Psychology as a Science - Term Paper Example

Impact of Trauma on the Development of Future Relationships al Affiliation Impact of Trauma on the Development of Future Relationships The research question is “Can trauma have impact on the development of future relationships?” Trauma refers to an emotional or psychological injury resulting from a disturbing experience (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). The disturbing experience can include rape, sexual assault, physical torture, and other experiences. Trauma may have a number of impacts on the development of future relationship in human society.

Researchers will be able to investigate the impacts of trauma on the development of future relationships using a structured interview, which is the most appropriate research method for gathering information from respondents. A structured interview is appropriate because a researcher uses a systematic and fair way of interacting with all respondents (Rogers, 2001). This discussion will consider the basic components of a structured interview, as well as how to use a structured interview in approaching informed consent, risk/gain assessment, intentional deception, and debriefing.

The basic components of a structured interview include term identification, situational questions, and behavioral questions (Rogers, 2001). These components will guide interviewer to gather the necessary information from the interviewee regarding the research question. The interviewer will understand whether trauma affects future relationships or not based on the use of the structured interview components. Term identification will enable the interviewer to understand the meaning of new terms that the interviewees may use (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

The interviewer may ask the respondent to elaborate on the meaning of flashbacks with regard to traumatic experiences. Situational questions are the interview questions that the interviewer employs to understand the situations that the respondent will undergo (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). For instance, the researcher may ask victims of sexual assault whether they will experience any problem with forming intimate relationships. Behavioral questions are the interview questions that researchers use to understand feelings the respondent underwent during the traumatic experience.

For instance, the researcher may ask the victims of sexual assault to express the physical feelings they went through during the trauma. Informed consent is necessary before the structured interview because the interviewee should be aware of the aftermaths of the interview (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). The interviewer should inform the respondent that it may be possible to reveal the traumatic incident to the relevant authority. Risk assessment requires a researcher to identify, evaluate, and estimate the levels of risks involved during the interview (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

The researcher will then compare the risks against standards or benchmarks to determine the acceptable level. Intentional deception allows a researcher to withhold some information for the respondents participate fully. For instance, the researcher may fail to inform the respondents about the aftermaths of the interview. Debriefing will help a researcher correct the intentional deception for the interviewees to understand the aftermaths of the interview (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008). In conclusion, the structured interview will enable a researcher to gather meaningful information from the respondents because it is systematic and fair (Gerrig & Zimbardo, 2008).

A researcher asks the same question to all respondents and compares the responses. The basic components of a structured interview include term identification, situational questions, and behavioral questions (Rogers, 2001). These enable the researcher to gather enough information from the respondents regarding the impact of trauma on future relationships. ReferencesGerrig, R. J., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2008). Psychology and Life, Discovering Psychology Edition with MyPsychLab. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Rogers, R. (2001).

 Handbook of diagnostic and structured interviewing. New York: Guilford Press.