Develop research questions for addressing social phenomena, systems of practices and beliefs, and community needs

The paper is the creation of a research proposal. Research is integral in the field of social sciences no matter which discipline is being studied. Not only may professionals conduct research, but they may also analyze and apply research to address specific problems or needs. It is therefore vital that they possess the basic skills to do so in a professional, ethical manner.

The proposal should include the research question, ethical considerations and methodology sections from the ATTACHED TEEN PREGANANCIES LITERATURE PAPER, as well as the introduction and reflection. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product.

 

The summative assessment for this course will encapsulate many of the practices that researchers encounter in their educational or professional careers, as students will not only be conducting research, but also creating a research proposal. Although a granting institution or employer generally guides research proposals, the question and proposed conclusions for this project will be entirely your choice. At the end of this assignment, you will have a tangible example of how to set up, process, and complete a professional-level research proposal. Writing and communicating research translates to a broader context outside of this classroom, as employers and graduate schools alike enjoy seeing students capable of synthesizing large amounts of data into applicable, well-argued research statements.

You will base your research on a community problem which is SUBJECT teen pregnancies. You will create a research proposal in which you use the research from your literature review teen pregnancies paper WHICH IS ATTACHED to inform the pieces of your research proposal.

In this assignment you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

· Develop research questions for addressing social phenomena, systems of practices and beliefs, and community needs

· Differentiate between quantitative and qualitative methods for their appropriateness in addressing research questions

· Discuss the ethical considerations for developing a research proposal

· Analyze research proposals for their feasibility in implementation and their ability to satisfy professional requirements

 

PROMPT……………

For this paper, you will use your research from the literature review teen pregnancies paper .which is attached… to create a research proposal. You will create a research question, discuss ethical impacts of the research and its dissemination, and propose methodology for collecting data. Be sure to substantiate your claims with peer-reviewed sources.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Introduction: Formulate a concise, but impactful introduction to the research background, so the foundational information will provide context to the reader.

II. Research Question and Ethical Considerations: This section will be twofold: It will deconstruct your research question into its important sections, and explain the significance of your research.

a) Based on the previous research you located from the literature review, create a research question or statement, and explain the creation.

b) Describe the implications of your research. What will your research do for the community at large or the field in which you are working?

c) Discuss how you will gain access to, or conduct, your data collection from people and cultures in an ethical manner. Provide specific examples of ethical dilemmas that may arise.

d) Create a hypothesis that describes the expected relationship between the research variables. Make a clear connection between the questions you are asking and your expected results. Think about your proposed research as a projection of the results, rather than an open-ended question.

III. Methodology: In this section, you will describe the “how” of your research design. You have already discussed the research’s significance and explained the tools you will need to explore the question; now, you must clearly explain the steps you will take to reach a research conclusion.

a) Describe your proposed methodology and why you decided to use this methodology. Consider using qualitative data, quantitative data, or a mix of both if necessary.

b) Describe the scale of your research, justifying your sample size. Be sure to explain the boundaries of the population in your justification. If you are planning to analyze a secondary dataset, explain the implications of its size on your research question.

c) Explain how you plan to analyze your collected data. Will it be descriptive or inferential? How will you analyze subjective data differently from objective data?

IV. Reflection: Your final thoughts will include projections into the future, the feasibility of finances, and chronology of your project.

a) How much time do you think this project will take, and do you think this is feasible? From the point of time involving grant money to your project’s conclusion, how long do you think the process will take?

b) Discuss how you will consider the ethical implications in releasing your research findings to the public, providing specific examples.

c) How much of a budget do you think this project will need and do you think this is feasible? Consider if the research is something you can do entirely on your own from the desk in your home, or whether you will have to travel to gather data.

Milestones

Milestone: Draft of Research Question and Ethical Considerations (Section II) and Methodology (Section III)

 

Guidelines for Submission: Your research proposal should adhere to the following formatting requirements: three to four pages, double-spaced, 12-point Times

New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA citations and style.

