Literature HOMEWORK

Joshua Casey

National University

HSE490: Supervised Senior Project

Professor Bruce Reaves

April 11, 2026

Chapter III: Methodology and Results

Introduction

The chapter describes how the current study relies on secondary data, which is already published, peer-reviewed research, to answer the research question: How effective are emergency preparedness practices in public high schools at improving staff readiness and response performance during active threat situations? Since this project is not an original fieldwork, the methods of this chapter are based on the methods of the authors of the chosen studies. The chapter is divided into studies and introduces the purpose, procedures, setting, limitations, participants, research instruments, and results for each source. The chapter further describes how the results of each study will be used in the current project. The four studies selected have a defined sample, well-defined data collection methods, and quantifiable results that can be used to test one or more components of the study hypotheses. The current project employs a structured comparative analysis rather than a pooled meta-analysis because the studies do not use the same design, population, or outcome measures, and the studies are presented chronologically.

Hypotheses

The study tests the following hypotheses:

1. Emergency preparedness practices centered on training, communication, and coordination are positively associated with improved staff readiness in public high schools during active threat situations.

2. Emergency preparedness practices centered on training, communication, and coordination are positively associated with stronger staff response performance in public high schools during active threat situations.

3. Higher staff readiness is associated with stronger response performance during active threat situations.

4. Stronger staff readiness and response performance increase the likelihood that emergency preparedness practices will contribute to reducing injuries and deaths during active threat events.

Study 1: Active Shooter Protocols: Perceptions, Preparedness, and Anxiety (2021)

Title and Purpose

The study aimed to determine the impact of active shooter training in high school on the subsequent anxiety and preparedness of college students. The research also determined whether students were more aware of campus protocols than of high school protocols (Worthington et al., 2021, pp. 91, 94).

Procedures

An anonymous online survey was used in the study following institutional review board approval at Winthrop University. The participants were first asked to reflect on the active shooter training they had received in high school, then to respond to similar questions about their current university. The survey consisted of measures of perceived knowledge, protocol knowledge, type of training, anxiety, and preparedness, and lasted approximately 10 minutes. The authors analyzed the data in three stages using bivariate correlations, two hierarchical linear regression analyses, and a dependent t-test (Worthington et al., 2021, p. 96).

Setting and Limitations

The data were gathered in one midsize public university in the Southeast (Worthington et al., 2021, p. 95). It was also only one university setting used in the study, although participants were reminiscing about past high school experiences. The other limitation is that the measures were based on perceptions, knowledge, and anxiety rather than direct observation of emergency action. Moreover, the research indirectly addressed long-term effects by using retrospective reports, implying that the results rely on participants' memories.

Description of the Participants

The final sample consisted of 364 student participants aged 18-29 enrolled at the same university. Everyone was willing to join, and others were given additional credit. The sample consisted of 281 women, 74 men, and 9 others (Worthington et al., 2021, p. 95). Participants were selected based on their background of either public, parochial, or private high schools, though the majority had attended a public school.

Description of the Research Instrument(s)

The survey assessed three variables of knowledge, present anxiety, and perceived preparedness. Five items of the Wrench Crisis Knowledge Index were modified and used to measure perceived knowledge. A 15-item yes-or-no checklist was used to assess knowledge of the protocol. Anxiety was assessed using a self-report scale, which included the following statements: I would be frightened or nervous about an active shooter at school, and preparedness was assessed using two 10-point items that included whether students would know what to do, and how prepared they felt. These tools are applied to the current project because they measure dimensions of readiness relevant to the project, such as perceived knowledge and preparedness.

Results and Application

The authors found that high school perceived knowledge and evacuation protocols were related to anxiety and preparedness outcomes, and that university-level experiences added to the variance in anxiety and preparedness. They also discovered that the preparedness of students was negatively related to anxiety, such that the more prepared students were, the less anxious they were. The dependent t-test also supported the hypothesis that students knew less about their university protocols than they did about their high school protocols. In the current project, the findings will serve as evidence for Hypothesis 1, as they show that training and protocol knowledge are associated with readiness-related outcomes. Nonetheless, because the study will be based on students' perceptions rather than staff behavior during active threat events, it will not be used independently to test Hypothesis 2 or Hypothesis 4.

Study 2: Correlates of the Number Shot and Killed in Active Shooter Events (2021)

Title and Purpose

The study identified the factors related to the number of people who were shot and killed in active shooter events. This was not to test a single complete theory, but to test variables related to casualty outcomes (Blair et al., 2021, pp. 336-340).

