Trends of societal role - Research Paper Example

? A Critique on an Integrated Research by Kerry Kazura and number Submitted A Critique on an Integrated Research by Kerry Kazura Introduction Looking at the trends of societal role changes, many experts have tried to pinpoint the extent of parental deviance from traditional gender roles, and evaluate their involvement at home, especially in child care. In Kazura’s study, she explains some of the previous researches endeavored in this area. They are not elaborated in terms of research designs but primary conclusions are given, applied by Kazura in her own study as supporting literature. Also, previous undertakings that assert the father’s role as playmate are cited, however, not specifying their set-ups, what type of researches they are and what brought forth their results. The researcher was burdened to uplift the view of the paternal role in terms of his involvement with his child, thus bringing forth the present study which integrates both quantitative and qualitative research methods, and which could aid future investigations in both areas upon reviewing this literature. Kazura (2000) purposes to look into the father and child relationship through the latter’s involvement in attachment behaviors, play interactions, and social interactions (p. ?). The research conduction is brief, lasting only a few minutes including the Strange Situation procedure and the three play segments, or probably a few hours if we take into account the home visits conducted by the primary investigator. This may seem inadequate, but its cross-sectional design is acceptable as the same is used in other studies; however, we should not neglect the possibility of different results if there is alteration in the time frame. Kazura presents several information in her paper, which would allow other researchers to review on. She explains the basics of her study thoroughly, and provides enough statistical data, leaving this study open for future modifications. Using Kazura’s study, analytical skills will be demonstrated in understanding the components of her research and judging them according to the expected deftness achieved in this course. Background of the Study A. Background of the Study In the present research, Kazura studies both qualitative and quantitative father-child relationships by digging deeper in their attachment, play, and social interactions. Prior to this, several other undertakings aimed to explore father involvement in child-rearing as women take part in the workforce. Although society noticed that fathers somehow started to be involved with the previously solely-mother role, there are still contentions about their involvement and the influence of their presence as caregivers, especially in the early years of their children, are questioned. Kazura presented previous literature that discussed the hindrances of father involvement to child-rearing in the first few years of life but these were not specifically typified. Providing evidences that the relationship between the quantity and quality of fathering behaviors are not firmly established and that the length of time parents spend with their children does necessarily affect the latter’s developmental outcomes, the researcher intends to collaborate both quantitative and qualitative methods in determining parental involvement with their children, and uses this to come up with her hypothesis and conclusions. Because one of the researcher’s goals is to compare paternal to maternal involvement, intact families were chosen to be a part of the sample, which were obtained by convenience sampling, recruited through newspaper advertisements and local child-care centers. The 27 couples with their children belong to the middle-class, composing of 24 Caucasian families, two African-American families, and one Eastern Indian family. The children ranged from 12 to 26 months, where there were 14 males and 13 females. The sample size is small, considering that results of the study would tend to generalize the father-child relationships in juxtaposition with mother-child connections. Besides the small number of participants, the sample did not represent all, or at least almost all, types of families in the aspects of socio-economic status, ethnicity, education, et cetera, which may alter the course of outcomes once considered. For instance, Bonney, Kelley, & Levant (1999) argue that in dual-earner families, father involvement in child care is heavily connected to his liberal role ideology and job schedules of both parents, and that the role of mothers as gatekeepers in father involvement may have been over-emphasized in previous researches (pp. 411-412). This is one example that disagrees with some evidences used in the present study, thus exposing one of its possible lapses. B. Hypothesis In focusing on play, social interactions and attachment of the father and child, Kazura referred to previous researches and thus hypothesizes that the father holds an important role in play interactions with their children, which is rendered essential in influencing children’s cognitive competence as they grow. Further, she proposes that father-child attachment may be influenced by the father’s role as a playmate. However, Kazura fails to specify her hypothesis on the relationship of the father and child in terms of social interactions, but obtains conclusions regarding the matter after results were gathered. The discussion of results gathered presents that fathers engaged their children in higher levels of pretend play as compared to mothers, which is in congruence to Kazura’s earlier hypothesis of the father’s role as playmate. Claiming to be one of the pioneering studies linking play interaction to attachment, Kazura introduces that children who have confidence in their relationship with their fathers tend to spend longer time playing with them. In terms of social interactions, she concludes that fathers were more directive than mothers but without noticing differences on how children responded socially to either parent, from which no hypothesis was specified regarding the aspect, as mentioned earlier. Research Method A. Mixed Model The study utilizes integrated methods of both quantitative and qualitative researches. Viewing the quantitative level of parental involvement, the research is cross-sectional, using a Parent-Child Caregiving Questionnaire to assess the level of involvement and division of labor between parents for their child. The questionnaire is said to be specifically developed for the study, focusing on amount of time providing the child’s needs, playful interactions, and general time with them. No other elaboration was given in the paper regarding the instrument or data collection quantitatively, as well as specifics of sampling other than those previously mentioned. Quantitative results are presented with adequate use of the mean scores and standard deviations as statistical tools. By showing formulas and giving a tabular form containing the figures, readers can review results to judge them appropriate and reliable or otherwise. The qualitative part of the research describes measurement of attachment, play, and social interactions. To observe attachment, the Strange Situation was used to classify a relationship as secure on insecure. Details of what is to be considered secure or insecure are concisely described in the paper. In order to yield unbiased codes, coders for the study were trained for three months in using the procedure. The