When planning for a research project, one of the most important factors that must be considered is the appropriate research method that should be used. The methodology articulates the steps that should be taken, from the initial stage of data collection to analysis, and finally, the presentation in the most appropriate manner. According to Irvine, Drew, and Sainsbury (2013), carefully planned research makes it easy for one to understand the nature and possible sources of data that will be needed in the project.
Parenting and challenges associated with it is a wide topic that has attracted the attention of numerous scholars over the recent past. This project narrows down the focus of the study to single African American females’ experience of being mothers to their adolescent sons. The targeted population of the study is unique. First, one has to understand that parenting adolescents is not the same as doing so to younger children.
Ebert et al. (2015) explain that adolescents tend to be rebellious, adventurous, and keen on trying to achieve some level of independence. It is one of the most challenging stages of parenting. It is worrying that it is also at this stage that the future of a person is defined. If they mess with their lives at this stage, they may end up becoming social misfits in the community. It will be necessary to collect data that specifically explains these challenges associated with raising adolescent sons in the United States.
The second unique factor in this study is single parenting among females. The ability of single mothers to take care of their adolescents is not the same as that of single fathers. Benner, Boyle, and Sadler (2016) explain that it is more challenging for single mothers to guide their sons through adolescence into adulthood because what these teenagers are going through is not the same as what their mothers went through.
It will be critical to have data that will capture this unique challenge that these mothers go through. Other than the few journal articles and books that have reviewed this topic, it will be of interest to discuss the issue with the affected individuals. As Pachankis, Hatzenbuehler, Rendina, Safren, and Parsons (2015) say, time is an important factor in parenting as the challenges that single parents went through in the 1980s and1990s may not be the same as the challenges in modern society.
It means that although materials published in those years may provide insights into this issue, their validity may be questionable in modern American society. This issue must be understood when defining the research method. Finally, the study narrows down the focus to African American women. Historical injustices in the country put African Americans in the worst position as single parents. The paper will then end by defining a process by which a pragmatic researcher might choose between the two methods based on varying factors that have to be considered in the study.
Quantitative Methods
One of the research methods that can be used in this study is quantitative research. AlYahmady and Alabri (2013) define quantitative research as the collection and analysis of data statistically to facilitate inferences. Data collected and analyzed from a sample should be representative of the reality in the entire population. It is a popular method in social sciences because it makes it possible to have a manageable sample and use it to represent the entire population on a given issue of interest to the research. Bendassolli (2013) explains that quantitative methods are popular when a researcher is interested in determining the magnitude of an issue being investigated.
It is also an excellent method when one is conducting a comparative analysis. The use of statistics makes it easy to compare two or more variables and to determine their magnitude when investigating an issue. Campbell, Quincy, Osserman, and Pedersen (2013) advise that when conducting research using quantitative methods, one should take into consideration a number of factors.
First, it is necessary to ensure that the selected sample is an effective representation of the entire population. According to a report by Doody and Noonan (2013), the United States has about 13.6 million single parents, 84% of which are women. It means that the country has over 11.424 million single mothers. It is not possible to identify and collect data from the entire population. The quantitative method emphasizes the need to select a manageable sample but warns that it must be an effective representative of the entire population. Taraji P. Henson and Fantasia Barrino are some of the most successful people in Hollywood.
They are millionaires but are also single African American mothers. The challenges that they face in raising their children cannot be the same as that of a single African American mother in the dangerous ghettos of Kinston, North Carolina. According to a report by Fraga (2016), shows that the level of poverty in this neighborhood is higher than 99.6% of the entire United States neighborhood and the average per capita income of the families is lower than 99.9% that of all other American neighborhoods. The study simply suggests that it is the poorest neighborhood in the United States. Only 5% of the adults in this neighborhood have a four-year college diploma (Fusch & Ness, 2015).
A single mother in this neighborhood has a completely different experience from that of a Hollywood mother earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a month and living in safe neighborhoods even if they belong to the same race. The worries of a Hollywood mother when raising an adolescent son is very different from that of a single mother in the ghettos of Kinston, North Carolina. Quantitative studies emphasize the need to have a representative sample.
In instances where there are extremes, a quantitative researcher may have two approaches to ensure that the data obtained is a clear representative of the targeted population. The first approach that is often recommended is to divide the group into three. In this case, the first group will be the rich and powerful single African American mothers. The second group will be the working class single African American mothers.
The last group will be the poor single African American mothers. The researcher will appreciate the fact that each of these groups faces different challenges, and it may not be realistic to generalize. Alternatively, it may be necessary to find a way of moderating the extremes. Data may be collected among participants that may give a clear representation of both the poor and the very rich. In such cases, it may be necessary for the researcher to clarify that the study has two extremes.
