Does Parental Involvement in Homework Assist Children in Achieving Academic Grades - Research Proposal Example

RESEARCH PROPOSAL Does parental involvement in homework assist children in achieving academic grades that qualify them for university? Name Institution Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Theoretical Perspective 6 Ethical Consideration 7 Data Collection 8 Data Analysis 10 Conclusion 11 References 12 Does Parental Involvement in Homework Assist Children in Achieving Academic Grades that Qualify them for University? Introduction It is often argued that parental guidance plays a crucial role in the growth and development of children. For children to grow in a positive way parental figure is very important. Parents therefore play a role in guiding children on what is right and what is wrong through the formulation of norms within the family to guide children on what is expected of them. These norms are usually accompanied by rewards and punishments from the parental figure. Hence when a child performs as expected rewards are received as opposed to when the child contravenes the norms and punishment is administered. In regards to the research certain variables need to be defined and explained. Parental involvement can be defined as parental figure participation in the both academic or social growth and progress of their children. This may involve follow up in academic progress of the children so as to find out how their children are fairing on in school. It also involves the parent liaising with the teaching staff to engage in the academic progress of the student/child. Homework involves the academic assignments that students are given so as to perform at home and later submit it to school. This is usually school work being done at home and in some cases it requires the supervision of parents when such activities are being performed by the student. On the other hand academic grades refer to the general performance of the student in form of the overall aggregate that the student is able to attain in the course of education that will translate to the qualification of the student. The research therefore seeks to investigate whether parental involvement in homework or academic work enhances academic performance of their children/students (Basit 2010). Literature Review According to Chesters and Watson (2012) disparity in terms of higher education has been experienced in Australia in recent times. The issue of disparity can further be explained by use of two theories of relative risk aversion and Maximally Maintained Inequality (MMI). The two theories argue that due to the low socio economic status of most parents it is their desire that their children compete for a high school position in order to improve their social status and standing in the society. Hence the social position is postulated by the risk aversion theory whilst priority of satisfaction of the privileged class in the society. Therefore there is need to enact effective policies that curtail the issue of disparity in education between the privileged and the less privileged population of the society. The socio economic status of a particular family within the society plays an important role in so far as the educational attainment of their children is concerned. Those families that are well endowed are able to facilitate their children’s education as opposed to poorer families leading to a great disparity within the education system (Chesters and Watson 2012). Crowder and South (2011), argue that the neighborhood plays a crucial role in the development of a student. Hence the kind of neighborhood within which a student is brought up influences particular characteristics that will be displayed in their behavior. The neighborhood is therefore viewed in terms of terms of geographical contexts, society and economic perspectives. It is evident that when a student lives in certain neighborhood for a long period of time the behavioral characteristics of that particular neighborhood are imbedded in the student that will determine his/her education progress. The social economic traits of a particular neighborhood and the duration of experience influence the lives of students and their probability to graduate from high school. It is further argued that children who grow up in poorer neighborhoods are likely to drop out of school as a result of socio-economic factors as opposed to children growing up in richer suburbs. Hence the growth of a student is highly dependable on the socio- economic factors while at the same time linking peers and parents. When children grow up in poorer neighborhood the likelihood of engaging in criminal activities is usually high leading to such children dropping out of school as a result of peer group influence within these poorer neighborhoods so as to engage in criminal activities (Crowder & South 2011). Greenman et.al. (2011), considers parental figures as being of great importance in the development of children and students. The approach emphasizes the role of parental practices and more precisely parental involvement in the growth and education achievement of a child. Therefore parental figure can either influence the education achievement of a child either positively or negatively. It is further argued that both neighborhood characteristic and parental practices play a crucial role in manipulating the educational accomplishment of a child. Family genogram is therefore a crucial aspect in the accomplishment of education among children and parental figure plays a fundamental role in influencing education realization among their children. Hence the parental figure plays a fundamental role and the lack of a parental figure greatly affects the educational attainment of children (Greenman et.al. 2011). According to Biddle (2007), the Australian labor market also act as a determine factor on whether children will complete their high school education or not. The labor market preferences are drastically changing to part time basis which in turn affects the educational sector. Most employers are in search of cheap labor with most job opportunities with a least condition of high school level. The economic status of working students greatly varies from those who are unemployed. Despite the fact that it is argued that working while still in school enables a smoother transition into the labor market after completing school it causes distractions to the students leading to lack of concentration in the education system and poor attainment of education. The labor market greatly influences the educational accomplishment of children who engage in employment as an early age and fail to attain education accomplishment (Biddle, 2007). Theoretical Perspective According to social capital theorists social capital is generally defined by way of its functions. Hence it is not considered as a single entity but rather as a composition of various entities. The social capital consists of various aspects of social structures that enable the actions of certain actors. According to Coleman (1988), social action in its sense is productive enabling the achievement of particular ends that in its absence would not be achievable. In contrast to other forms of capital, social capital inheres in the organization of associations linking actors and among different actors. Within the same high school or a learning institution there is the existence of social relations through which study circles are generated. In any social capital there is the existence of norms that emphasizes on collective responsibility of individuals within the social setting. Thus the norms within a particular society offer support and present effective rewards for high achievement in school and facilitates the spirit of hard work in school. In case of norms within the society parents act as imposers of such norms to their children. Within a family setting social capital is manifested in form of support structures within the family. These support structures may assume both social and economic perspectives (Coleman, 1988). In relation to the study the theory is important in highlighting the role of parents in the support and effective supervision of their children’s education. This is due to the fact that the family forms the social structures within that are guided by certain norms that should be adhered to by members of that particular family. Hence it the role of the parents to set norms and ensure that the norms are adhered to by their children. These norms may also be in form of the education accomplishment of their children among other achievements in life. Thus the involvement of parents in their children’s education plays a crucial role in the society in regards to the educational achievement of their children (Coleman, 1988). Ethical Consideration In every research work there are various ethical issues that need to be considered in the process of conducting the study. In regards to the research study that will involve parents of high school going students as the main respondent. Therefore the consent of the parents should be sought by the researcher. Informed consent of the respondents will enable the respondents to participate in the research process without any form of coercion. This should be done in a formal way by use of a letter explaining the purpose of the research and the role of the parents as the main respondents in the study. The main purpose of conducting the research should be made known to the participant/parents so as to gain support and the expected use of the research form the study also expressed to the participants/parents. The researcher also needs to uphold the confidentiality of the respondents and the information gathered and this can be done through the use of numbers as opposed to using the actual names of the respondents. The confidentiality of the information gathered from the respondents should also be accorded a high degree of confidentiality so as to encourage participants to give in-depth information for the purpose of the study. The confidentiality of the data collected from the respondents should also be protected (Walter, 2010). Hence in any research work there are various set of moral standards that govern the behavior in a particular setting or a particular group of people through which the research is being conducted. The moral standards involve the principles of voluntary participation, no harm to respondents, confidentiality and anonymity should be upheld. Therefore there is need to consider the vulnerable populations within the society in the process of conducting any research work. The vulnerable population may include the young people, ethnic minorities among others. Furthermore the respondents may fail to concur with the researcher’s interpretation of the data collected (Walter, 2010). Data Collection In the process of data collection the study will employ the use of semi-structured form of interview. Semi structured interviews are generally conducted in an open framework that allows for focused two way form of communication. Hence they can be both be used to give and receive information. The set of questions are usually open therefore prompting a form of discussion and there is no limit to the set of pre-determined answers. Therefore a semi-structured type of interview provides descriptive responses in regards to respondents and social setting and how respondents make sense of events that surrounds them. The semi structured interviews will be appropriate to the researcher for the fact that it seeks more detailed descriptions and encourages the respondents