Behavioural Theory: Making Peace With Your Decision - Research Proposal Example

BHS 2110 BHS3110 Researching Behaviour Research Proposal Pro Forma A. PROJECT DETAILS (~500 words) 1. Project Title (10 words max) MAKING PEACE WITH YOUR DECISION 2. Investigator / Organisation Details The Employee Recruitment Agency will be responsible for sourcing participants in the project. The Employee Recruitment Agency will make arrangements to contact the participants who are working and those who are not working. The Employee Recruitment Agency will set up interview schedules depending on whether the mother is working or not working. The Employee Recruitment Agency will also inform participants about a participation token like US $ 50.00. The Employee Recruitment Agency will explain the participants on the importance of the study seek their consent in the participation and also inform the participants about confidentiality of the information that they will disclose. 3. Brief lay explanation Mothers are faced with the challenges of staying at home to take care of their children and the need for financial independence to supplement their supposed stay at home. Going back to work enables a mother to improve on her career and the rewards of working makes the mother to financially meet material needs of her children. A financially stable mother is less likely to experience stress that affects her emotionally, physically and psychologically and that may be emptied on the children through bouts of shouting. This may negatively affect the development of a child psychologically and emotionally. The stress related to work may affect the quality time that a mother requires to bond emotionally, physically and psychologically with her children. The financial independence is a condition that breeds happiness and satisfaction that is transferred to children. It follows that the mental, emotional and psychological state of a mother is reflected on how she treats and handles the children. The mother can opt to stay at home due to ethical considerations but her financial status and its impacts on her and children will determine how her children will be able to interact with others. 4. Aims and objectives The proposed aims to be studied The main aims of the study will be to investigate the consequences of a mother’s stay at home to attend to her children needs in relation to the overall happiness of the mother and her children; to investigate the impacts of a mother’s choice to seek work that will enable her to efficiently take care of her children and possibly service the interests of her career in relation to the corresponding effects towards the happiness of a mother and her children. The proposed hypothesis to be tested The hypothesis that will be tested during the study will be: A child’s development is determined by the mother-to-child- contact hours A child’s emotional, psychological, physical and social development is affected by the same inputs from the mother. Satisfaction of a mother is translated onto the child in terms of better psychological, emotional and physical growth and development. Questions that will be addressed 1. Are cultural factors determinant to the decisions that affect a mother’s stay at home? 2. What should receive the top priority, a mother’s financial satisfaction or a child’s needs satisfaction? 3. Does working compromise the quality time that a mother should have for her children? 4. Does mother’s availability to her child always mean the child’s physiological, psychological, physical and emotional development is secured? 5. what happens to children whose mothers die during birth or children whose parents separate and fathers are allowed legally to be with them if the mother is a drunkard or careless? 6. Should a mother sacrifice her career for the sake of her children? 7. Is it more important to have children later in life after developing a career for a mother? What is the likelihood that a mother’s retirement will find her having educated all her children? What will happen if she exhausts all her pension and terminal benefits educating her children? 8. Is the family house help able to meet the needs for development of love, offer love equivalent to a mother’s? What is the likelihood that involvement of a house help will intrude into the privacy of the family? Will the house help be empowered to make decisions that regard the health of a child like rushing the child to hospital when the child falls sick when the mother is away? 9. Does the mother’s level of education and financial status influence her to seek employment at the expense of staying at home? 10. Is paid maternity leave able to reverse the trend of the need to seek employment? 11. What is the possibility that the mother is going to develop social or moral misfits following limited social interaction? How is the mother going to handle loneliness away from work? 12. Should staying at home to take care of children in their early development be viewed as a temporary interruption of a woman’s working life? 13. What should be the opportunity cost- staying at home to take care of the children or going back to work? B. PROJECT BACKGROUND (~1000-1500 words) 1. Background The trends on motherhood have changed (Johnson D.D. et al, 2006). The mother has a career. Following her delivery, the mother is faced with dilemma of staying at home or going back to work. The mother should evaluate her current financial status to know if they qualify her to stay at home or seek employment. Mother’s decisions to stay at home or work are affected by traditional views on motherhood that a mother should be there for her child and should participate in modelling the child. Mothers fail to rhyme with challenges outlined by Cognitive Consistency Theory (Festinger, 1954, cited in Johnson et al, 2004) mothers cannot