After ensuring that the sample population is an effective representation of the entire population, a quantitative researcher will need to structure the research questions quantitatively. As its name suggests, the quantitative method uses statistics to confirm or reject hypotheses or beliefs being investigated. A researcher will need to have closed-ended questions that can be answered in a standard manner. Kahlke (2014) says that the Lickert scale is often used when developing the question. This approach makes it possible to standardize the responses of the participants in a given format.
That way, it is easy to code the responses and analyze them mathematically using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) or a simple excel spreadsheet. In this study, statistical data may be necessary for determining the magnitude of some of the challenges that these single mothers face and the most effective strategies used in overcoming the challenges. The strategies may be ranked in terms of their effectiveness by assigning them statistical values in line with the views of the majority interviewed in the study.
Finally, a researcher conducting a study using quantitative methods needs to define the assumptions and beliefs in clear terms. It explains why research philosophy is one of the first steps that must be discussed in a quantitative research method. Katz (2015) explains that statistical analysis of primary data may not provide an exact experience of a person because people tend to be unique. Even when single mothers are classified into specific social classes, their experiences cannot be exactly the same across the country.
The immediate environmental factors also play a role in defining the experiences of single African American mothers when parenting their adolescent sons. Those in major cities face different challenges from those in rural neighborhoods. The people of the north may not have the same challenges as those in the south. In a statistical analysis, it may not be easy to capture such variations even after narrowing down the classification of the population further.
It is, therefore, crucial to define the major assumptions and beliefs. The researcher must set a clear guideline for the generalization made in the analysis. These are some of the factors that make quantitative studies undesirable when one is focusing on issues that may vary from one person to another, even if they can be classified into one group. The following are the main methods that can be used to collect quantitative data.
Survey
Surveys offer an effective way of collecting data from the sampled participated or targeted population. As Lewis (2015) observes, a survey can be conducted in many ways based on factors such as time available for the study, the geographic location of the participants, and the ease with which the researcher can reach out to the sampled population. One of the common ways of conducting a survey is through a face-to-face interview.
In this approach, a researcher takes time to visit the participants to engage them in the interview. It is one of the most challenging types of the survey because of the need to make the physical movement. The process is time-consuming for both the interviewer and the interviewee. It is also a costly process if one has to make numerous trips from one place to another trying to reach out to the respondents. However, Palinkas et al. (2015) attest to its effectiveness, especially when collecting data that respondents may be tempted to lie or provide inadequate answers. The physical presence of the surveyor enhances the success of the data collection.
Online surveys are often used when targeting a large population. It is also an effective method when participants are not in the same geographic location. In an online survey, a researcher will develop a questionnaire and then deliver it to the participants through their e-mails. They will be requested to respond to the research questions within a given timeframe and send them back through the same channel.
Percy, Kostere, and Kostere (2015) explain that new methods of conducting online surveys have emerged, such as the survey monkey. The survey monkey helps researchers who are interested in a specific population but is unable to reach out to them because of specific challenges. In an investigation such as this which targets single African American mothers raising their adolescent sons, an online survey may be appropriate.
It may not be practically possible to reach out to the individual participants physically within the time available for the research. A survey may also be conducted using a phone call. Pierre and Jackson (2014) argue that surveys through phone calls are recommended only when targeting a small number of participants. It can only be used when the questions to be asked are few and can be answered in a simple statement. A questionnaire with over 100 questions cannot be effectively administered using a phone call.
Observation
Quantitative data can also be collected through observation. In this case, a researcher will need to be physically involved in monitoring a phenomenon. One will observe the events and record them accordingly as a way of collecting data. One may need to interrogate people during the process of observation in case further clarification is needed. The nature of this research and the time available makes this an inappropriate method. It is not possible to observe the experiences of single African American mothers parenting their adolescent sons. What one can see maybe a small fraction of the actual experience of these mothers. The only way of understanding what they go through is to engage them directly through physical interviews or indirectly through online surveys.
Secondary Data
According to Tricco et al. (2016), sometimes data used in quantitative research methods is obtained from secondary sources. A company’s accounts, government reports, or an organization’s annual documents may provide the needed information for statistical analysis. When using secondary sources, one needs to be careful about the reliability and validity of the data. Given that the information used for the analysis is not collected by the researcher from primary sources, the reliability of the study will depend on the truthfulness of the secondary sources. In this study, it will not be possible to rely on secondary data sources other than books and journal articles. There is no database for the experiences of single African American mothers parenting adolescent sons in the country.
