Quantitative Social Methods - - Research Proposal Example

With the awareness that the international students’ psychological distress can best be conceptualized in a stress and coping strategies outline, this study was designed to establish the coping skills used by international students to deal with stress in Australia. A literature review addressing the coping strategies is attached. Research Question and Hypothesis This study will research the question “what are the coping strategies used by international students to deal with stress while studying in Australia?

” The research is conducted in view of the fact that previous literature (Heatherton, Kleck & Hebl 2000) confirms that international students in Australia are actually under stress, and seeks to establish what coping strategies they use. The study will also seek to establish if a knowledge gap exists on the matter. Research Plan, Methods and Techniques Study Design The study will follow two different designs with the purpose of addressing the research question and hypothesis effectively. Both the cross-sectional and retrospective study designs will be used.

The cross-sectional design will seek to establish the prevalence of the problem and, hence, how the affected cope with it, by interviewing a cross-section of the target population, which are the university students. The retrospective design will investigate the relationship between cultural shock and stress, leading to questions on how international students deal with it. The advantage of both designs is that they do not require substantial and expensive resources in recruiting the required sample/participant size (Trochim 2009).

Recruiting in both designs is also feasible. On the other hand, both designs are prone to significant selection bias. Participants and Sampling This research project aims to expand the implications of the results beyond the actual number of between 25 to 30 samples/participants of the study. The non-probability sampling technique, also known as convenience sampling, will be used. This is in reflection of how the study is intended to be free and no one will be forced to participate. This type of sampling lets the researcher work with any participants who are the easiest to access and consent to the study at their own free will (Freshwater, Sherwood & Drury 2006).

This will also cater for the aspect that the study question is basic and universal enough to be safely generalized further than the narrow sample targeted for the study. The advantage of this sampling type is that the researcher contacts a small number of potential participants who will effectively represent a population. However, the key disadvantage of this sampling arises from the choice of a subset population, because it is impossible to study the target population in its entirety. Systematic errors may occur because of discrepancies between the population and the sample.

Further, the response rate may be biased and not genuine because the sample may be self-selecting. This usually arises when those who agree to participate have self interests in one of the variables being studied. Data Collection Data collection will be via a questionnaire, where participants are required to answer 22 multiple choice questions