Secondary School Students in Kwazulu-Natal and Virginity Testing - Article Example

Secondary School Students in Kwazulu-Natal and Virginity Testing Question 1 Philosophical foundations of the research entail general guidelines, principles and standards that scientists and researchers use to design the research methodology and evaluate its outcomes. Use of scientific methodologies supported by numeric data helps in quantifying the outcomes of a research. Hence, in experiments and other research methods, quantification of the data assists in developing relationship between dependent and independent variables. The research philosophy itself defines the assumptions or hypothesis that is being examined in order to identify if the relationship between defined variables and non-variables is plausible. As far as the quantitative research is concerned, it is a scientific approach based on an assumption that any set of data can provide a meaning only if it can be evaluated in numeric terms. There are several forms of quantitative researches such as descriptive, experimental, causal comparison and in the given research; correlational research methodology is used (Borrego, Douglas and Amelink 54). Use of statistical tools is also visible to apply the findings of the research on overall selected population. If compared against the premise of research philosophy, it can be seen that a research is expected philosophy is expected to provide a foundation to a given study being performed. The selected research methodology also acts as a foundation in this research as desired correlation is difficult to examine through qualitative or exploratory research. Hence, it can be said that quantitative research methodology conforms to philosophical foundation of the selected research and helps in deriving concrete and quantifiable results that can be levied on a complete population. Question 2 The research problem is to identify if taking virginity tests helps the participants of the research to abstain from unsafe sexual contact. Although the research begins with the causal research methodology however the title of the research provides a rather different outlook of the study. The title of the research is perceptions and attitudes of secondary school students in Kwazulu-Natal towards virginity testing. However, the research is more oriented towards finding the impact of taking tests on students instead of examining students’ perceptions towards VT before taking it. Hence, the title is rather misleading and does not reflect the general objective of the research. The research problem is rather appropriate if examined with the help of its background. The research is conducted in a region where unsafe sexual contact between teenagers is rather common and a main cause of sexually transmitted diseases along with teenage pregnancies that further cause damage to the health of young girls. A critical analysis of the research indicates that in order to ensure reduction in this sexual behavior, this study attempts to find tools that are effective in this area. The objective of the research is defined to examine how cultural practices have an impact on young girls and their decisions regarding virginity testing along with perception of VT in young boys and girls in the selected territory. The final objective is to examine if VT tests tend to make young girls less sexually active (Taylor, Dlamini, Sathiparsad Jinabhai and Vries 29). A cursory analysis of the research problem leads to an understanding that all these objectives have been duly met during the research itself. Careful stratification of the selected sample also helped in evaluating difference of opinions in segment those who did and did not opted for VT. The results of this research are particularly important when it comes to their application on health sciences. Since this study indicates the behaviors of young boys and girls towards prevention of STDs, the findings of this research can help health practitioners to devise preventive strategies that can delay or negate the onsets of major diseases and risky behavior. Question 3 A critical analysis of the literature review illustrates that it mainly comprises of the background study instead of using contemporary behavioral theories to define psychological and cognitive behavior of young boys and girls. Earlier part of literature review mainly uses sources that define how VT is conducted in rural areas. Furthermore, the research also raises questions about the viability of VT itself. Hence, if VT is considered as insufficient in examining the virginity of young girls, the whole purpose of the research can be questioned regarding VT being used as a preventive measure. In the later part of the research, important theories by De Vries et al. (1995; 2003) have been mentioned and discussed in a cursory manner. However, the argument has not been built upon sufficiently. Instead of using this discussion and correlating it to the findings of the research, problem statement has been mentioned time and again. As far as the recentness of the sources used is concerned, some of the sources such as De Vries et al (1995), Murphy (1999), Reuters (2001) and constitution (1996) are comparatively old to be used in this research. Use of such old studies also raises questions on applicability of this research on present population. Discussion regarding constitutional rights can also be considered irrelevant as mentioning it would also question applicability of the research findings therefore even if VT proves to be an effective tool in abstinence of risky sexual behavior, it should not be legally admissible (Taylor et al 29). Question 4 The research design is expected to provide a logical plan of how the research is expected to be conducted. It is responsible of defining all the important elements of a research including the sample selection and tools that