Qualitative Methods
The qualitative approach is the other method of research that can be in this study. Vaismoradi, Turunen, and Bondas (2013) define qualitative research as one that focuses on extracting data from respondents through open-ended communication. It not only seeks to investigate what the respondents think but also why they think in the manner they do. It offers a researcher to probe beyond a simple statement of yes or no responses. As its name suggests, a researcher is always interested in determining the quality of responses obtained from the participants. They are allowed to use their own words to explain their answers in detail and in very clear terms.
The approach allows a researcher to understand the feelings and motivation of the participants in answering a question in a given manner. When a single mother states that she has had a painful experience raising an adolescent son, a qualitative researcher will want to probe further to understand why the experience was painful. It will be necessary to determine if the pain was caused by economic challenges, unruly behavior of the son, the limited time the parent had with the child, stereotyping problems in the society, or any other issue relating to single parenting. In qualitative studies, every respondent is treated as unique as possible to understand the experiences that they go through.
It is important to understand that along the process of collecting such data, some of the experiences may be similar. For instance, different participants may explain their economic challenges but in different ways. In making a conclusion, a researcher will be able to single out economic challenges as some of the major hurdles that single African American mothers have to face in society. However, qualitative methods facilitate the collection of data from people of different classes without having to classify them into specific groups.
Using the examples above, challenges faced by top Hollywood actresses and singers who happen to be single African American parents are different from the experiences of those living in the ghettos. In qualitative studies, respondents are allowed to explain the challenges in their own terms. For instance, Fantasia Barrino may lament that she does not get to enjoy life as much as her colleagues raising children as a couple because they are the only breadwinners.
However, these economic challenges cannot be compared with the strain that poor single African Americans go through to meet the basic needs of their families. Given that each of them will be allowed to explain the nature of their economic problems, a qualitative researcher will, therefore, be able to explain that economic challenges are common among single African American mothers, but the situation is direr among a given section of the population. The study will capture the whole picture of the experiences of these women without necessarily having to plan for a different study for the varying sections of the population.
Yilmaz (2013) warns that the qualitative research method requires skilled and experienced interviewers who understand the right question to ask to get the desired response. Sometimes a single parent may be so strained financially that she might be compromised in her principles just to ensure that she gets the extra income to support the child. She might be tempted to get into drug peddling, especially those living in neighborhoods where drug use is prevalent. Others may be compromised at their workplace or in any other environment. When explaining their experiences, they may state that their conscience is not clear because of some of these compromises.
They may explain that what they turned out to be as adults and as mothers is not what they had aspired to. These are some of the experiences that may need to be captured in this study. However, it requires a highly skilled researcher to get such sensitive and critical information from the respondents. One must understand when to ask a specific question without causing discomfort to the respondents. Lewis (2015) explains that sometimes the attitude of a given respondent may make it necessary to avoid the specific line of questioning. As such, interpersonal skills are also crucial in such processes. The following are the main approaches that one can use when collecting qualitative data.
In-depth Interviews
An in-depth interview is one of the most common methods of collecting qualitative data. In this approach, Yilmaz (2013) explains that a researcher needs to plan for a face-to-face meeting with the sampled respondents. The strategy involves having an in-depth discussion where a researcher asks the respondents open-ended questions and allows them to respond using their own words. One of the main benefits of this approach is that it creates a personal relationship between a researcher and a respondent, making it easy to gather the desired information.
It allows the researcher to seek further clarifications on answers obtained. Sometimes one can gather clues from non-verbal cues such as body language or facial expression during such conversation. It is possible that a section of the respondents may be ashamed to talk about some of the experiences they have had. Others may be tempted to lie because of the expectations of society. Such attempts may be captured by reading their body language when responding to the questions.
The facial expression may also help in determining whether it is appropriate to probe the respondent further on a given issue or to stop because they are getting uncomfortable. However, it may require time to collect data, especially if the sample size is large.
Focus Group
A qualitative researcher may also obtain data from a focus group. In this approach, a researcher identifies a specific limited number of respondents to take part in the study. The small number may be selected because of the special knowledge or experience they have on a given issue. In this study, a researcher may decide to collect data from a small sample of academicians who have conducted expensive studies on single African American women and the experiences they go through when raising their sons. Focus group allows the data collector to interact physically with the respondents or to reach out to them using the online platform based on the prevailing circumstances.
Phenomenology
Phenomenology is a qualitative study that focuses on investigating a given event that is of interest to the researcher. Lewis (2015) defines it as a philosophical study of experiences and consciousness. In this project, this method may be useful in investigating cases of abandonment. Some single parents go through much that they consider abandoning their families and the responsibility of parenthood. The strategy will make it possible to explain such experiences and what they felt after giving up on parenthood. The method allows a researcher to investigate an issue with an open mind before narrowing it down to a specific conclusion based on the findings from the study.
