Introduction
Qualitative research is a form of research that involves description. It seeks to describe and analyze the culture and behavior of humans and their groups from the point of view of those being studied. Qualitative research utilizes the natural setting, for instance a classroom and not a laboratory (Maximiano, 1999). Qualitative research relies on a research strategy that is flexible and interactive which includes interviewing, focus group discussions and questionnaires. In this form of research, feelings and insights are considered relevant (Hesse-Biber and Leavy, 2005).
Research Problems, Research Questions and Research Hypothesis
A research problem is defined as an issue that puzzles the researcher due to its effect and consistency (Lipson, 2005). According to the background information given in the research work under evaluation, the researcher was puzzled by the narrow/few utilization of social marketing campaigns as a target for youths to address problems gambling pose on individuals and society. This was puzzling the researcher due to the fact that there was social change plans and this according to the researcher was a great instrument in the growth of all inclusive health advertisings strategies that optimistically influence health. According to Marvasti (2004), cohesion must be seen between the topic of study, background information and the statement of the problem. Also the research questions must be towards getting answers that will solve the puzzle that the researcher has. In light of this, the study under evaluation lacks this consistency between this area and one is left wandering exactly what the researcher sort to address in his/her study.
The topic under study “Evaluating the Role of Social Marketing Campaigns to Prevent Youth Gambling Problems” depict that the researcher was out to assess the value that social marketing campaigns had in alleviating gambling problems among the youths. This then implies that social marketing campaigns were in use and there was a need to determine their contribution in solving the gambling problems among the youths. Background information gives a completely different picture as the picture presented in the topic. At the topic level, the researcher is concerned with the functioning of the social marketing campaigns in addressing a given problem but at the stage of background information, the researcher is concerned with the narrow/few use of such campaigns in addressing the problems at hand and yet they are effective tools in addressing the problems. The situation is made even more confusing when one examines the expected information from the data collection processes. Focus group discussions were employed as the instrument of data collection and from what was expected from these discussions, one can deduce what questions the researcher was attempting to answer. These questions are: what is the level of exposure to social marketing campaigns among the adolescents? What are the features that made those campaigns efficient among the youths? Is the message content and attribute effective in awareness creation?
A closer look at these research questions, the researcher was interested in establishing the level of exposure to social marketing campaigns among the youths and the features and message content that made those campaigns to be effective. Following this direction, then the researcher’s topic would have been “Evaluating the Efficacy of social marketing campaigns” rather than the role of the campaigns. Again, the reader is left with questioning of the scope of the study. If you look at the first research question, the researcher wants to find the youths’ exposure to social marketing campaigns. One would want to know if the researcher was relating the level of exposure to the availability and use of such campaigns. This is because the extent to which the youths are exposed to such campaigns can be determined by a number of factors. For instance, accessibility to media platforms. Here, the level of exposure is a dependent variable and the researcher need to let the reader know the independent variables that will be used to influence the dependent variable. As Lipson (2005) states, there is usually only one dependent variable which is the variable that the researcher is attempting to predict. The research work under evaluation has no distinction on what is the outcome variable and the predictor variables. The researcher ought to have defined and justified the scope of the problem. In addition, there is lack of consistency in the research question and the other part i.e. research topic and problem statement. As observed earlier, the research topic is concerned with the functions of social market campaigns and the statement of the problem is concerned with inadequate use of such campaigns. Research question on the other hand are concerned with the efficacy level of social marketing campaigns.
Study Strength and Limitations
One of the major strength the study had was accessibility of data. Data collection was carried out during school day allowing the researcher to have full participation of the participant. Nevertheless, it was not without limitations. Data was gathered from different school both from rural and urban setting meaning the researcher was to spend a lot of time to go round all the schools that were participating. This had also financial implications.
