Theorization & Generalization of Findings - Article Example

Contents Introduction 2 Title 2 Overall Review of Article & Research 3 Abstract 3 Introduction of Article 4 Review of Literature 4 Sufficiency of Search 5 Relevance of Literature 5 Currency of Search 5 Organization 6 Critical Evaluation 7 Research Questions/Rationale for Study 7 Ethics 8 Data Collection 9 Research Design 9 Participant Selection & Sampling 9 Probability and Selection Technique 10 Subjectivity and bias 11 Data Collection Methods & Procedures 11 Description and Congruence 12 Rigor (Trustworthiness) 12 Data Analysis 12 Discussions 13 Credibility and Dependability of the Research 13 Presentation of Findings 14 Implications of the Findings and Limitations 15 Discussion of the Findings in the Context of Previous Research 15 Theorization & Generalization of Findings 15 Bibliography 17 Introduction Social Work Research is strongly linked to the ability to attain accountability in the process of discharging the objectives of a social work project[ CITATION Bre05 \l 7177 ]. This is because Social Work as a discipline and a profession seeks to attain certain ends that are often related to improving the social-welfare systems of a given community or society. Therefore, to ensure effectiveness and efficiency researchers set practical/measurable targets and these are implemented according to the circumstances at hand. This culminates in a series of results that are observable to various stakeholders. Thus, Social Work Research is a means of providing a flexible system through which targets of a given Social Work projects can be analyzed, critiqued and evaluated in order to provide an opinion or view of the existing state of affairs in the status of a given community. The purpose of this paper is to critique a given article on the basis of standards, conventions and ethics of Social Work Research presented by authoritative academics and researchers in the field. This will include a thorough review and analysis of the content of the article and how it meets the standards in the absolute and relativist sense. Title The article selected for this study is titled “Violence Exposure Among Children of Incarcerated Mothers” by Dana, D. DeHart and Sandra J. Altshuler which was published in the Child Adolescent Social Work Journal in 2009. As the title suggests, the article focuses on the social welfare of a class of people in society who need the help of social service providers and other social workers to gain a normal life – children of incarcerated women. Clearly, when a woman gives birth to a child in prison, the child is in a less than ideal social setting. Hence, there is the need for social workers in the community to find ways of ensuring that the child in question gets the right level of care and attention in order to grow to become a responsible adult. The title makes it easier for people searching the web to locate it because the words “violence”, “children” and “incarcerated mothers” are likely to be searched when anyone with a research interest needs to find an article with these features. This implies that it is conveniently titled and can be easily located. The title is also direct and straightforward because most thinkers can easily understand it and deduce a lot of meaning from it when they first see it. Overall Review of Article & Research The article is chosen because it is a landmark article that evaluates a social situation by applying elements of empirical research. The article provides an assessment of a social matter and presents a view on the status quo. Therefore, the writer of this particular paper critiques the work of the authors in relation to laid-down principles of best practice in social work research. As a qualitative research, it has the impetus to discuss the social elements of the issue of violence amongst children of incarcerated women. This is because qualitative research involves the analysis of things that are normally unquantifiable. Hence, they bring out elements of behavior formation and character building which are essential and important in this aspect of social work. Abstract The abstract of the article emphasizes on the fact that little is known about the topic. It shows the reader the importance of the subject and how much it will contribute to the wider society by giving more meaning to social work. The data collection and analysis methods are summarized in the abstract as required. However, the presentation of the findings is somewhat limited and this does not give a strong presentation of the main findings. It also falls short of creating an exciting scenario for readers. One or two concrete findings or recommendations should have been presented in one or two sentences and this should show how the findings relate to the wider society. Introduction of Article The introduction presents a lot of statistics from credible sources that lead the path for discussions. This is a good approach because it enables the researcher to move the reader from the known to the unknown. The background shows the realities of the situation of babies born to incarcerated mother and how they are perceived in the social, psychological and philosophical sense. Another background is presented in the introduction that shows the reader the main variables – the life of incarcerated women and their children, violence amongst the children and the sources of this violence. This sets the tone for a research and study of the variables in the research. Review of Literature A literature review is an essential part of every research in the Social Sciences. A review of literature provides an authoritative historical background for the research underway and it also presents important theories and concepts as well as groundbreaking definitions that helps to understand the current research being undertaken[ CITATION Rid12 \l 7177 ]. Therefore, it is expected that the scope of the literature review must cover all relevant standards and expectations and also cover the right depths of the appropriate study[ CITATION Gri08 \l 7177 ]. Sufficiency of Search This refers to the level of comprehensiveness of the literature review. This is about the completeness of the materials that were examined and how well it links the research questions with important ideas in secondary sources[ CITATION Gri08 \l 7177 ]. The number of references