are used to find out answers of the research questions. It also defines the philosophies of that further provide direction to the research (Research Methodology and Design n.p). In the given case study, the research design instead of providing a clear outline of assumptions being questioned and set of procedures that can find answers to the problem statement, explains the context of the study. It provides characteristics of the area from where the sample is selected and also provides the logic regarding applicability of this research over other rural areas. According to Checkoway, Pearce and Kriebal, “A fundamental concept that underpins all epidemiological research is the requirement for clearly defining the source population, also known as the study base (n.p).” In this context, the research design serves the purpose. However, it does not define how the cross-sectional research design would help in identifying level of abstinence in exposed and unexposed groups. It is further important to note that selected sample only consists of school students. According to context of the research, there are limited number of schools therefore there is a higher probability that a considerable number of teenagers do not have access to educational facilities. Not including this segment while evaluating effectiveness of VT would compromise the integrity of the results. Question 5 Independent variables include examination of virginity, social norms prevailing in Kwazulu-Natal, prevention of HIV/ AIDS, substance abuse and early pregnancies, age and gender of the subjects. On the other hand, dependent variables involve personal perception and pride due to VT, occurrence of substance abuse, related responses to VT due to age, perceived advantages and disadvantages of VT. While examining these variables, it was found that each dependent and independent variable show different responses to each other. Where examination of virginity is an independent factor, it has a direct impact on the personal perception of the girls being tested, their parents’ treatment towards them and also behavior of other social elements. Furthermore, social norms of Kwazulu consider virginity testing to be a regular practice and the activity itself is widely accepted by the local community however other dependent variables like competence of the tester and social dogma faced by girls that are not virgin that undermine the overall effectiveness of this activity. Gender and age also acted as independent variables when perceived advantages and disadvantages are examined. It was found that factors like personal pride and parental trust have more impact on female participants and younger girls whereas boys are less receptive to the overall idea when it comes to personal and parental pride. Use of substance abuse proved to be an independent factor having minimal impact on effectiveness of VT. This is so because pressure from partners has more influence on loss of virginity than use of alcohol and other drugs. It can be seen that every subject showed varied responses to the same questions according to their personal profile which includes their age, gender and virginity status. These factors have an impact on dependent variables like perceptions of effectiveness of VT. Question 6 The selected population comprises of secondary school students from district school of Kwazulu-Natal. The population reflects overall social and cultural norms and economic status of the region. It is selected from ten randomly selected district schools after stratification. However, the exact sample stratification technique is not clear i.e. if sample represents schools having students less or greater than 500 students. Furthermore, the sample stratification is performed by selecting students from junior grade and middle grade respectively. However, this sample selection is not affected by gender. Since the research problem is to identify the impact of VT in school students mainly teenagers therefore this population is appropriate according to the purpose of the research. Sampling technique used is stratified random selection which is suitable to examine the perception of VT in different groups amongst teenagers and also the impact of gender and age on this perception. The eligibility criterion is fairly simple. The schools and classes being examined are randomly selected however the criteria are defined (number of students in a school, participation only by eight and ten grades students). It is simple to understand the selection of eight and tenth standards’ students since the purpose of the research is to examine perception of VT in secondary school students. However, stratified selection of schools is difficult to understand. Sample size is fairly large i.e. 846 participants with girls forming 58.2 percent of the total sample. Large sample size enhances the applicability of this research over rest of the population. Question 7 External validity refers to the extent to which the results of the research can be applied to general population (Internal and External Validity n.p). Since this research is intended to examine cause-effect relationship between VT and abstinence from unsafe and early sexual contact and risky behavior only in a given population, therefore the results of this research are expected to have fairly reasonable external validity on the targeted population. The general threat to external validity comes from selection of small sample from a restricted population which makes overall research to have limited applicability (Shadish, Cook and Campbell 184). In order to curtail this threat, researchers have used several controls by selecting an extensive population comprising of over 800 students. Since the research problem is concerned with a single geographic location only, therefore sample is selected from the whole district which makes it representative of the given