use of Strange Situation is appropriate in this assessment as it has been tested in terms of the premise of its proponent in other laboratories in the United States, even tagging “as if attachment and the Strange Situation has become synonymous” (Parkes, Stevenson-Hinde, & Marris, 1991, p. 25). The research measured play quality by using categories of functional and symbolic play proponed by Belsky and Most in 1981, with coding procedures laid out to the readers. Scoring of play levels and basis for categorizing such segments are also presented in the paper. A modified version of the Prelinguistic Infant-Parent Communicative Interaction Code by Baird et al. was used when observing laboratory assessments of play sequence of the parent and child. The process of coding the play segments with specific length of time is described, as well as definitions of the coded behaviors to render instrument reliability. However, Kazura herself acknowledges that such instrument has previously been utilized only in evaluating mother and child interactions at the time of the present study. Gathering of data for the quantitative study took place in the homes of participants when they were visited for a structured interview and given questionnaires to answer while the qualitative study commenced in a play laboratory and procedures were videotaped in order to provide careful observation and review to interpret gathered data. Each setting is appropriate for the certain research design, respectively. In order to avoid bias and contamination of results, observers coded their assigned procedures independently and compared scores with the principal investigator, using statistical Kappas to evaluate situations. Collection of data and its reliability are not seen with any biases as statistical tools are presented. However, there are issues of reliability when qualitative researches are involved. Auerbach and Silverstein (2003) present reliability and validity as “pursuing the unreachable ideal” which denotes that “developing a first valid scale requires comparing it with another valid scale, and that this second valid scale must have been developed by comparing it with a third already valid scale, and so on...” (p. 80). In this study, observer contamination is prevented, but it fails to describe whether such process described by Auerbach and Silverstein exists, to clear out doubts of other readers. The integrated study is cross-sectionally designed, which may arouse questions since the elements explored imply a need for longer time. For instance, father-child attachment may not be seen in a few minutes as it would exist in their homes. Nonetheless, a number of studies are designed in cross-sectional correlate when it comes to paternal involvement in caregiving, only a few focusing on the factors related to possible changes of father involvement overtime (Wood & Repetti, 2004, p. 237), which renders this research acceptable. B. Over Controlled Experiment Kazura did not fail to present tools utilized for the research in order to obtain objective results. However, these tools were merely enumerated in portions of the paper where they rightfully belong, referring to authors and previous undertakings but not giving brief descriptions about them. The purposes of these questionnaires are also given, but it lacks some specifics that may be useful in further investigation by other individuals, such as its components and appropriateness. This can be seen as a lapse in the written research. As noticed, time spent in assessment of parents and children is very brief, limited only to a few minutes or hours even if we count the home visits, considering that the study aims to present both quantitative and qualitative aspects in father-child relationship. Despite this thought, we put into attention the Strange Situation procedure used to investigate attachment. This reliable process is intentionally designed to be brief only, consisting of eight episodes with a standard order for all subjects (Ainsworth & Wall, 1978, p. 32), which was followed in Kazura’s study. The length of play time in other segments, however, was not further elaborated as to where the design is adapted. Pointing these out and the fact that it is a cross-sectional study, time limits spent with children are acceptable but modification in the time element, if ventured by following researches, may provide changes in results. Given the research design, sensitive parents may view participation negatively as they are purely used as extraneous variables. Extraneous variables are controlled in a properly controlled experiment to ensure authenticity of attributes (Colman, 1999, p. 27). In this case, it is evident that there are specific time limits and instructions to prevent undesired influence on other variables. Although parents are seen as extraneous, their absence would deem the experiment useless as it explores parental involvement with children. It may be viewed that instead of using parents as primary subjects in the study, the young children are rather observed to minimize bias in results that may arise in more self-conscious, aware, and subjective adults. Conclusion Using skills gained through the course, Kazura’s study is viewed in a perspective of critical thought. The present study is highly informative in both quantitative and qualitative models, giving readers tools and figures utilized. However, there are few questions left unanswered by the proponent. For instance, she fails to concretely answer if the father’s role as a playmate indeed creates the father-child bond in the first few years of life with the basis on her own findings. Other statements seem to be unsupported by firm evidences, such as how Kazura classifies a father’s behavior as directive, why it helps in toy exploration, and a definition of children playing in normal developmental stages with mothers. It also seems that there is ambiguity in explaining the roles of parents, as to whether they are established facts or opinions by the researcher. The very small sample size is also not enough to generalize application of results to all families, but Kazura acknowledges this. Allowing a bigger sample size including families with various socio-economic, ethnic, and educational backgrounds may result to a change in the presently given outcomes. The entire study is generally useful to readers, but there is a need for more clarifications on some points as mentioned. Thus, a realization is that a research should be scrutinized thoroughly in order to achieve its utmost credibility. References Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Auerbach, C. F., & Silverstein, L. B. (2003). Qualitative data: An introduction to coding and analysis. New York, NY: New York University Press. Bonney, J. F., Kelley, M. L., & Levant, R. F. (1999). A model of father’s behavioral involvement in child care in dual-earner families. Journal of Family Psychology, 13(3), 401-415. Colman, A. M. (1999). What is Psychology? (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Kazura, K. (2000). Father’s qualitative and quantitative involvement: An investigation of attachment, play, and social interactions. Journal of Men’s Studies, 9(1), 41-57. Parkes, C. M., Stevenson-Hinde, J., & Marris, P. (1991). Attachment across the life cycle. New York, NY: Routledge. Wood, J. J., & Repetti R. L. (2004). What gets dad involved? A longitudinal study of change in parental child caregiving involvement. Journal of Family Psychology, 18(1), 237-249. Read More