Procedures

The research relied on secondary data based on FBI active shooter reports on 250 shootings that were identified between 2000 and 2017 (Blair et al., 2021, p. 341). The authors retrieved data on the FBI reports, recoded the data on shot and killed to include only those cases of bullet-wounded and killed victims, and added the data with the records of the law enforcement, after-action reports, and at least two news articles per case. They then statistically modeled the relationship between offender, target, and guardianship-related variables and the number shot and killed. The authors observe that event resolution was used as a proxy for guardianship because the data lacked strong direct indicators, such as police response time or the time taken to confront the attacker.

Setting and Limitations

This study was conducted on a national event dataset rather than a single school or district. The breadth of that is a strength as it includes most categories of active shooter incidents. The authors also recognized several limitations in the data. Past events might have been omitted because searches of archival news are more effective over time, less deadly events might not have received as much media coverage, and the FBI data did not capture all the more specific timing and guardianship controls that would be helpful for explanation.

Description of the Participants

Human participants were not used in the traditional sense in this study. Rather, the 250 active shooter incidents identified in the FBI reports between 2000 and 2017 served as the units of analysis (Blair et al., 2021, pp. 336, 341). Since the research was a study of events rather than a survey of people, the descriptive characteristics pertinent to the study were event characteristics, including the type of location, the number and type of weapons used, the offenders' demographics, their mobility, and the event resolution.

Description of the Research Instrument(s)

The main research instruments were the FBI active shooter reports and the authors' coding scheme. The coded variables were date, the attacker's demographics, location type, weapon, mobility, and the event's resolution. The authors also recoded the number of shots and killed to enhance accuracy and cross-checked information using formal reports and news accounts.

Results and Application

Blair et al. (2021) discovered that schools were estimated to experience one to two fewer people shot compared to other types of locations and had the least number of people killed in number-shot control. They also stated that the more recent attacks were estimated to have one person fewer shot and one person fewer killed. Also, incidents where the potential victims prevented the attacker had the lowest number of people who were estimated to have been shot and killed. In the current project, the findings will primarily be applied to test Hypothesis 4, as they provide evidence that protective actions and context can be related to casualty outcomes. The research can also indirectly inform Hypothesis 2 by indicating that effective action during an event is important. Still, it cannot directly test staff preparedness, as it does not measure training, knowledge, or perceptions of school personnel.

Study 3: Educating and Empowering Inner-City High School Students in Bleeding Control (2022)

Title and Purpose

The study aimed to find out whether a Stop the Bleed course would make students more comfortable, willing, and prepared to intervene in acute bleeding. Even though the research did not focus on active shooter situations, the training focused on responding to violence and on immediate life-saving actions before the arrival of emergency medical services (Okereke et al., 2022, pp. 186-187).

Procedures

The prospective interventional pilot study was conducted at one inner-city high school in Brooklyn, New York. Students were recruited during physical education or health classes and given the option to participate. The training session lasted approximately 50-55 minutes and consisted of an interactive PowerPoint presentation, a discussion period, and practical skills stations on tourniquet application, wound packing, and pressure application. The students were administered an anonymous pre- and post-course paper survey, and the authors used the McNemar test with p = 0.05 to compare willingness, comfort, and preparedness before and after the course (Okereke et al., 2022, pp. 186-188).

Setting and Limitations

The researchers conducted the study at a single charter high school in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, which the authors characterized as a high-violence-exposure neighborhood with high risk factors (Okereke et al., 2022, pp. 187-188). The authors acknowledge several limitations. It was a small pilot study in a single setting; the classroom was not controlled, not all participants had prior Stop the Bleed training, and the results were not measured by action but by a self-reported survey. They also pointed out that the research failed to establish whether the gains would be sustained in the long run.

Description of the Participants

The researchers enrolled 290 high school students, and 286 volunteered to participate. The average age was 15.7 years, 40.8% were female, and 11.4% had previously completed a Stop the Bleed course. Students were separated into groups of 20-25 or 25-30, depending on the class period, and taught by two or three instructors (Okereke et al., 2022, pp. 186-188).

Description of the Research Instrument(s)

The main instruments were anonymous seven-item pre- and post-intervention paper surveys using five-point Likert-type responses. In the post-survey, another question asked about willingness to assist a bleeding victim. The training, as such, also served as an intervention tool, consisting of presentations, discussions, and practical skills stations.

