The purpose of the proposed study is to find out the relationship between HIV transmission and education levels among alcoholics in California.
Stakeholders
According to Minkler and Wallerstein (2008), research stakeholders refer to people or organizations that have an interest in a study. The following subsections of this report show how we would identify the stakeholders, create rapport with them, and share power with them.
How we would Identify Stakeholders
We used an elaborate six-step process to identify different stakeholders in the proposed study. The first and second steps would involve finding out who is directly involved in the project and understanding the potential beneficiaries of the research study (Soriano, 2013). The third and fourth steps would involve understanding different parties that the study would affect negatively and investigating which people, or organizations, would directly, or indirectly, support the research (Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008). The last two steps would involve finding out who would oppose the study and examining positive, or negative, relationships among the stakeholders. Following these steps would help us to identify the main stakeholders in the proposed research.
How to Create rapport with Shareholders
Different researchers have affirmed the importance of building rapport with shareholders because it is the key to moderating the research process (Venkatesh, Brown, & Bala, 2013). Based on this fact, the researcher will focus on building rapport with the stakeholders because it is the key to getting more information and insight regarding the research issue (Soriano, 2013). The first step of building rapport with the stakeholders would be finding a common ground with them. This step is more of an icebreaker and it should enable the researcher to enter the “stakeholder’s world” and make them feel understood. To do so, the researcher would ask open-ended questions to the stakeholders and find grounds of commonality with them. The second step of building rapport would involve the researcher being empathic with some of the stakeholders.
Being empathic involves viewing the research issue from the perspective of the stakeholders and recognizing their emotions about them (Running, Martin, & Tolle, 2007). Being empathic is a necessary step in building rapport because the study focuses on HIV/AIDS and alcoholism, which are sensitive social and health issues in most societies around the world. The researcher needs to show empathy when discussing such matters with concerned stakeholders because the failure to do so may portray the researcher as insensitive about the research issue. Lastly, to establish rapport with the stakeholders, the researcher would have to be presentable to the stakeholders, especially during face-to-face meetings. Doing so would help the interviewer to create a good first impression to the stakeholders and promote positive interactions with them (Running et al., 2007). Failure to do so could make some stakeholders to develop a negative perception about the researcher.
How to Share Power with the Stakeholders
Sharing power with stakeholders in the research process is in line with the spirit of the CBPR approach, which is at the center of the proposed research (Schwab, 1997). In such a framework, the researcher needs to include other stakeholders when designing, or undertaking, a research. Adopting a democratic decision-making style would provide the best way of sharing power with the stakeholders (Venkatesh et al., 2013). In this framework, the researcher would consider the views of all stakeholders as equal in importance. Furthermore, every stakeholder will have a chance to speak. The aim of choosing this power sharing structure is to reduce conflict between the researcher and them, or minimize resistance regarding different research processes that may underlie the study process. This framework would mostly be critical in complementing the decision-making processes in the study.
Data Collection
The data collection process involves collecting, or gathering, information about the measures of interest in the proposed study. The purpose of collecting data is to find the best strategies to answer the research questions and evaluate the possible outcomes. In our preliminary analysis, we established the presence of qualitative and quantitative research data for answering the research questions. Based on this background, the data collection method would involve a mixed methods analysis. This type of analysis has evolved from the paradigm wars between qualitative and quantitative approaches (Creswell, 2014). It is also appropriate for the proposed study because it would provide the researcher with different research designs to choose from (Creswell, 2014). The multiplicity of choices in mixed methods analyses comes from the unlimited selection of research designs from both the qualitative and quantitative research designs (Venkatesh et al., 2013).
Stated differently, the researcher would have a choice of using both sequential and concurrent research choices. The defining feature of this research approach is its ability to provide the researcher with methods to report the findings along with quality control methods and ethical concerns (Creswell, 2014). The mixed methods analysis is appropriate for this study because we intend to use the community based participatory research (CBPR) approach, which is a multi-perspective research approach that includes the views of different stakeholders in the research process (Leung, Yen, & Minkler, 2004). It does so because it recognizes the unique strength that each participant brings to the research process. The multiplicity of their views complements the use of the mixed methods research approach because it is unlimited regarding the kind of data it can collect. This way, we will feel no need of leaving the views of some people outside the research process. Nonetheless, within the wider context of the mixed methods research approach, we will gather both quantitative and qualitative research data. The following subsection of this report shows how we intend to collect both types of data.
How to Collect Quantitative Data
We would collect the quantitative research data using the information we got from the SPSS data analysis process. The SPSS data contain quantitative information about the research issue.
How to Collect Qualitative Data
The qualitative data collection process would premise on analyzing information that answers the qualitative research questions namely:
- What is the nature of the relationship between HIV transmission and education levels among alcoholics in California?
- How does education affect the sexual behaviors of alcoholics in California?
