of how to go about formulating a research question in the first place and the first section of this chapter will attempt to provide some advice with regard to this challenging and sometimes elusive task. One of the most important decisions to be made concerns the methods selected and some guidelines are provided to help the reader in choosing between the wide range of alternatives on offer. The potential of one- to-one interviews, focus group discussions, ethnographic and action research approaches will be explored, as well as the possibilities afforded by document analysis, visual and online methods. Particular attention will be paid to the purposes of the research, the nature of the research relationship, potential for engagement and the anticipated content of data. This relates back to the different methods for generating qualitative data and the epistemological debates outlined in Chapter 2. The role of theory in shaping the focus of the research is also discussed and some examples are provided of the ways in which researchers have sought to design studies to take account of – and sometimes to interrogate – particular theoretical frameworks. While this chapter does raise the possibility of employing mixed methods designs, the potential and challenges of such approaches is SAGE 2014 SAGE Publications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. SAGE Research Methods Page 2 of 30 Research Design http://methods.sagepub.com/book/introducing-qualitative-research-2e/i176.xml discussed in detail in Chapter 9: Mixing methods. The various rationales for selecting case studies will be presented and the advantages deriving from employing these different criteria will be explored. Particular attention will be paid to the principles of qualitative sampling, which is often misunderstood and leads to irrelevant criticism of qualitative methods as failing to provide representative findings. The purpose of qualitative sampling – usually called ‘purposive’ or ‘theoretical’ sampling – is to reflect the diversity within the group of people or the phenomenon under study rather than to select typical cases. Sampling holds the key to the comparisons which can be made using the dataset generated and, hence, determines the analytic potential of the data. Thus qualitative researchers are anticipating the process of analysis even as they recruit respondents or select research settings. The rationale and mechanics of qualitative sampling will be addressed, with special consideration given to the subtle differences impacting on this process, depending on which method is being employed. It will be emphasized that practical, ethical and political issues are interrelated. There are no magic templates or formulae for designing qualitative projects. Although several checklists have been developed (e.g. Blaxter, 1996; Popay et al., 1998) to aid with the evaluation of qualitative studies, the use of such lists to guide study design is fraught with problems, and is not to be advised. This is because it is necessary to do more than invoke general principles or ‘name check’ procedures. It is essential that the underlying rationale is explained and justified. ‘Technical fixes’ (Barbour, 2001) are no substitute for thoughtful engagement as the researcher navigates her/his way through the many tantalizing and sometimes competing possibilities on offer. Formulating the Research Question In my own experience of working with graduate students formulating a research question is often a fairly drawn-out process. It is undoubtedly important to give some thought to couching the research question, since this may have profound implications for the ultimate success and rigour of the research project. Reading is crucial to firming up research questions and deciding on the focus of a study. Rathbun (2008) writing about research in the field of political science provides useful advice: An understanding of the literature will not only help the researcher eventually frame his argument in a broader context in the opening passages of an academic work, but also provide a benchmark for what is surprising in the … data he collects … a good scholar will read not only the qualitative work in his field but also the quantitative even if he is not a statistical whiz, as it is a source of hypotheses and sometimes an indication of what is yet to be explored due to the inherent limitations of quantitative analyses. (Rathbun, 2008: 696) It is not, however, uncommon for students to arrive with a stated interest in a fairly broad topic. Writing in 1977 about their experience with graduate students, Cohen and Taylor remark: ‘Could you give me some ideas for my research project?’ is the standard opening question from SAGE 2014 SAGE Publications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. SAGE Research Methods Page 3 of 30 Research Design http://methods.sagepub.com/book/introducing-qualitative-research-2e/i445.xml students of the sociology of deviance. ‘What are you interested in?’ is the immediate reply, and somehow or other a list of possible subjects emerges: the gay liberation movement, prisons, drugs. But what can realistically be ‘done’ about these research topics? After putting the student off yet another review of the literature, or a demonstration that labelling theory neglects power, structure and history, we find ourselves supporting any project which sounds vaguely like getting the student out of the library and into contact with people in the world out there. Arming him with romantic Chicago School injunctions about capturing reality in his notebook, with all the West Coast methods texts that tell him that soft qualitative research is as valid as anything else, and with a commitment to naturalism, appreciation and being on the side of the deviant, we send him into the world to ‘tell it how it is’. This is all to be achieved with the aid of that most simple of research technologies: talk. (Cohen and Taylor, 1977: 67) We like to think that nowadays, with the many research methods texts at our disposal and, hopefully, a more sophisticated understanding of a range of approaches, choices and their implications, we have moved on from such vague injunctions. However, while we may have considerably more resources at our disposal – and have the potential to delay our students even further by arming them with a huge array of texts – the challenge remains essentially the same for student and supervisor. Reading published reports, while instructive, can belie the uncertainties and difficulties that lie behind the apparently effortless choices involved in honing the research question and formulating an appropriate research design. Marshall and Rossman (1994) describe the process as involving funnelling down your research question, making sure that it is ‘do-able’. This means identifying exactly what it is about a particular setting, field of study, or experience that interests you. Then you will need to think about who you should talk to in order to generate data, thinking all the time about whether these individuals or groups are likely to be the most instructive exemplar of the processes and issues you want to study. Later in this chapter I have drawn on some examples involving supervision of PhD students in order to provide practical advice. The first question is usually ‘Why do you want to do this study?’ Motivation There is often a considerable personal slant which influences the topics selected for study, with a researcher's own experiences leading her/him to develop an interest in studying an issue. This is not always mentioned, perhaps because of the spectre of ‘objective inquiry’ which still has some influence and leads us to be coy about our real motivations, lest we be accused of not being ‘proper (social) scientists’. However, some textbooks do acknowledge this important conjunction (e.g. Marshall and Rossman, 1994). Indeed, Vickers (2003) claims that ‘it is rare to find a productive scholar whose work is unconnected to his or her personal history’ (Vickers, 2003: 619). Although such confessions rarely find their way into practice- or clinical-leaning journals (which generally feature short – 3,000 word – articles) clues are often provided in the authors’ details, which give the reader information about professional affiliations and qualifications and can lead to us interpreting the content of the paper somewhat differently. Within sociology, there is a stronger tradition of making personal interests explicit and researchers such SAGE 2014 SAGE Publications, Ltd. All Rights Reserved. SAGE Research Methods Page 4 of 30 Research Design as Shulamit Reinharz (1979) discuss how they have drawn on aspects of their non-academic selves – in her case as a dance therapist – to identify potential research areas. Another example is provided by Lee Monaghan's (1999; 2001) research into body building, which capitalized on his familiarity with gym and exercise culture. Paul Atkinson (2004) put his love and knowledge of opera to good use in carrying out ethnographic research on this topic. It is probably fair to say, however, that such conjunctions between personal interests and biographies are most likely to occur either at the outset of research careers or once academics are