Issue of Drugs among Youth - Essay Example

“With changes in the forms of drugs, technology, and other environmental dynamics over time, underlying mechanisms causing drug abuse could have evolved too. Therefore, there is a need to relook into the causal factors for people to abuse drugs” (Foo, Tam, and Lee 190). This research will explore the factors responsible for driving young people into the habit of drug consumption and their perceptions about drugs’ effects on their life and their association with drugs. Identification of these factors is the first and foremost step in the process of eradicating drugs from society and discouraging young people from consuming drugs.

Research Questions
Some of the research questions would be:
• When did you start taking drugs?
• Please tell me about your family structure and your relationship with family members.
• Does someone in your family take these drugs?
• What environmental factors encourage you to take drugs?
• What is the most common factor that drives young people into the habit of taking drugs?
• Do you contemplate leaving drugs in the future? If so, how soon?
• Do you think drugs are dangerous for your health?
• Has your attitude toward drugs changed since you started consuming them?
• Have you faced any resistance from somewhere for drug consumption?

Parties Involved in the Research Project
This research project would be executed with team effort. The team would comprise me, my advisor, one of my peers to facilitate me with the data collection, and another peer with good writing and editing skills. I would do the literature review, design the research methodology, and analyze the data. The fundamental aim of the research is to identify the most important and common factors that are responsible for the rise of drug consumption among young people. Knowledge created by this research would be very useful to drug-control agencies, society in general, and the parents and relatives of the vulnerable youth in particular.

Research Theory
The consumption of drugs among youth can be prevented based on a technique structured around the cognitive dissonance theory that tends to establish attitudes and beliefs by proposing verbal inoculations. This prevention technique can be used to help youth abstain from drug consumption that might conflict with a more desirable goal. Adolescence in the concept of development is a period in which people may be confused about their roles while their identities are emerging. The prevention efforts based on this approach assist young people with the development of positive identities through achievement in their community roles, as athletes or as students.

Possible Research Methods
The research methods that can be utilized for this research primarily include surveys and interviews. Since the reasons for drug consumption vary from one person to another, it is better to provide the research respondents with a full opportunity to express themselves through the use of interviews and use them as primary sources (Booth, Colomb, and Williams 81). Besides, since this topic is integrally related to sociology, the use of interviews is also recommendable for this research because qualitative research remains very effective convenient, and useful while studying sociological issues.

Research Participants
The respondents will be high school students on drugs of any kind. The students would be given a questionnaire to find out their gender, age, how many of them use drugs, what kinds of drugs they take, and how long have they been taking them. Questionnaires with responses showing drug users would be sorted out and the respondents would be approached for interviews containing the questions mentioned before.

How does this research method contribute to your analysis?
Qualitative research is best suited for this research because it “is commonly used to explore the perceptions and values that influence behavior” (Isurus n. p.). Interviews of the research respondents will be tape-recorded to avoid any misinterpretation of data. Questions mentioned before will be asked to the interviewees and their responses will be graded for relative importance according to the frequency or commonality of responses to a certain question.

Institutional Review Board: how to make ethical research?
The research will be made ethical by keeping the identities of the research participants confidential. Read More