maintain consistency between good motherhood and their choice of work. Mothers therefore tend to follow their believe system to accommodate a choice between staying at home and working. According to Nowak (2001) motherhood can be viewed in three distinct dimensions. First, a mother’s presence to a child promotes a child’s physiological and psychological growth and development. Secondly, there is need for a mother’s needs to be satisfied to be able to transfer the same parameters to her child. Mothers who have problems feel the child is the cause of them or feel the child is responsible for their isolation from their social environment. They tend to lose temper easily, and are not patient enough to analyse the impact of their behaviour to the child. A child ends up developing negative attitudes that are a true reflection of the mother’s behaviour. Children raised in such hostile environments don’t end up in life with good relationships and feel more comfortable in abusive relationships because that is what they have been used to. It has become a habit. Thirdly, motherhood doesn’t affect the employment needs of a mother if it is well planned. A mother is able to focus her attention to quality time for her child to compensate for the time she is away. A good mother is in a position to translate satisfactory motherhood to her child if she is satisfied with her choices of work (Lupton and Schmied, 2002) otherwise the mother is prone to child intolerance. The mother’s financial status, important factor to consider when a mother is opting to stay at home and her level of education determine is she would be in a position to forgo her work. Generation Y have strong views that a good mother gives her children needs the first priority than her own. They therefore feel that a mother should spend quality time with her children. It is only in the home environment where a mother can dispense emotional, psychological and physical needs. At the same time, a mother who has no contact with her child cannot know when her child has a serious illness like fever and may not be in a position to know what is the best option to do. Children are prone to fevers when they are under five years old. A mother who has little contact with her child may assume a slight rise in temperature is caused by using heavy clothing. Fathers therefore would propose the mother to be at home as they play supportive role (Lupton and Schmied, 2002) the mother and the father can also discuss on who is supposed to forgo salary, but the work policies may be negative on the possibility of a father’s “paternity or father leave”, a factor that would make the woman have no alternative but to opt to stay at home and hope for the best. The ethical factors, in this case digital age, have negative opinion on the choice concerning what would be wrong or what would be appropriately right. According to Lupton and Schmied (2002) the digital-age-society view staying at home as isolation from social interaction, whose consequences are loneliness. Loneliness affects mother’s patience. In the same context, there is likelihood of boredom and frustrations. While the mothers who work enjoy interesting lives, are able to meet their personal needs without stretching their budget limits but are likely to be tired to attend to their children needs. This implies the children don’t receive enough personal attention and may not develop to meet the mother’s scale of standards. Mothers consider going back to work in order to service their careers and attain financial independence, or to reclaim their rightful financial status that are negatively affected by expenses related to birth of a child (Lupton and Schmied, 2002). This desire is fuelled by the need of a mother to be part of the social class. It can also be as a result of prevailing family support when a grandmother volunteers to stand-in for her daughter. The need for substitute childcare could also play a vital role. The decision to stay at home or work is influenced by emotional virtue (Boyd, E.R., 2002). Mothers who opt to be away from work suffer from loneliness because they have been used to social interaction , sarcastic comments from other members of staff and this could weigh on her decision to go back to work. On the other hand, mothers who go back to work leaving their children behind develop a sense of guilt. They understand that a child doesn’t need to be weaned before attaining the required age of six months but in all practical situations, there cannot be a maternity leave that could be as long. This feel could affect the mother as she could constantly be thinking about her child. There is also problem of breast and the milk they secrete, something that women associate to their children’s needs to breastfeed or a cry of their child. Mothers can view staying at home to be temporary (Vincent et al, 2004) and as a break from their normal daily routines. It cannot affect their career development. There exist barriers for a mother’s return to work after having children (Novack, L.L., 1996). Generation Y is for the view that work doesn’t serve only monetary function but provides a feeling of security. Women in Generation Y value their careers more (Novack, 1996). The males on the other hand want to maintain their upper hand in the relationship in order to be able to control every aspect of mother ranging from intimacy, family budget and decision making. In the twenty first century, many employees are facing job insecurity but mother have an advantage because they can re-enter the market (Buzzanell,P.M., 2005) after having their children. The idea of staying at home is taken as a financial sacrifice (Gilbert, T. 2005). The employment rate of women with children that are less than five years old, have increased, from 36% in generation baby boomers to 50% in