Methodology
The research work selected both rural and urban site to carry out the study. The selection of a research site is essential for it influences the usefulness of the information produced. The idea is to start with the larger population and through progressive elimination end up with the actual site where the data is collected (Rozakis, 2007 & Marvasti, 2004). Now that the study was investigating the adolescent population the selection of both the rural and urban population was appropriate since the experiences of adolescent in urban area is different for their counterpart in the rural and small towns. Using either of the site to draw sample population for generalization would have been biased due to the differences in urban and rural lifestyles. Nevertheless, there is a shortcoming in defining the participants. As indicated seven out of the nine participating schools were from the rural region. The researcher does not give any justification of such differences in sample selection. One is made to conclude that in rural areas exposure level are lower than in urban area and this would give a clear picture of the degree of exposure. But it is also true that gambling in rural areas is equally low. Justification of such decision would have cleared any doubt on the validity of the data collected.
The sample population that was used was adequate for generalization purposes. The characteristics of the population were well taken care off in that the researcher took care of age and gender factor. However other characteristics of the general population that could affect the outcomes of the study should have been considered when deciding on the sample population. As is noted by Maximiano (1999) that it is important for the researcher to find out as much as possible about the study population including the overall demographics of the population. This capturing of variability in population allows for more reliability of the study. Multistage sampling technique was used to obtain the sample population. The sampling was done in three stages. At the first stage the population that was taken is that of English schools. Certainly, selection of English schools population was biased because according to Lipson (2005) and Marvasti (2004), probability sampling should give all members of the population under study equal chance to be included in the study. But the researcher could have had reasons of using the English School as his sample population selection site. Thus there was need for the researcher to rationalize his decision on such sample.
Data Collection, Analysis and Presentation
The researcher used focus group discussion to collect data from the participant. As observed by Hesse-Biber and Leavy (2005), this instrument can produce a lot of information quickly and are good for identifying and exploring beliefs, ideas or opinions in a community. To ensure that all the data was captured, the researcher used topic guide to direct the discussion and a second researcher took notes on vocal and non vocal communication. Maximiano (1999) say that focus group should be composed of homogeneous members of the target population. For example, similar age, education level, gender among other characteristic. The researcher in this case did not categorize the sample population through such characteristic but there was defining of the age bracket (12-18 years). Categorizing this target population to be homogeneous is one of the limitations of the study bearing in mind the focus discussion was to be carried out in different schools both in rural and urban areas. May be the researcher should have complimented the focus discussion dada with another research instruments which would have reflected the different characteristics of the target population. For example use of questionnaires which would have help to classify the sample population into different characteristic. This would have the made the data more reliable.
The researcher carried out thematic analysis of the data. Three themes were identified and the dialogues were coded using color coding system for the identification of main research areas that were gotten from the topic guide. Analyzing a qualitative data can sometimes be biased and especially when the data is analyzed by one person. There can be personal biases. As stated by Marvasti (2004) and Lipson (2005), it would be good if such data are analyzed by two or more independent person and then their findings compared. This research employed that technique of assigning two independent researchers to carry out the analysis. Research validation was tackled by putting together the two analyses of the transcriptions. The research does not give the data presentation part.
Ethical Aspect
According to Rozakis (2007), a researcher should maintain integrity and especially in the application of statistical skills to problems where individual interests could inappropriately affect the development or application of statistical knowledge. The researcher should also get consent from relevant institution and should inform the participants of the intention of the study and obtain their consent for participation. This was adhered to by the researcher through obtaining approval from McGill University. The researcher also sent letters describing the intent of the study to parents via the schools in participation before students’ involvement.
Conclusion
Even with the few shortcomings especially in the title selection and research problem and questions, the researcher was able to uphold many of the requirements of carrying out a great research work. The few shortcomings can be avoided in future when great care is taken before commencement of research work.
References
Hesse-Biber S. N. and Leavy L. P. (2005). The Practice of Qualitative Research, Thousands Oaks CA Sage Publishers.
Lipson C. (2005). How to write a BA thesis: A practical guide from your first ideas to your finished paper, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Marvasti A. B. (2004). Qualitative Research in Sociology, London: Sage Publishers.
Maximiano R. M. Jr (1999). Thesis and Dissertation Writing. Rivera: Goodwill Trading Co. Inc.
Rozakis, L. (2007). Shaum’s quick guide to writing great research papers, New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers.