Homosexual Parenting - Essay Example

Answer these questions and I will copy and paste them in the application. 10. Using lay terms please your research question. Do not use of jargon or acronyms, as this application must be comprehensible to IRB reviews outside of the researcher’s field. This paper specifically endeavors to answer the following problem: “How does homosexual parenting affect children raised by homosexuals and lesbians?” Do these children show any significant differences from children raised in more traditional, dual-gender parenting?” 11. Quantitative researchers: please list each variable of interest (identifying each, if applicable, as independent or covariate) and briefly explain how they will be measured. Qualitative researchers: please describe the phenomenon of interest and how it will be recorded. The phenomenon of interest is how homosexual parenting affects biological and adopted children reared by homosexuals and lesbians and if these children show any significant differences from children reared in more traditional, dual-gender parenting. Psychological effects are not measured quantitatively, but qualitatively. Specifically, it looks into reports of the holistic development as well as social adjustment of children raised by homosexual parents and if there are consistent with normal developmental expectations. Then, such reports will be compared with that of children raised by heterosexual parents to see if the sexual orientation of parenting has something to do with the differences, if any. Data that shall be collected from the literature, supported by interviews and questionnaires distributed to children of lesbian, homosexual and heterosexual parents and their parents as well. Investigation shall comprise specific information on what homosexual parents go through in parenting such as legal impediments, if any; what society expects from homosexual parents; the advantages and disadvantages of homosexual parenting with regards to the children; and if there are psychological effects on children raised by homosexuals and lesbians. Data shall be reported and references cited accordingly. Careful analysis of the data shall be done by the researcher in an unbiased manner. A grid of information shall be designed and data plotted into it. If certain themes prevail, then they shall likewise be analyzed too. A subsequent section will ask for more detailed information about your data collection. 12. Please briefly describe the analysis planned. Describe which statistical or analytical methods you will use to reveal relationships, differences, or patterns. The IRB is obligated to factor the rigor of the research design into the overall assessment of the potential risk and benefits of this study. The data that shall be gathered are the respondents’ interview answers. Interviews will be audiotaped and transcribed. The answers shall be put in a grid according to the theme questions (ex. Challenges in parenting; feelings of children about their family, etc.) and to whatever other theme that will come out of the free-flowing interviews. These are the data that will be compared, contrasted and discussed in relation to pertinent information gathered from the review of literature. Once relevant material on homosexual and heterosexual parenting has been gathered and reviewed, specific information on the psychological effects of both homosexual and heterosexual parenting on children, both biological and adopted, shall be noted, organized and analyzed. Further, homosexual parenting will be analyzed according to gay parenting vs. lesbian parenting to compare their effects on their children, if any. In sum, data analysis would be deductive, from a general, broad spectrum of respondents’ views, dissected to more specific themes related to the research questions for this study. 13. Please describe study’s procedural steps in detail, along with the duration, location and communication format of each. You must describe any of the following that apply to your study: intital contact with potential participant, informed concent procedure, examination of records, surveys, interviews, assessments, observations, interventions/treatments, review of interview transcripts, and dissemination of the study’s results to participants and stakeholders. Use the chart as an example. Create a chart to look like this and include information. You can add as many steps as needed. (I will fill out the areas you can not like location and communication format) Detailed description Duration Exact location Communication format Step 1 Distribution of letters of introduction/ Collection of letters of consent from adult participants on their and their children’s participation. 2 weeks Step 2 Interviews with participants 1 month Step 3 Transcription, organization and analysis of data gathered 2 months Step 4 Reconciliation of analysis of data with research literature/ Writing of Discussion, Conclusion & Recommendations 2 months Step 5 Final Editing of Thesis Paper 1 month Step 6 Defense of Thesis 1 week Step 7 Submission and Dissemination of Completed copies of thesis to the university, participants and stakeholders 1 week 14. Are any of your data collections tools copyrighted? No If yes: list the instrument: describe how you got copyright and the terms of the copy right. 15. Did you create any of your own collection tools yourself? Yes If yes: list the instrument: and its reliability and validity are being established by using the following procedures (eg expert panel, proposed pilot study, ect) Interview/ Questionnaire for Parents, Interview/ Questionnaire for Children Are you modifying an existing tool? No If yes, APA style citation for the original tool is____; modifications include ___;and these modifications are necessary because:___ 16. Provide the target number of participants, including number per group if your study involves multiple groups. 