Participants
This research sample will include 20 randomly selected psychology students who have experienced unhealthy attachment in their childhood, and the mean age will approximately be 19.5 years. There will be 11 (55%) female and 9 (45%) male participants. 60% of the sample will be represented by white Americans, while the rest 40% will include minorities, including African Americans, Native Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. There is significant reasoning behind choosing these individuals as the research participants. On the one hand, psychology students are suitable because they better understand their own feelings and emotions. Such individuals are not old, meaning that their childhood memories are fresh and not forgotten. On the other hand, the sample diversity is justified because it reflects that of the United States of America. This condition is essential to make sure that the research results can be applied to the whole society.
The participants will include volunteers who will express their desire to become a part of the given study. That is why these individuals will not get any compensation for participation. This fact will only attract those people who are interested in the research question and will not make conducting the study expensive. It is also reasonable to provide the participants with anonymity guarantees, which will attract more people. It is so because they will not be afraid that their personal information will be disclosed to the general public. Since the research aim is to identify whether unhealthy childhood attachment leads to adult anxiety, the study participants will not get any experimental treatment. Thus, this information means that a control group is not necessary for this study design.
Materials
Standardized interview measures will take place to make sure that the participants present reliable information concerning their age and demographic characteristics. These details are of significance because it is necessary to preserve the gender and ethnic diversity of US society within the study sample. As for the research aim and hypothesis, a specific questionnaire will be used to determine whether unhealthy childhood attachment is a prerequisite for adult anxiety. I will not use any previously established scales, instruments, or surveys. A questionnaire that will be designed specifically for the given study will be used to ensure that the participant’s information will be sufficient to either prove or confute the research hypothesis.
Procedure
The given research study will consist of two essential stages. A preliminary phase will include the interviews described above to extract the participants’ personal information. These interview measures will take place in the research office. Thus, the participants will need to attend this office to participate in the survey. The following step will describe anonymity procedures to assure the participants that their privacy and confidentiality will be protected. In addition to that, these measures will contribute to the fact that a researcher’s bias will not impact the research results.
The main research phase will be to make the participants fill in the questionnaires. The individuals will answer the questions separately to exclude any possibility that they will influence one another’s results. Furthermore, they will not be limited in time to place them in a comfortable environment. Their answers will be coded to meet the confidentiality requirements that have been described above. In addition to that, it will be necessary to ensure that data analysis will be unbiased. Janak (2018) explains that some researchers can arrive at prejudiced conclusions, and it usually happens when scientists see authors of the responses under investigation. Thus, I will analyze the answers that will not contain any personal details of the sample members. Once the answers are obtained, it will be necessary to choose the proper statistical test to analyze the information.
Statistical Test
I am going to survey to identify whether there is any correlation between unhealthy childhood attachment and adult anxiety. For this purpose, I will include two multiple choice questions in the questionnaire. They will be “Did you regularly experience attachment in your childhood?” and “Do you experience anxiety daily?” A parametric test is necessary to identify any statistical relationship between the two questions because they imply numerical data. To find it, I will calculate the mean and standard deviation of Childhood Attachment (X) and Adult Anxiety (Y). A Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be suitable in this case since it is “typically used for jointly normally distributed data” (Schober et al., 2018, p. 1763). This coefficient is also one of the most frequently used statistics that reveal a positive or negative relationship between two variables (Armstrong, 2019). Consequently, many factors demonstrate that a Pearson’s correlation coefficient will be a suitable option for the given survey.
Data Analysis
The Statistical Test section has demonstrated that this research study will significantly rely on numerical data and the relationship between them. That is why the given study will be a quantitative one that uses objective and synthesized information of the sample to obtain a general view of the whole population (Queirós et al., 2017). This study type is useful because its results are reliable and can be applied to numerous community parts. In other words, it is challenging to argue against facts and numerical data. It is also necessary to comment on what types of variables the survey will use. On the one hand, unhealthy childhood attachment will be an independent variable since this condition will present for all the sample members. On the other hand, a dependent variable will relate to adult anxiety because the study wants to identify the presence of this phenomenon in people who have experienced unhealthy attachment in their childhood.
A Pearson’s correlation coefficient is a relatively simple statistical method for the interpretation of its results. Since it focuses on the relationship between two variables, its linear representation demonstrates whether one of them depends on the other. In addition to the fact that the given statistical test reflects this correlation, if any, it also indicates its volume. In this case, it is also reasonable to mention that additional statistical tests, both descriptive and inferential, are necessary to draw conclusions and test the hypothesis. A proportion is a descriptive statistical test that will demonstrate how many people from the sample are subject to adult anxiety if they have experienced unhealthy childhood attachment. However, when it comes to testing the research hypothesis, it is necessary to apply an inferential statistical test to identify the parameter’s effect on the whole population. A confidence interval will be suitable here because it will include two borderline values, and the real proportion of people who suffer from adult anxiety because of unhealthy childhood attachment will be between them.
References
Armstrong, R. A. (2019). Should Pearson’s correlation coefficient be avoided? Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics, 39(5), 316-327.
Janak, E. (2018). Bracketing and bridling: Using narrative reflexivity to confront researcher bias and the impact of social identity in a historical study. Philanthropy & Education, 1(2), 82-93.
Queirós, A., Faria, D., & Almeida, F. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(9), 369-387.
Schober, P., Boer, C., & Schwarte, L. A. (2018). Correlation coefficients: Appropriate use and interpretation. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 126(5), 1763-1768(6).