Results and Application

Okereke et al. (2022) found significant post-training gains. The percentage of students who were somewhat likely or very likely to help increased from 43.8% to 80.8%. There was an increase in self-rated comfort from 45.4 to 76.5 and preparedness from 25.1 to 83.8. The three measures were statistically significant at p <.0001. In the current project, these results will inform Hypothesis 1, as they indicate that structured emergency training can enhance readiness-related outcomes in a school environment. The research can also make an indirect contribution to Hypothesis 4, as it is a life-saving intervention before the arrival of professional responders. Nevertheless, because the participants were students and the results were self-reported, the study alone cannot be used to test the hypothesis that training enhances staff response performance during active threat situations.

Study 4: School Counselors’ Perceptions and Understandings of Lockdown Drills: Navigating the Paradox of Safety and Fear (2023)

Title and Purpose

The study was conducted to explore perceptions of how the policy of mandatory lockdown drills is implemented in reaction to active shooter events in public schools. The authors focused on school counselors lived experiences with lockdown drills.

Procedures

The research design was phenomenological, and the data were gathered through four 60-minute semi-structured focus group interviews. The sample was recruited at the location of no-cost professional development workshops of school counselors at a large urban university college of education. They were randomly divided into focus groups and audio-recorded interview sessions; the transcripts were analyzed using the steps of phenomenological analysis outlined by Creswell and Poth, following Moustakas's approach. The researchers employed general, open-ended questions about what lockdown drills meant to participants, their experiences with drills in their counselor work, and how students and stakeholders responded to drills (Eckhoff & Goodman-Scott, 2023, pp. 526, 533-536).

Setting and Limitations

The study was based on five school districts in the Southeastern United States in the 2019 school year. The sample comprised counselors in PK-12 settings across urban, suburban, and rural environments. The primary weakness of the tool in the current project is that it is qualitative and targets school counselors rather than the entire staff. It also covers a wider grade range compared to the public high schools alone.

Description of the Participants

The sample consisted of 26 working school counselors who participated in the survey and reported experience with lockdown drills in their work. The participants' average age was 41.7 years, and they had an average of 12.2 years of professional counseling experience. They were selected based on school locations spanning the PK-12 grade range, and they were urban, suburban, and rural.

Description of the Research Instrument(s)

The main research tool was a semi-structured focus group protocol developed around three open-ended questions on lockdown drills, counselor experiences, and student and stakeholder responses. Transcription of audio recordings was conducted securely and coded in a phenomenological process that traversed the smaller units of meaning to larger themes.

Results and Application

The study identified four main themes: Awareness of School Violence, Necessity and Variability in Preparation, Paradox of Safety, and Communication as Support and Challenge. These findings indicate that counselors tended to support drills in principle but also identified communication issues, emotional stress, and physical limitations in the building that made implementation difficult. In the current project, the findings will primarily guide Hypothesis 2 and Hypothesis 3, as they demonstrate how the conditions of communication and implementation can influence whether preparedness is transformed into higher response performance. Nevertheless, since the results are qualitative and do not yield quantifiable performance metrics, the study will not be used solely to assess support for the casualty reduction hypothesis.

Plan for Analysis

The four studies will be compared according to how well their results address the four hypotheses. Worthington et al. (2021) and Okereke et al. (2022) will be used mainly to assess whether training is associated with readiness-related outcomes such as preparedness, comfort, and perceived knowledge. Eckhoff and Goodman-Scott (2023) will be used to evaluate how communication and implementation conditions may influence the relationship between readiness and actual response. Blair et al. (2021) will be used to assess whether protective action is associated with fewer injuries and deaths during active shooter events. Because the studies do not measure the same populations or use the same variables, they cannot be combined statistically. Instead, the analysis in Chapter IV will compare their results to determine whether the total body of evidence supports, partially supports, or fails to support each hypothesis.

Chapter III Summary

This chapter explained how the selected studies gathered and processed their data, and how the results of these studies will be implemented in the current project. The four acceptable sources constitute a composite body of secondary data encompassing survey research, regression analysis, event-level statistical analysis, and qualitative focus group interviews. Collectively, these studies provide usable evidence on training, preparedness, communication, protective actions, and casualty-related outcomes, and they also indicate the limitations of the existing evidence base.

References