- How does education better equip alcoholics in California to respond to HIV?
The qualitative data analysis process would involve collecting research information from the respondents through interviews. The data collection process would be as focus group discussions. This is a common strategy for collecting data in qualitative research.
This data collection technique espouses the principles of the CBPR approach because the researcher would recruit the respondents from the community. The CBPR framework should help the researcher to understand the multiple factors that would help to explain the research questions. To maximize the possibility that the research process would lead to the maximum benefits of using the CBPR approach, the researchers would have to balance rigorous research and its routine adoption to come up with research methods that address the needs of all the partners/stakeholders mentioned in this report. Through this data collection strategy, the researcher expects to gather information about respondent’s perceptions, opinions and beliefs about HIV and the influence of education levels on their sexual behavior. Such an analysis would be useful in answering questions about how education affects the sexual behaviors of alcoholics and how education better equips alcoholics to respond to HIV. By asking such questions, we would better understand the nature of the relationship between HIV transmission and education.
Data Analysis
The data analysis process would demonstrate the duality of the data collection methods. Since the quantitative research approach relies on measurable information from the SPSS analysis, the data collection process would not deviate much from the same technique. Stated differently, we would rely on SPSS tools of analysis to gain some insight into the research variables. The intention of doing so is to analyze the research variables separately. We would use appropriate tables and charts to get a holistic view of these variables and their associations with one another. We would also use SPSS frequency tables to know which aspects of education have a significant impact on the sexual behaviors of the respondents. SPSS bar charts would also help to generate such data.
The qualitative data analysis process would involve the identification, examination, and interpretation of patterns and themes of analysis that would emerge from the data analysis process. The qualitative analysis would complement the quantitative data analysis process because we would use the former to expound on relationships that emerge in the latter. By its very nature, we do not expect the qualitative data analysis process to abide by universal rules because it is fluid and dependent on the evaluator (Leung et al., 2004). Depending on the context of the study, the data analysis process could also change and adapt to the direction the researcher chooses. Nonetheless, it is important to point out that some research guidelines would guide the qualitative data analysis. In the process, the researcher would follow the following steps:
- Analyzing the patterns and common themes that emerge around specific items in the data
- Evaluating deviations from the emerging patterns
- Looking out for interesting stories that emerge from the data
- Investigating whether any of the patterns, or emergent themes, suggest the need for the collection of additional data
- Finding out whether the data collected differ from the findings obtained from the pool of past qualitative data (that have investigated the same research issue)
The above guidelines would also be subject to six steps that would guide the qualitative data analysis process. The six steps appear in the table below. An explanation of what the researcher would do in every step of the analysis process also appears in the table below
Potential Social Change
Disease Prevention
As mentioned in this paper, the proposed study would investigate the relationship between HIV and education levels among alcoholics in California. Its findings have the potential of reducing the incidence of HIV within this demographic (alcoholics). Indeed, from the findings, we could better understand how education levels moderate HIV infections among alcoholics. This could be a sound strategy of increasing awareness about the impact of education on sexual behaviors, in lieu of finding effective ways to manage HIV (Spice & Snyder, 2009).
Policy
The findings of the proposed study would help to inform policy issues in the management of HIV and AIDS among substance abusing people. In this regard, legislators and administrators would better understand the health issues of drug users and, in turn, be better prepared to tailor policy interventions that cater to the unique needs and vulnerabilities of alcoholics (Spice & Snyder, 2009). This contribution would better allow health workers to improve their preparedness in managing HIV among substance abuse victims.
Contribution to Academic Literature
The findings of the proposed study could be useful to academicians that have specialized in HIV research. Particularly, they would be useful to scholars who want to understand how to prevent and manage HIV among alcoholics and substance abuse victims. The specific area of analysis would be on the social determinants of health because education is a social variable that could affect the sexual behaviors of alcoholics. In this regard, the proposed study would add to the volume of literature in this field.
References
Creswell, J. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Leung, M. W., Yen, I. H., & Minkler, M. (2004). Community-based participatory research: A promising approach for increasing epidemiology’s relevance in the 21st century. International Journal of Epidemiology, 33(3), 499–506.
Minkler, M., & Wallerstein, N. (Eds.). (2008). Community-based participatory research for health: From process to outcomes (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Running, A., Martin, K., & Tolle, L. W. (2007). An innovative model for conducting a participatory community health assessment. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 24(4), 203–213.
Schwab, M. (1997). Sharing power: Participatory public health research with California teens. Social Justice, 24(3), 11–22.
Soriano, F. I. (2013). Conducting needs assessments: A multidisciplinary approach (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Spice, C., & Snyder, K. (2009). Reviewing self-reported impacts of community health assessment in local health jurisdictions. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 15(1), 18–23.
Venkatesh, V., Brown, S. A., & Bala, H. (2013). Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide: Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 37(1), 21-54.