generation Y. Mothers in the generation baby boomers got their identity from childbearing and duties they did at home whilst the generation Y attain their identity by taking part in paid work (Gilbert N., 2005) 2. Outcomes and significance The possible expected outcomes from this project will address the ethical dilemma of childcare and motherhood. They include: The mother’s will have access to paid maternity leave or the corporate organisation will revise their policies and introduce flexible working environments for the mother so that she could have enough time to relate with her child. The corporate organisations will be able to review possibility of paid “paternity or father’s leave” so that fathers could be in a position to offer support. The presence of paid maternity leave will likely change the women’s view of seeking financial stability and make more women who opt to get children later in life to plan to have children early in their lives. The result of having children early in life will enable the mother and father to educate their children to any education level the child will want and leave the mother and father still financially stable. If having children early could be implemented, there will be a likelihood of presence of parents who are wealthy by the time they are forty. “the term life begins at forty will get its value because at that time, having educated children, mother and father will be able to afford holidays to destinations of their choice and be able to revitalise their relationship. The outcomes of the study will lead to implementation of the new code of conduct of childcare workers, to be trained to measure to the equivalent expected levels of a mother. In this way, the childcare worker will be in a position to provide required love to children and take part in psychological and physiological development of a child. The outcome of the study will lead to a decrease in fertility. Many women seek to service their careers first and get to family commitments later in life. Genetically, there is a high chance that a child that is born by a mother at age 42 has genetic malformations. This is not a problem with the mother because in a woman, the ovules are formed within the first three months of embryonic life and every month, one ovum matures. The problem lies with the man because the man continuously produces sperms. As a man ages, there is an increase in genetic mistakes, following mutations and therefore spermatogenesis becomes a faulty mechanism. C. RESEARCH PLAN (~1000-1500 words) 1. Participants The participants who will be used are estimated to be forty eight. The participants will be grouped into four groups each comprising twelve participants. The division of the groups will be based on age. There will be generation Y- the young generation that will be subdivided into two. The generation Y will comprise mothers who were born between 1965 and 1973 and the second group will have born between 1974 and 1982. The other group will comprise the generation baby boomers who were born between 1946 and 1964. And will be divided into mother who were born between 1946 and 1955 and 1956 and 1964 In the generation baby boomers, there will be mothers who worked when their children were under five years old and other mother who didn’t work when their children were under five years old. In the generation Y, there will be mothers who work and those who don’t work. The other variable that will be factored in the generation baby boomers is whether the mother was single or married or a widow and in generation Y whether the mother is single, married or a widow. The time limit will be one hour that will be divided into two. At least fifteen minutes to take data on occupation of the mother, age, marital status, income and education level and at least thirty minutes to address the issue of staying at home for non working mothers and how working mothers managed the separation from their children. RECRUITMENT The recruitment process will take place through employee recruitment agencies that carry out recruitment exercises for employers because these agencies have adequate data on working mothers and other mothers who are seeking employment through them. The explanation concerning the study will be done by the personnel in charge of recruitment. The personnel is in a position to provide either physical addresses or mailing addresses of the working mothers and other mothers who are currently in their database as jobseekers. The participants will be fully informed about the rationale of the study and the possible outcomes of the process. This will apply for the mothers who are currently in the agencies’ database as job seekers. The currently working mothers will be mailed questionnaire and an introduction letter that explains the reasons for the study, and that the study will seek for introduction of family friendly policies towards work or stimulate the government to look into the challenges facing childcare and provide solutions like paid maternity leave. The introduction letter will also provide details on the privacy of the information that mothers will disclose. 3. Data collection The data that will be collected will be based on the reasons that made mothers stay at home to care for children or work in generation baby boomers and the reasons that makes mothers to work or stay at home in generation Y in relation to their satisfaction. It will look into how each participant in generation baby boomers participated in paid work, by combining child care as well as work and how they obtained their identity from child bearing, childcare and home duties. In generation Y, focus will be on how the mothers manage to obtain their identity, from childbearing, childcare and home duties. The data will help to determine is staying at home or going to work or combining both has any effect on psychological, emotional and physical development of a child. The data will be collected by interviewing mothers in generation Y and generation baby boomers. The data on past mother’s working life in generation baby boomers and generation Y could be obtained from a secondary data for the purpose of comparison. Procedures that will be used for every category i. Generation Y The first step will be to identify the current needs of the mother and the reason behind the problem The second step will be to investigate the challenges they have encountered before arriving at the choice of staying at home or going back to work. The third step will be to evaluate the validity of opportunity cost the mother took The fourth step will be to look at possible alternatives solutions to the mother’s problems The fifth step will be to investigate the mother’s response to step four. ii. generation baby boomers The first step will be to identify the needs that they had when their children were less than five years old. The second step will be to investigate the decisions they made and the challenges they faced before they arrived at heir choice to stay at home or work. The third step will be to evaluate the validity of the opportunity cost they made. The fourth step will be to investigate the possible alternative solutions they had The fifth step will be to investigate the mother’s response to step four above. 4. Materials Materials that will be sued in the study are questionnaires. The investigator will be measuring the value of a woman to stay at home if she is not working and the value of working and relegating the childcare task. The questions that will be asked are open and include: i. if there are machines that can wash dishes, wash clothes and dry them, are you in a position to take this advantage and go back to work? ii. If the husband is ready to offer childcare and bridge your gap are you ready to go back to work? iii. If there is possibility of a paid maternity leave, would you be satisfied to take responsibilities of childcare? iv. If you are in a position to combine work and childcare, would you reap satisfaction in productive work? v. If there is a shift in power relationship, what would be your value foregone? Child care or going back to work? vi. If money is meant to provide a feeling of satisfaction and recognition, what is your opinion about childcare and work? vii. If there are family friendly work policies and you are able to get a part time work arrangements, what are you likely to fall for? Child care or work? viii. If the family is not for the idea of your working, would you be satisfied to stay at home? What is your attitude towards such a proposal? ix. If you could feel quilt when working because you left your child at home, would you be satisfied staying at home and bear the burden of financial difficulties if they arise? x. Are you able to trade your career development with your need to take care of your own child? xi. If the child’s psychological and physiological development depend on the input of the mother, what is your opinion towards work? xii. Should a mother pass her lack of satisfaction to her child if she is not satisfied financially? xiii. Happiness is an ingredient of money that one has, would you be able to give the same if you stay at home? xiv. Should a mother forego the childcare to provide satisfactory monetary at the expense of the child’s development? xv. How is the mother going to cope with the stereotypes in the society if she opts to stay at home? 5. Ethical considerations The mother , through efficient family support from the husband will seek house help in order to pave her own way to work. This will be associated with loss of privacy, discomfort of having to trust a stranger in the house and risks of health of the child. The issue of privacy and health risk will likely bring in a conflict of interest as to whether a mother will decide to stay at home or go for work. Presence of house help will affect confidentiality in the family. A family is a private place. There is also power relationship that results when a woman is endowed financially. Husband will feel more secure when they have authority over decision making level of intimacy and family budgets. The husbands may feel the trend will threaten their authority and reduce them into partners in the family circles. D. REFERENCES M. Baird & S. Charlesworth (2007). “After The Baby: A Qualitative study of working –time arrangements following maternity leave” Labour and Industry Journal. Vol. 17, No 3 E. R. Boyd (2002). “Being There, Mothers who stay at Home, Gender and Time”. Women’s Studies International Forum. Vol. 25, No 4 pp.463-470 P. M. Buzzanell, R. Meisenbach, R. Remke, M. Liu, V. Bowers and C. Conn (2005) “The good Working Mother: Managerial Women Sensemaking and Feelings About Work –Family Issues” Communication Studies, Vol. 56, No3, 2005 pp 261-285. D. Carr (2004). “My daughter has a career; i just Raised Babies”. The psychological Consequences of women’s International Social Comparison”. Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 67, No. 2 N. Gilbert (2005) “what do women really want” The public Interest D.D. Johnston and D.H. Swanson (2007) “ Cognitive Acrobatics in the Construction of Worker –Mother Identity”. Sex Roles Journal, Vol. 25, No 1 pp 97-107. D. Lupton and V. Schmied (2002) “The Right Way Of Doing It All: First Time Australian Mothers’ Decision About Paid Employment”, Women’s Studies International Forum Vol 25 No1 pp. 97-107 K. A. Snyder (2007) A Vocabulary of Motives: Understanding How Parents Define Quality Time Journal of Marriage and Family Vol 69 pp.320-340 C. Vincent and S. J. Ball (2004) “ Metropolitan Mothers: Mothers, Mothering and Paid Work” Women’s Studies International Forum V.27 pp. 571-587. Read More