is 50. And with over 12 pages of work, this marks an average of about 4 sources per page. This is somewhat sufficient because the most ideal number is a minimum of 2 sources per page. Hence, this order is twice above the average. In terms of presenting the logical information necessary for the understanding of the study, the literature review presents more than enough information. However, concerning information about theories and concepts and definitions, the study presents a less than sufficient set of information. However the information presented seems to be sufficient for the attainment of proper understanding amongst readers. Relevance of Literature The relevance scope of the research is very high because it is done in a way and manner that presents important information and ideas necessary for the attainment of optimal understanding. The information is important and presents a comprehensive view for the reader. The reader therefore gets an understanding of the most important first principles necessary for the conduct of the research. Hence, in areas of relevance, this study’s secondary literature critique is highly relevant and important for people to get a fair understanding of important discussions relevant to the current study. Currency of Search The ideal standard for the conduct of official research is to use recent journals and books that are published no more than 5 years prior to the conduct of the research[ CITATION Kot121 \l 7177 ]. In cases where a researcher uses a source that is older than 5 years, the researcher must take reasonable care to check and assess whether there have been more recent versions of the work published or not[ CITATION Bab122 \l 7177 ]. Where there is no recent version of a required study, the researcher can use an older version. The research under review was published in 2009. Therefore, the cut-off point for the choice of materials is 2004. Out of the 50 sources used, 31 of them were published before 2004. This shows that the literature review is somewhat outdated and it is based on old sources. As a specialized research, it could be argued that the materials used are rare and there is little a research can do about it. However, this excuse is not acceptable since the sources used are very old. Thus, the literature review can be said to be outdated. Organization This research has no demarcated section for a literature review. This suggests that it is theoretically deficient because most theoretically comprehensive research works have an independent section demarcated for literature review. This research only critiques literature as a background and prior to the discussion section. This shows that the literature review is generally deficient and less intensive. On the other hand, it is evident that the article under review had a major in-depth analysis of important elements and aspects of the background of the case. This includes the review of variables and important concepts relevant to the study. This shows that it is important in analyzing background information with little emphasis on providing groundbreaking definitions and the presentation of concepts and theories. This suggests that the research targets experts who have an idea of important concepts. These readers targeted are mainly persons with knowledge-brought-forward. This is different from persons who have no prior knowledge. Hence, it can be said the study is of a limited nature or scope. This means that the connection between research questions and existing knowledge and previous studies is highly limited[ CITATION Gri08 \l 7177 ] Critical Evaluation The analysis can be said to be prescriptive rather than analytical. This is because it seems to be analyzing how every literature review relates to the topic at hand. This is convincing the rather. It is not seeking to objectively analyze important ideas and theories. Rather, it is critiqued with a process of pointing out or justifying selective materials for the reader to follow. However, it can be said that the literature review is purposeful. This is because it is thorough enough to give a reader an insight into the fundamental purposes of the study. This is informative and meets its primary and fundamental end. Research Questions/Rationale for Study Ideally, a research question must be clearly written and it must be based on important discussions and analysis that are carried out earlier in the study[ CITATION Gri08 \l 7177 ]. In this study, the research questions are poorly defined. However, the rationale for study is comprehensively presented. Although there are no specific research questions, the rationale for research informs the reader of how the research is being conducted and what its fundamental essence is. The research question is not clearly stated. However, after reading all the research backgrounds and the “Need for Research” section of the article, one can deduce that the fundamental aim of the study is to look into the relationship between violence and children born to mothers in incarceration. The logical but unconscious attempt to define the research scope and framework creates a major challenge to the reader. The deficiency identified above is to a large extent, controlled by the fact that readers are meant to appreciate the essence of using a qualitative method rather than a quantitative study. This is because the use of narratives helps to build an unconscious awareness of the situation related to the study. However, it would have been better if there had been a conscious definition of the “Aims” and “Objectives” that will expressly outline the main needs and the main processes of the study. Ethics The main challenge to ethics at this point of the study was the mode of the participation of respondents. Clearly, the respondents were persons who had been incarcerated. Hence, there was the need for informed consent and proper discussions before getting them to participate in the study. It appears that reasonable care was taken in informing the respondents about the process and their rights. They were told about the scope of the study and its impacts. There is also evidence that the respondents’ confidentiality was duly protected. This is because the names used are not the real names and they do not disclose the true identity of the respondents. Hence, the ethical requirements for confidentiality was duly protected