12 parents: 8 homosexual/ lesbian parents; 4 heterosexual parents 12 children: 8 children of homosexual parents (at least 2 adopted children out of the 8); 4 children of heterosexual parents (at least 1 adopted child of the 4) Provide a brief rationale for this sample size: The case studies should have at least 2 representatives from the various populations specified: homosexual parents of adopted and biological children; heterosexual parents of adopted and biological children and their respective children. Hopefully this will provide the necessary variety to meet the requirements of the research design. 17. Describe the criteria for inclusion and exclusion of participants in the study (such as relevant experiences, age gender, health conditions) Your inclusion and exclusion criteria should define characteristics of your sample. Justify each criterian First criterion is the participant’s willingness to participate in the study and his or her commitment to honestly answer the interview questions. Another criterion is that they should be open with their sexual orientation. Still another, for adoptive families is the openness of the reality of adoption to the adopted child. Even with the guarantee of confidentiality, participants who are hesitant to answer the interview questions and fear of being exposed may be excluded in the study as they may pose to be threats to the integrity of the research and drop out at an unlikely point. Only children 12 years and above or younger (from 10 years old) ones showing maturity, as vouched by the parents may participate in the study. It goes without saying that participants should be of stable mental and emotional condition with the ability to verbally express themselves. 22. Please briefly justify the inclusion of each potential population. Ensure that this response lays out the rational for why it is not possible to conduct the reseach with out the use of the protected population. (children under age 17 is the protected population we have in this study) Gay males/ lesbian parents, with or without a partner: Since the study focuses on homosexual parenting, then they are the major participants of the study. Heterosexual parents with or without a partner: they are the “control” participants of the study and their parenting shall be the basis of comparison for homosexual parenting. Biological children of homosexual parents: some homosexual parents have borne children from either a previous relationship or through artificial means, and parenting them may or may not be different from biological children of heterosexual parents or adopted children of homosexual parents. Adopted children of homosexual parents: some homosexual couples opt to be parents and their recourse is to adopt a child and rear them. This study wants to compare the parents’ parenting of these children as compared to biological ones. Biological children of heterosexual parents: these children comprise the majority of children and will serve as the basis of comparison for the rearing of homosexual parents. Adopted children of heterosexual parents: these participants will also serve as basis of comparison of rearing of homosexual parents of adopted children. 23. If competency to provide consent could possible be an issue describe how competence will be determined and your plan for obtaining consent. Based on the criteria for inclusion in the study, inability to provide consent will be a ground for exclusion. 24. If this study proposes to include minors, this inclusions must meet the following criteria for risk/benefit assessment, according to the federal regulations. _ minimal risk _ greater then minimal risk, but holds prospect of direct benefits to participants _ greater than mininmal risk. No prospect of direct benefit to participants, but likely to yield gernealizable knowledge about the participants disorder or condition. Please explain how it fits the criteria Minimal risk: Although the topic of the research may be considered sensitive especially to children of homosexual parents, questions in the interview are phrased appropriately to be child-friendly and without malicious intent. Confidentiality of the children’s identities are ensured. Estimate and describe the potential risk of each: Level of risk Description of risk: list the circumstances that could cause this outcome a. Unintended disclosure of confidential information Minimal risk -possible unconventional child rearing patterns may psychologically affect children. -introspection of children for answers to questions may trigger emotional responses b. Psychological stress greater than what one would experience in daily life. Minimal risk -same c. Attention to personal information that is irrelevant to the study no risk d. Unwanted solicitation, intrusion of observation in public places no risk e. Unwanted intrusion of privacy of others not involved in the study no risk f. Social or economic loss no risk g. Perceived coercion to participants no risk H. Misunderstanding as a result of experimental deception no risk Major negative effect on participants. no risk 31. Explain what steps will be taken to minimize risk and to protect participants welfare. If the research will include protected population, identify each group and answer this question for each group. 1. Rapport will be established with child participants before the interviews so they will feel comfortable with the interviewer. 2. Questions will be asked in a non-intimidating manner. 3. Participants’ responses will be accepted and acknowledge without judgment. They will be free to express themselves without censorship. 4. Participants will be allowed to listen to the audiotaped interviews to hear their voice and edit their responses if they see fit. 5. Confidentiality of the participants’ identities will be ensured. With discussion of their answers, their names will be changed to protect their identities. 32. Describe the anticipated benefits of this research if any, for individual participants. Participants will be able to share their parenting styles and be acknowledged for it. Homosexual parents who believe they are doing a good job will be able to vindicate themselves from probable criticism by society, because their parenting may be viewed as non-conventional. Children will be able to share their experiences in being raised by their respective parents. Read More