PSY 211 Example Research Design Worksheet
Citation of Literature
Liebschutz, J. M., Crooks, D., Rose-Jacobs, R., Cabral, H. J., Heeren, T. C., Gerteis, J., Appugliese, D. P., Heymann, O. D., Lange, A. V., & Frank, D. A. (2015). Prenatal substance exposure: What predicts behavioral resilience by early adolescence? Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(2), 329–337. https://doi-org.ezproxy.snhu.edu/10.1037/adb0000082
Gap Identification
Most of the researchers tend to look at the impacts of exposure to prenatal substances, especially in young adults and teenagers. Additionally, the studies analyze the factors influencing adolescent resilience within various environmental as well as social settings. Resilience is considered to be a dynamic process that is influenced by various factors that encompass adversity exposure, psychology, environment, biology, and genetics. As a way of comprehending the factors that contribute towards resilience, one has to examine the intrauterine tobacco exposure (IUTE) as a component that influences resilience. Others include sex, violence, exposure, and parental supervision. Through the use of an ecological model approach, researchers decided on measuring the level of behavioral resilience within the adolescent affiliated to IUSE
Research Question
The research aims at investigating the factors that predict early adolescence behavioral resilience and the impact of IUSE.
Research Design
The study utilized the data obtained after a long observation (longitudinal cohort) study was conducted on the recruited adolescents in examining the impact of IUCE on development as well as behavior. This study entailed an assessment from birth through behavioral and neuropsychological, urine assays, as well as interview assessments that had been reported elsewhere.
Using the biological markers as well as prospective study in confirming IUSE is of the essence in the study of resilience due to its temporal relationship for predicting resilience and becoming a resilience marker within the adolescents and children and in avoiding the ascertainment biases. It is within this reason that examining the markers and predictors of resilience is inappropriate within a cross-sectional survey. Within the study, the participants have to fill semi-annual questionnaires together with their parents. This is significant in identifying and correlating any adolescent or parental factors associated with the aspect of resilience from flourishing or developing. Additionally, some interviews were conducted to accompany the questionnaires that were aimed at predicting the level of resilience through the pediatric psychologist. This was also essential in monitoring and establishing baselines for children participating in the study. In avoiding such biases that are likely to occur from the study, the questionnaires have to be developed by a pediatric psychologist who is the third party. The pediatric psychologist can devise efficient questionnaires that can identify the level of resilience behavior within the groups.
Questionnaires have been the most preferred methods of study in previous years. However, it was disadvantageous as it provided inaccurate data given by respondents. This can be due to several reasons. Respondents may be untruthful and lie on certain questions. Respondents may also answer thoughtlessly, giving inaccurate answers that skew your data. Lastly, respondents may be forgetful and exclude relevant information. In addressing the bias, the researcher decided to select 252 cohort adolescent participants randomly. Also, the selection of adolescents does not occur at a specified age. It involves an age group between 12.5 and 14.5 years. The research would be more effective if it could entail adults exposed to IUSE within a longer duration, and the span could be lengthened to a month to enable the gathering of sufficient evidence and allow the articles to have more time for demonstrating behavioral resilience within the adolescent. Additionally, to eliminate any level of biases, the research employed other measures such as interviews.
Issues of Ethics
The research adhered to the ethical guidelines in that it used adolescents after receiving informed consent from their parents or guardians. Without consent, the entire act will be in violation of the ethical standard of researching. Ethical standards are reasoned positions one holds and chooses to live by (or, alternatively, to merely judge by), they are often a guide to how one ‘ought’ to act or ‘ought’ to interpret a piece of literature. Implicit in any literary judgment will be an ethical or moral point of view as to what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ in the judgment of the literary reviewer. This ethical/moral position says more about the reviewer than the work under review.
Accounting for issues of ethics
All of the researches abide by ethical standards such as informed consent, right to withdraw, data protection and privacy, and deception. Prior to commencing any study, a committee has to have detailed information from the researcher to verify its contents. This entailed methodology being adopted as well as a plan of the results. After receiving the proposal, the committee the ethical research concerns where they will compile the report and come up with a conclusion. They sometimes may reject it right away and state the components that are lacking and will require such changes before allowing it to proceed.