Grounded Theory
Grounded theory is another popular method of collecting data. While phenomenology seeks to explain an event the way it happened, the grounded theory provides an explanation or a possible theory behind the event. In our case, if a parent abandoned the family, the grounded theory will try to provide a justification, based on the existing theories or concepts, behind such an action. This approach is based on the belief that for every action that a person takes, there should be a justification.
Case Study
Case studies are widely used in qualitative studies. In this approach, a researcher focuses on a given event and tries to collect data that explains the reasons why it occurred in a given manner. Lewis (2015) explains that case studies can be exploratory, explanatory, or descriptive of a given event in the study. When using qualitative case studies, respondents are allowed to explain their understanding of the issue under investigation.
Ethnography
According to Pierre and Jackson (2014), ethnography is one of the most popular forms of qualitative studies. This method allows a researcher to investigate the culture, goals, challenges, and motivation of a given interest group. It is based on cultural anthropology, and it allows the researcher to be immense into the world of the interviewees and feels the experience that is being investigated. The researcher becomes a participant observer. The main benefit of this approach is that one will understand the views of the participants because he or she shares their experience. However, it is a time-consuming process.
Comparing and Contrasting the Two Methods
The analysis conducted above provides a detailed description of the two research methods and their relevance in this study. The nature of data used in each, how that data is collected, and the analysis approaches have been discussed. A researcher may opt to use either of the two studies based on personal interests and objectives of the study. It is necessary to compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches. It is also necessary to look at the ethical considerations associated with each of them.
Strengths
Each of the two methods has its strengths that make them popular in research. One of the common strengths in both cases is that they can facilitate face-to-face interviews, which increases the chances of collecting reliable data. When a researcher meets respondents physically, the chances are that the rate of response will be improved, and the validity will be high. The two methods facilitate an objective approach to investigating a phenomenon. Instead of allowing personal opinion to cloud the judgment of a researcher, they base their conclusions on the data collected. The differences in the approaches mean that they have varying strengths.
Qualitative methods facilitate a detailed analysis based on the personal narratives of the respondents. A researcher is able to explain why single African American mothers have a given view towards the issue under investigation. On the other hand, quantitative research provides the magnitude of the issue being investigated. It is also simpler to conduct collect and analyze quantitative data than qualitative data.
Weaknesses
It is important to note that each of the methods has weaknesses worth noting in the study. One of the main weaknesses of quantitative methods is that they may provide statistical data without providing a satisfactory justification to support the opinion. For example, the outcome of statistical analysis may show that many single African American families feel frustrated with the role of parenting their adolescent sons without properly explaining why that is so. Qualitative research may provide the needed explanation, but it is time-consuming and sometimes may allow personal bias to play a part in the conclusions made, especially when using ethnography.
Ethical Issues
A researcher will need to take into consideration the ethical issues when conducting both qualitative and quantitative studies. One of the most important ethical concerns is the protection of the identity of the participants. The participants should remain anonymous to ensure that they are protected from any consequence that may arise from their varying opinion towards a given issue. The nature of the research and its role in it should be explained before engaging them in interviews. It is also important to inform them that their participation is on a voluntary basis. As academic research, issues such as plagiarism and lateness must be avoided.
How to Choose Between the Two Methods
The two methods that can be used in conducting research on this topic have been discussed extensively, and their strengths and weaknesses outlined. A prudent researcher may need to make an appropriate choice when planning to conduct a study. The following are some of the factors that may be considered:
- Determining goals and specific objectives that should be realized in the study.
- Investigating how each of the two methods will facilitate the achievements of the set objectives.
- Selecting the method that has the best potential of facilitating achievements of the set objectives.
Based on the analysis conducted above and the approach of selecting an appropriate method outlined, the researcher considered qualitative research to be the most appropriate method for the study.
Conclusion
Single African American females’ experience of being mothers to their adolescent sons was the topic chosen for the study. Society has been discriminative towards African Americans. Women have also been viewed as being inferior to men in a socio-economic and political setting. For one to be a single African American female parent, she has to bear the great burden of caring for the children despite these challenges.
It will be necessary to capture the relevant data. In this project, a researcher can either use qualitative or quantitative research methods to investigate the proposed dissertation topic. This paper will evaluate, compare, and contrast the two research methods and highlight their strengths and weaknesses when conducting a study such as this. The researcher has chosen a qualitative research method to facilitate the investigation.
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