and observed throughout the process. However, it appears that the emotional depth of the study was so serious. This is because most of the respondents volunteered to give more information than usual. There is no evidence that there was the proper psychological counseling received in the study. Hence, it would have been more appropriate and ethically correct if all respondents were allowed to have professional help before and after participation in the study. This shows a major shortfall in the process. Data Collection The data was fundamentally collected through the gathering of information from interviews. These interviews were critiqued and analyzed by the researcher in order to lead to the kind of conclusions that were made in the study. Research Design The research as designed to use one of the most popular qualitative methods – interviews. This involves the use of open ended questions and the approaches that brings out the unique experiences of each and every member of the sampled population that was studied. This approach comes with some issues and challenges that are inherent in the whole process of gathering information and analyzing it. Participant Selection & Sampling Sampling is utilized when a researcher cannot study 100% of a given population under review in a social work research[ CITATION Kot121 \l 7177 ]. In this study, there was a direct need for the researcher to study a section of the female prison population or ex-convict population that had a history of spending time in jail and had children in jails. This would help to provide information about their experiences in a unique sense and also assist in providing important guidelines that could be generalized for the entire United States’ prison population of women who had children. A sample of 60 women who were spending at least 15 months in a correctional facility in the Southeast of the United States were studied. This included 52% of African-Americans and 48% of Whites. This choice was somewhat problematic. This is because selecting prisoners from one part of the United States and from one facility implies that the generalization of the findings was meant to come with major problems and challenges. This is due to the fact that the findings are meant to be limited to a small geographical area and could provide misleading results. Secondly, there is a problem with the choice of a majority of the respondent from the African-American prisoner population for the study. This is because they are in the minority in the general United States. Secondly, choosing only Blacks and Whites means there are significant minorities like Latinos and Asian-Americans who were not represented in the study. Hence, the findings would be applicable to only two classes of people in America. Although this might be the largest groupings relevant to this area of social work, other minorities could have been considered to make this study more complete. Probability and Selection Technique This research used random sampling techniques to select the respondents. This meant that the study provided the impetus for the use of random and unstructured methods to choose participants. This could probably present results that might be misleading as every potential respondent has a completely different method and procedure. Therefore, the use of random sampling provided the impetus for major gaps and margins in choosing appropriate respondents. On the other hand, the random sampling method could give room for the discovery of unorthodox cases that could help to provide improved and enhanced views that could help to deal with problems. This includes the possibility of stumbling on serious cases and matters that could lead to issues. Also, the methodology highlights serious cases. This means that the respondents’ cases are to be highlighted and used to shape policy in social work. Therefore a random sampling method could also promote better results. Subjectivity and bias Subjectivity refers to the highlighting of some cases based on the researcher’s personal sentiments and desires. This could lead to inaccurate results and other personalized programming processes that is meant to seek certain ends for the researcher. This clouds the actual results. In this study, the procedures shown indicate that every method and approach used to gather data and analyze it was based on objective processes and systems. This includes the use of transparent methods that are utilized in a way and manner that there will be important and vital findings that could be justified in an objective sense. However, the use of open ended methods and the use of handwritten interviews and findings meant that the researcher could integrate subjective ideas and bias. Also, the method of analyzing findings by highlighting on important patterns and trends lends itself to inherent bias. This is because the researchers could potentially push their own personal agenda and achieve results by forging and imposing their own personal views and tagging it as empirical when it is not. This is because the grounded theory approach could lead to many divergences and inaccuracies that could prove to be problematic for objectivity. Data Collection Methods & Procedures The data collection method is fundamentally based on open-ended interviews that are fit for this kind of qualitative research. This is because it uses various methods and approaches that brings out important matters and issues. The use of open ended interviews allows respondents to present information without having to face any limitations presented to them by the researcher. This allowed the respondents to present unique and distinct issues that actually occurred which would not have been known to the average researcher. Description and Congruence The use of a broad scope of questions allowed the researcher to create some basic guidelines for respondents. This allowed findings to be universally analyzed and reviewed. The main process was to help to find a consistent design that could lead to better results and findings that could help to formulate policies and ideas that will lead to improved activities amongst social workers in the period. Rigor (Trustworthiness) The study provides in-depth and thorough information about cases and situations. The trustworthiness of the whole approach is fairly guaranteed because all the analysis was aimed at