RUBIC…

Introduction: Background–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and references research from the literature review to support a concise, impacting research background

Research Question and Ethical Considerations: Research Question–

Creates a research question based on the previous research, explaining its creation

Research Question and Ethical Considerations: Implications–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and references research from the literature review to support research implications

Describes the implications of the research, detailing the impact on the community or field at large

Research Question and Ethical Considerations: Data Collection–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and discussion is especially-well detailed

Discusses how to gain information in an ethical manner, providing specific examples of ethical dilemmas

Research Question and Ethical Considerations: Expected Relationship–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and thoroughly explains the bounds of the data with regard to the research question and the expected conclusions

Creates a hypothesis describing the expected relationship between research variables, making clear connections between questions asked and the expected results

Methodology: Proposed Methodology–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates command of the methodological knowledge associated with a research proposal

Describes the proposed methodology and justifies the choice of methodology

Methodology: Sample Size–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates a nuanced understanding of pairing data with an appropriate sample size

Describes the scale of the research, justifying the sample size

 

Methodology: Analyze Collected Data—

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the relationship between methods of analysis and types of data

Explains how to analyze the collected data and takes into account elements related to the proposed methodology

Reflection: Time–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and is especially well-detailed

Explains the projected time of the project and determines its feasibility

Reflection: Releasing Research Findings–

Meets “Proficient” criteria and demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the ethical implications behind releasing research information

Discusses ethical implications in releasing research findings to the public, providing concrete examples

Reflection: Budget–

Explains the projected budget of the project and determines its feasibility

 

Teachers Feedback on this paper—I only got 103 points out of 200 on this paper. So need great final paper…

Hi Kelly, You do a good job describing the community need for research on teenage pregnancies and the reasoning behind it. You also make the direct connection between the community (low SES) and the need.

Assesses the sources for their credibility, but does not justify how the sources are or are not credible

Describes the types of research designs used with similar issues, but does not differentiate advantages and disadvantages of the types of designs, or lacks clarity or detail

Describes the types of research methods used with similar issues, but does not differentiate advantages and disadvantages of the types of methods, or lacks clarity or detail

Discusses ethical dilemmas stemming from others’ research, but does not discuss how these dilemmas may be relevant to selected research, or discussion is inaccurate

IRUNNING HEAD: TEEN PREGNANCIES 1

 

 

 

 

Teen pregnancies

Teenage pregnancy refers to an intended pregnancy that occurs when a girl is in her adolescence. The reason I chose this topic is because of the alarming rate of these pregnancies. The primary and secondary sources of information that I have used in this research are credible. This is because I was able to obtain specific data and statistics from government and Non-Governmental Organizations websites. I also managed to interact one on one with a few teenage mothers who talked to me about their life in school and what led them to bear children at a young age.

It is estimated that in year 2014, 249,000 babies were born to teen girls of between ages 15 and 19. Unlike their peers who bear children later in life, teen mothers are likely not to finish high school, depend on public assistance, likely to be poor as adults, and are likely to bear children who have behavioral and health problems later in life as compared to other children (HHS, 2016).

In this community, variation in income inequality has been seen to be a contributing factor to teen childbearing. This is because income inequality is associated with inadequate economic opportunity, and those at the bottom of the distribution as seen as less important in the society. From the information I got after interacting with some of the individuals affected by this menace, i.e. teenage girls and their mothers is that poverty is a major factor many teenage girls have children while they are young and unmarried (Kearney, 2012).

Teen pregnancies and childbearing have significant economic costs to the government as well. This is because the government loses billions of dollars that would have been paid as tax revenue; greater expenditures for public health care and foster care; increase in public assistance payments; and greater expenditures on services for criminal justice. These teen mothers are also likely to suffer unemployment because of dropping out from school (CDC, 2015).

Causes of teenage pregnancies

Peer pressure

When children reach adolescence, they feel the pressure to make friends, to be equal and to belong to a certain group. As a result their friends in the group end up influencing their decisions, and engage in sex even when not aware of the consequences so that they don’t disappoint their friends. After conducting a research, The Kaiser Family Foundation found out that 29% of pregnant teens were pressured to have sex, whereas 33% did it so as not to suffer rejection from their peers (Langham, 2015).

Absent parents

In situations where parents are not available to give guidance to their children, there is a chance that teen girls will get pregnant. When parents become too busy to talk with their children about issues such as sex, they will turn to their friends for direction who are likely to give the wrong advice resulting in a pregnancy (Langham, 2015).

Glamorizing of pregnancy

The media and the movie glamorize pregnant teens in new stories and movies. They bring it out like it’s something to be desired thereby encouraging teens to engage in sexual activity. As adolescence is an age where teens want to be part of a group, if teen pregnancy is seen as acceptable by the friends, one will do it so as to be socially accepted (Langham, 2015).

Lack of Knowledge

There are teenagers who are naïve and not educated about sex and that can cause an unwanted pregnancy. Some may not have the knowledge about biological and emotional effects of engaging in sex. The teens may get the wrong information from friends and other misinformed sources (Langham, 2015).

