Assignment 2: LASA: Research Proposal PTSD PTSD PTSD

Research and Evaluation

September 28, 2017

Research Problem: traumatic events are extremely stressful. Stress emanating from such events has a broad range of psycho-emotional and psychopathological outcomes as well as impacts (Copeland, Keeler, Angold, & Costello, 2007). Responses to such events is what is diagnosed as posttraumatic stress disorder. Exposure to different forms of violence is an example of traumatic events that result to long lasting side effects to those being exposed. This becomes worse when those exposed are in their developmental stages in life. It is common for children who have been exposed to any kind of violence, be it family based violence, armed forces or troops (child soldiers), environmental toxins, terrorist attacks, abuse or any other kind, to exhibit severe side effects such as arousal, anxiety, fear and anger management issues. This research will seek to address the problem of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among children who have been previously exposed to violent events.

Refined Research Question: the central question in the research study is: What causes PTSD among children with past exposure to family-based violence? A sub-question in the research is; do all children with a past exposure to family-based violence exhibit PTSD symptoms?

Null Hypothesis: there is no significant relationship between children with PTSD and their previous exposure to family-based violence

Alternative Hypothesis: previous exposure to family-based violence has a significant effect on likeliness of children to exhibit PTSD.

Independent and Dependent Variables: the independent variables in this research study are, gender, age, type of trauma-exposed to and the number of times being exposed to trauma. The dependent variable is the frequency of which PTSD is exhibited.

Operational Definitions of Variables: Stangor (2011) refers to operational definitions as the specific ways in which variables are measured in a particular study. In relation to this study, the various variables will be measured as: gender is either male or female; type of trauma will be “physical assault”, “neglect”, “fighting parents” or “psychological torture”; the number of times being exposed to trauma is the frequency of exposure to trauma. The frequency of which PTSD is exhibited is the number of times PTSD symptoms are experienced.

Sample: the research study will involve persons aged under 18 years who have been under the observation of psychiatrists, health practitioners as well as those covered in previous research works. The extend of coverage in terms of years for the participants will be between 5-10 years. Participants will only be those who have been exposed (or being exposed) to traumatic events in their families, are recovering, have recovered or are yet to convalesce.

Sample Size: choosing a sample size fit for a study is critical because it not only reflects the whole population but also determines how valid and reliable the conclusions drawn from the study will be Stangor (2011). In relation to this, therefore, this study will consider only 100 children from the existing literature of overall PTSD cases in the district. This will provide both a small sample good to deal with as well as a good reflection of the PTSD population in the district. Estimates have levels of uncertainty associated with them. Therefore, the sample size for this study will be chosen considering confidence levels and margin errors. Moreover, varying a sample size, either increasing or decreasing, has a huge power in detecting differences. This will call for power and effect sizes to be considered as well.

Sample Recruitment: For the study, participants will be recruited through sending emails to relevant stakeholders such as psychiatrics, clinicians, children’s homes and psychopathologists. Moreover, law agencies such as the children’s courts in the district will be among the relevant stakeholders able to provide information on potential subjects in the study. They will, therefore, be contacted for the same. Printed recruitment letters will also be posted to the relevant stakeholders for purposes of filing and other relevant use. Where possible, the researcher will indulge directly with the PTSD patients. However, this will be challenging because, as Wesel, Boeije, Alisic, & Drost (2011) asserts, parents and siblings of victims of family-based violence tend to be overprotective and avoid questioning of any kind in fear of being sued.

Measurement Instruments: in order to collect the raw numeric data for analysis, this study will use detailed structured questionnaires. The questionnaires will contain both open and close-ended questions which will be specific, unambiguous, clear and precise. In addition, the questions will not touch on any personal matters of the participants. The questionnaire will thus be providing both qualitative and quantitative data for analysis in the study. Stangor (2011) points out to the large amounts of information possible to gather from a large number of people in a short time and in a relatively cost-effective way to a major advantage of using questionnaires.

Issues to cover in the questionnaires will mainly relate to the independent and dependent variables in the study.

Participants’ safety: will be maintained by ensuring confidentiality of all participants. Moreover, information provided will only be used for the purposes of the study strictly.

Possible Threats to Validity: the most possible threats to validity in this research would likely be interpretation invalidity and researcher bias. However, these two will be minimized by the use of open-ended questions and structuring leading questions respectively. Open-ended questions will enable participants to give elaborated answers while leading questions will ensure the researcher does not influence the participant's responses.

Inferential Statistical Process: the study will adopt correlational approach as the parametric inferential statistical process. This, as pointed out by Stangor (2011), is because correlational research provides results more applicable to every day’s life as it takes place outside the lab and provides insight for further research to other scholars.

Behavioral Research Alpha Level: an alpha level of 0.01 will be used in the research. This will be important because the consequences of making a Type 1 error in this research are extremely significant.

Copeland, W. E., Keeler, G., Angold, A., & Costello, E. J. (2007). Traumatic events and posttraumatic stress in childhood. Archives of General Psychiatry, 64 (5), 577-584.

Stangor, C. (2011). Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences (4 Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

Wesel, F., Boeije, H., Alisic, E., & Drost, S. (2011, October 24). I'll Be Working My Way back: A Qualitative Synthesis on the Trauma Experience of Children. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication. DoI: 10.1037/a0025766