providing the spotlight on extreme cases in order to deal with them. The reader is therefore prepared for a thorough and abnormal situation. This provides a degree of trustworthiness and expectations. This shows that the researchers spent a lot of time going through the cases and situations to highlight extremities in order to deal with them and provide important conclusions and findings. Data Analysis The research was conducted by handwriting responses (rather than transcribing it as per conventional qualitative research). Thus, the researchers were given the power to gather the data in an effectively unilateral manner and define the data computation process. This was done through the use of the ATLAS ti software which is for qualitative analysis. As identified, the software is one that supports qualitative research which is inherently vulnerable to individual manipulation. This is because the views and opinions of the researcher provide a major framework that affects and defines the whole scope and process of the entire research. Therefore the coding, development of themes and theories are based on the subjective views of the researchers. The literally had the ability to define what was important and what was not important. This limits the scope of the study to the values and inherent desires of the researchers. Questions like whether the researchers are liberal or conservative could really define a lot of things in this kind of research analysis process. The use of “promiscuous” coding which consciously avoided predetermined these and processes helped the research to be more opened. This limited the level of autonomy but allowed the research to achieve some kind of objectivity. This is because this allowed two coders to enter the data and this allowed some kind of checks and balances to be put in place. There was a primary analysis and a secondary analysis. This also created room to reduce the level of interference by the researchers’ own personal desires. The two-way approach enabled findings to be analyzed and reviewed more thoroughly before they were processed. This allowed the theorization process to be more thorough and more comprehensive in its coverage. Discussions The discussions section of the findings of a research provides a review of the findings in relation to important concepts and theories. Normally, this includes important theories described and analyzed in the literature review section of the research. However, this is preceded by a logical presentation of findings in order to show the reader of the article the important things that were unveiled in the study. This will help to provide important guidelines on what was discovered in the study. This aids in the discussions and theorization. Credibility and Dependability of the Research The credentials and competency of the researchers add up to the credibility of the research. This is because the researchers have a reputation of gaining good education and a lot of experience. Their writing style presents a high level of competency and control over the topic. The two authors complement each other and this provides a high level of credibility for the article. The findings are dependable because they provide an insight into a matter that is not normally studied. And the approach used provides a practical and real-life system of analyzing and reviewing the relevant circumstances. The interviews seem to be dependable as they followed all the necessary rules and came out right with the best levels of results. Presentation of Findings The fundamental findings are summarized and presented statistically and given in general terms. This is a good effort for putting out the core findings and important trends. This provides a general framework of the realities that were uncovered in the study and the process. Afterwards, the findings are put together under six dominant classes where the highlights of the most extreme cases and issues are presented for discussions. This is done in a way and manner that the most extreme narrations are presented and extracts of these narrations are discussed to provide important trends of what people are actually facing and going through. This gives the reader an important idea of what people are going through and how it affects them in the most important manner. The process provides a qualitative discussion that shows the emotions and sentiments of people in the most graphic way and manner possible. This allows the researchers to showcase important things and matters that actually exists under the main topic of study an in the research. Implications of the Findings and Limitations There were no fundamental research questions. Therefore, it can be said that the findings are mainly used as a means of addressing important trends and providing solution to real problems and a completely new set of concepts and ideas. This allows stakeholders to provide important initiatives that will be used to help to provide some kind of solution to the problem. The findings are important because they are somewhat a premier kind of finding that will initiate changes in the society. Discussion of the Findings in the Context of Previous Research A section of the discussions are done within the context of existing literature. This is done critically and thoroughly in order to streamline the findings and interpret it. This allows the findings to carry enough weight and enables the findings to theorize within the context of existing knowledge. Theorization & Generalization of Findings The findings are generalized for the American population. Looking at the kind of sampling processes that were used, it is imperative that this generalization and theorization was somewhat unrealistic and non-accurate. This is because the sample focused on African-Americans and Whites and it was done in a small Southeastern facility. Hence, the generalization is not very credible. The study on the other hand seeks to provide the framework for provoking further research in future to allow the different stakeholders in the social work industry to study this matter more critically and more thoroughly. Bibliography CITATION Bre05 \l 7177 : , (Bressi, 2005), CITATION Rid12 \l 7177 : , (Ridley, 2012), CITATION Gri08 \l 7177 : , (Grinnell & Unrau, 2008), CITATION Kot121 \l 7177 : , (Kothari, 2012), CITATION Bab122 \l 7177 : , (Babbie, 2012), Read More