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse or rape is also a cause of teen pregnancies. It is estimated that 5% of all teen births are as a result of rape.

Teenage Drinking

Teens love to experiment with drugs and alcohol and this lowers their ability to control themselves. It is estimated that 75% of teenage pregnancies that occur to girls of ages 14 to 21 are as a result of use of drugs and alcohol (Langham, 2015).

How to prevent teen pregnancies

Parents should make it a habit of sitting with their children, helping them with homework, attending talents show together, etc. to show them that they care about their education. It is through such sessions that children get to be free with their parents and are later able to discuss major issues like sex education. Parents should also show love and affection to their children because if they fail to do so they will seek it from their peers who may end up misleading them (Cummins, 2016).

Parents and guardians need to supervise their teens before they are mature enough to become independent. There needs to be rules and they should be followed. This is because adolescents will tend to push boundaries but they need to be shown that there are limits. For example, when they go to a shopping mall, it should be for a specific reason. When they insist on going to visit their friends, the parent should know these friends (Cummins, 2016).

Since it is not possible for parents to stick with their teen children at all times, it is important that parents give them tools to make good decisions. Parents should be available and interested in the lives of their children so that they are able to positively influence them. Above all they should be good role models that the children can emulate. They should discuss teen pregnancy and the consequences of sex before marriage (Cummins, 2016).

Research design

Massive research has been done on the issue of teen pregnancy. Most of this research has basically had a similar design. Due to the localization of this aspect most of the research done on the topic has included a simple random sample. This simple random sample has been chosen from the local population of interest. The bulk of this simple random sample includes girls of the teen age demographic. This is especially necessary due to the fact that they are the most affected as far as the research question is concerned. There are, however other stakeholders who have to be included in the research design (Langham, 2015). These are the parents and the teachers. Thus, in most of the scholarly work done on the topic, the simple random sample selected also consists of mostly in equal proportion parents as well as teachers to the teenage girls in question.

Research methods

Interviews remain the most popular data collection method use in this subject. This is perhaps due to the sensitive nature of the entire topic of teen pregnancies. The interviews have consisted of a number of structured open ended questions which are presented to the respondents (Kearney, 2012). Another data collection method used is questionnaires these questionnaires include questions on the topic of teenage pregnancies.

Secondary data on teen pregnancy is also available and has played an integral part in preceding research. These records are available in healthcare facilities. They have been used by researchers to gain a demographic view of the actual number of reported cases of teen pregnancies within a given population demographic.

Ethical dilemmas

Due to the highly personal nature of the topic of teenage pregnancy, researchers have been faced with a lot of ethical dilemmas while studying this topic. One such dilemma is the disclosure of the identities of the respondents who have admitted to having experienced teen pregnancy. Another ethical issue faced by researchers has to do with the sensitive nature of questions that have to be asked in this research (Cummins, 2016). Researchers have often found themselves having to ask highly sensitive questions such as those involving relations of a sexual nature. Due to the fact that some of the respondents may be conservative on talking about mater of sexuality, the researchers often had to structure these questions and rephrase them in a manner that is ethically acceptable. Another ethical issue that has been noted by the researchers is the dissemination of the research findings on teen pregnancy to the respondents (CDC, 2015). The researchers have noted that thy have an ethical responsibility to return to the respondents and share with them the findings of the research in which they took part. This has, however, become increasingly difficult with the busy schedule that usually follows the dissemination of research findings and recommendations.

Application of the literature

The literature has been very useful when it comes to the factors that play a part in teen pregnancies. Most of the literature, however, focuses on the social aspects such as absenteeism by parents. There is an aspect which has been relatively unexplored in the research. This is the rise in sexual promiscuity among teenagers. There are two aspects to this factor. These are sexual promiscuity among teenagers and sexual promiscuity involving teenage girls and older men. This is an area of research that needs a closer look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Work cited:

CDC editors (2015 May 19) Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm

Cummins, J. (2016) Causes of Teenage Pregnancy and Ways to Prevent It. Retrieved from http://www.whattoexpect.com/wom/pregnancy/causes-of-teenage-pregnancy-and-ways-to-prevent-it.aspx

HHS (2016 February 24) Reproductive Health. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/index.html

Kearney MS (2012) Why is the teen birth rate in the United States so high and why does it matter? Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22792555

Langham, R. (2015 April 13) What Are the Causes of Teenage Pregnancy? http://www.livestrong.com/article/146681-what-are-the-causes-of-teenage-pregnancy/

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