population. Internal validity defines the extent to which independent variables had the expected or observed outcomes/ effects. There are various threats to internal validity such as historical implications, maturation effect on participants, testing, instrumentation, statistical regression, faulty selection and mortality (Internal and External Validity n.p). Considering these possible threats, researchers have used careful stratification and suitable statistical tools to identify results of independent variables on dependent variables in different segments and perform regression analysis of these two strata. The data collection instruments in this research are fairly valid as they help in identifying impacts of independent variables on dependent variables. The control applied was piloting the instrument at two rural schools that were not made part of the research. Also, no qualitative data was included (Taylor et al 30). The questionnaire was designed to examine the effects of personal perception and social factors on the participants. Other independent variables like age and gender were also included to have a clear picture of the outcomes. Questions clearly surrounded the after-effects of VT on sexual behavior and substance abuse. As far as the reliability of these instruments in concerned, researchers applied several controls by designing the questionnaire with the help of a controlled focus group from the same population. Other than that, research instrument was designed in English, translated in local language and then retranslated in English to maintain overall clarity. Similarity in responses from students of different schools further provides confirmation of the research instrument. To maintain further reliability, same process was used in all the schools selected through random selection. Question 8 The research collection procedure comprises of distribution and recollection of carefully designed questionnaires that have been designed with the help of a focus group and were already tested on two other schools whereas their outcomes were not included in the main research. It was found that for field studies, the most appropriate research instrument is survey which is analyzed with the help of statistical regression. Furthermore, data collection istrumnet had close-ended questions that further facilitated the numeric analysis of problem statement. An effective survey is expected to have clarity, focused questioning, appropriate language and suitably narrow or broad approach. The approach used comprises of causal inference. This approach is suitable as it helps in identifying the impacts of independent variables on outcomes of VT in students of secondary school. Research questionnaire was also culturally appropriate as it discussed areas that were known to the students and were considered as a cultural taboo. The collection procedure also maintained suitable confidentiality as the questionnaires were filled in the absence of known figures i.e. teachers. Absence of students’ identities and use of sealing after completion further made students comfortable with the research procedure. However, it is difficult to determine if the field workers were from the local community and knew the participants or not. Such presence of known figures can hamper overall effectiveness of the research process. Question 9 The statistical tools used in this research are Epi-Info 6.04 for data insertion, SPSS 11.5 for data analysis. After computation, the results of different strata (divided on the basis of virginity status and gender) were examined. Epi-Info 6.04 is a suitable statistical tool as it facilitates data entry and analysis in regions with limited internet connectivity. Furthermore, the check codes perform data validation which strengthens the accuracy of automatic calculations (Epi-Info n.p). Formation of further tables and graphs also helps in understanding the outcomes visually. SPSS analytics mainly correlation (bi-variation) assisted in performing comparative analysis of the findings related to different demographic segments. Since the sample selection is fairly large and the null hypothesis is found to be true, therefore use of Chi-square testing is found to be suitably appropriate in this case. However, there were various other versions of SPSS available at the time of conducting research i.e. SPSS 16.0.1. Therefore, it is difficult to determine if relatively old statistical software was appropriate for use and use of a new version would have been more helpful. Since examination of differences in different strata was one of the major objectives therefore a correlational bivariate study was fairly important to be conducted. Works Cited Borrego, Maura, Elliot P. Douglas and Catherine T. Amelink. “Quantitative, Qualitative and Mixed Research Methods in Engineering Education.” Journal of Engineering Education 89.1 (2009): 53-63. “Epi-Info.” Centre of Disease Prevention & Control (CDC). USA.gov, n.d. Web. 15 Jun. 2013. Checkoway, Harvey, Neil Pearce and David Kriebel. “Selecting appropriate study designs to address specific research questions in occupational epidemiology”, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.64.9 (2007): 633-38. Web. 15 Jun. 2013. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2092571/ Shadish, William, Thomas D. Cook and Donald T. Campbell. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Generalized Causal Inference Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Print. Taylor, Myra, Siyabonga B Dlamini, Reshman Sethi Prasad, Hein De Vries. “Perceptions and attitudes of secondary school students in Kwazulu-Natal towards virginity testing.” Health SA Gesondheid 12.2 (2007): 26-36. Research Methodology and Design, n.d. PDF File. Internal and External Validity. n.d. PDF File. http://www.suu.edu/faculty/white_l/research%20design/chapter%20notes/chapter%208.pdf Read More