to elaborate more on the information given. It also investigates a particular occurrence and situations stated by the respondents while in the process of trying to comprehend factual content together with emotional meanings that the respondents attach to ideas. Hence semi structured interviews enables the respondents to explain and describe ideas and situations in a greater detail that will enable the researcher to gather more information as required. The respondents take the lead and the role of the interviewer is only to gather the information being given by the respondents. The semi structured interview will engage the parents since their involvement in their children’s education is crucial in the general education accomplishment. Therefore such questions as whether the parents supervise their children in the course of their homework and if the parents engage in the follow up of the education progress of their children in school will be very important in the semi structured interview. However the shortcoming of a structured form of interview is that it is time consuming and the researcher need to have a reasonable sample size that will enable him/her to gather more in depth data/information (Basit 2010). In terms of the study population the study will employ the use of snowball sampling process. Snowball sampling involves a group of people recommending potential participants for the study or recruiting them directly for the study. In this case the parents as the main respondents will be use to recommend other parents within their neighborhoods for the study. Hence the recommended participants will in turn recommend other respondents for the study thus in the process building up a snow ball. Snow ball sampling is generally applicable in situations whereby it is difficult for the researcher to identify respondents who meet certain criteria. In regards to the study the researcher will not be in a position to identify parents with students in high school and therefore other parents will be in a better position to identify and recommend such parents. Therefore snow ball sampling is a form of non probability sampling whereby the researcher identifies an individual who is professed to be a suitable respondent. The identified respondent will then be requested to identify another potential respondent and the process continues forming a snow ball. For this reason snow ball method is a useful technique in research that is mainly concerned with behavior especially a type of behavior that is socially unacceptable in the society and therefore a difficulty in identifying the appropriate respondents for the study (Habibas, 2010). Data Analysis Data collection and analysis plays an important role in any form of research proposal. Therefore the data collected has to be managed well in the data analysis stage. Due to the nature of the study that will involve a snow ball sampling procedure data collected will be enormous. The data collected will comprise of the information gathered from the use of semi structured form of interview. The data gathered will be analyzed through a thematic analysis technique. Thematic technique involves qualitative data analysis that searches for patterns in data through the process of open, axial and selective coding while classifying and categorizing individual pieces of information. The codes are used in order to define relationships of data with each other. The types of coding are also helpful in the description and definition of various concepts in the study (Habibas, 2010). The process of coding aid in identifying code labels will provide meanings to these codes that are used. Hence the process of coding enables data to reduce to manageable levels without losing information or context. Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis involves a process through which data are presented in order to increase reliability to search and retrieve data. The enormity of data being analyzed as to be put into consideration before the actual process of data analysis (Habibas, 2010). Conclusion The findings of the study will therefore be of great importance in enhancing the academic performance of students. This is due to the fact that the study will shade more light on the importance of parental involvement in educational matters of their children and how such involvement facilitate the academic growth and development of students/children. The study will also create room for further research in so far as education is concerned. References Biddle, N. (2007). The labour market status of Australian students: who is unemployed, who is working and for how many hours? Journal of Education and Work, 20(3). 179–209. Chesters, J. and Watson, L. (2012). Understanding the persistence of inequality in higher education: Evidence from Australia. Journal of Education Policy, 28(2) 198–215. Crowder, K. and South, S. J. (2011). Spatial and temporal dimensions of neighbourhood effects on high school graduation. Social Science Research 40. 87–106. Basit, T. N. (2010). Conducting Research in Educational Contexts London: Continuum. Greenman, E., Bodovski, K., and Reed, K. (2011). Neighbourhood characteristics, parental practices and children’s math achievement in elementary school. Social Science Research 40. 1434–1444. Walter, M. (Ed.) (2010) Social Research Methods 2nd ed. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Coleman S.J., (1988). Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 94, Supplement: Organizations and Institutions: Sociological and Economic Approaches to the Analysis of Social Structure pp. S95-S120. The University of Chicago Press. Habibas, D. (Ed.). (2010). Ethics and Social Research. In M. Walter (Ed.). Social Research Methods. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Read More