APPLIED RESEARCH Essay Guru only

Response 1

Kimberly Troy

 

Negotiating Access

Real world research often requires a formal agreement to access to participants, and utilizing connections such as friends, family members, and colleagues are essential in this process (Robson & McCartan, 2016). To obtain access to the participants of this study, a point of contact in the American School Counseling Association would need to be established to determine if permission is required to contact school counselors directly. If no other permission is required, a point of contact at the district level who has contact with all school counselors would be needed. Additionally, a point of contact would need to be established at the gym to get permission for use of the facilities for the exercise program. Lastly, permission will need to be granted for use of the survey instruments that will be used in the research project. Because this study involves human subjects, approval must be obtained by the Institutional Review Board. The activities are designed to benefit the individuals participating and pose a low to moderate risk to the participants. In this research, the benefits outweigh the risks, therefore requiring a Level 2 expedited review process (AUIRBH, 2014).

Discussion with ‘Gatekeepers’

Once the connections have been established, the discussion about gaining access needs to occur with these ‘gatekeepers’. This explanation must be thorough enough that it convinces the ‘gatekeepers’ of the necessity of the research. Robson and McCartan (2016) suggest that one be honest but vague, and be competently knowledgeable about all aspects of the research, including the setting, participants, and background knowledge. The conversation with the ‘gatekeepers’ would begin with providing background knowledge about how school counselors are at high risk for job burnout (Baldwin et al., 2011; Bardhoshi, 2012; Bardhoshi et al., 2014) and that regular exercise may reduce or prevent fatigue (deVries et al., 2016). The ‘gatekeepers’ would then be informed that the purpose of the study is to measure the effect of exercise on work-related stress, and the need to enlist a group of school counselors who would be willing to participate. It would be explained that the counselors would be enrolled in an exercise program that could benefit them by reducing their work-related stress. It would be stressed that no personal data concerning the weight or physical condition of the subjects would be collected or observed.    

Discussion with Likely Participants

            The discussion with likely participants to encourage them to participate in the study would be done with courtesy and consideration (Robson & McCartan, 2016). Background knowledge about school counselor burnout would also be explained to likely participants, however, data about how performing non-counseling duties contribute to school counselor burnout (Wilkerson & Bellini, 2006) would also be shared to make the phenomenon relatable. The likely participants would be made to feel as though they were providing a favor for participating in the study and the mental and physical benefits would be emphasized. It would be explained to the participants that regular exercise could possibly prevent and combat burnout which would also improve self-efficacy. The likely participants would be assured that data about weight and physical health would not be collected and that all identifying information will remain anonymous. Finally, likely participants would be assured that the exercise program is adaptable to physical strengths and weaknesses.            

Research Obstacles

 

One obstacle that is anticipated in conducting this research project includes obtaining full participation in the exercise program. It is possible that some type of motivation, other than possibly decreasing work-related stress, may be needed to encourage full participation. Another obstacle may be encountered with the usage of the gym for the desired length of the study. Lastly, not having a large enough pool of school counselors to select from could prevent generalizability.    

 

 

 

 

References

Argosy University Institutional Review Board Handbook (2014). Retrieved from http://argosy.campusguides.com.libproxy.edmc.edu/ld.php?content_id=30314515

Baldwin, K.D., Barmore, C., Suprina, J.S. & Weaver, A. (2011). “Burnout syndrome in licensed mental health counselors and registered mental health counselor interns: A pilot study”. 2011 American Counseling Association Conference, March 26, New Orleans, LA. Retrieved from https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/vistas_2012_article_79.pdf?sfvrsn=7fb39eec_11.

 

Bardhoshi, G. (2012). The relationship between assignment of non-counseling duties and burnout among professional school counselors (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. 3490361)

 

Bardhoshi, G., Schweinle, A., Duncan, K. (2014). Understanding the impact of school factors on school counselor burnout: A mixed-methods study. The Professional Counselor, 4(5), 426-443.

 

de Vries, J. D., van Hooff, M. M., Geurts, S. E., & Kompier, M. J. (2016). Exercise as an Intervention to Reduce Study-Related Fatigue among University Students: A Two-Arm Parallel Randomized Controlled Trial. Plos ONE, 11(3), 1-21. 

 

Robson, C. & McCartan, K.  (2016).  Real world research (4th ed.). West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

 

Wilkerson, K., & Bellini, J. (2006). Intrapersonal and organizational factors associated with burnout among school counselors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84, 440-450.

 

 Anne Gonzales posted Aug 15, 2018 8:17 PM

 

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Checklist

RESPONSE 2

Steps 1 and 2

This researcher’s applied phenomenological research study will require negotiation to gain access to participants.  The first step of checklist is to establish contact points to get permission.  This researcher will speak with managers at various businesses in Washington State area to gain access to supervisors, employees, and/or consumers, as well as premises and time to conduct interviews.  This researcher will harness networking and personal contacts to speak with businesses that this researcher frequents.  By seeking and gaining approval and permission face-to-face to interview ten randomly selected supervisors, employees, or consumers at these various Washington businesses, this researcher will also clear steps 2 of the checklist.

Step 3: Outline for Gatekeepers

To aid in the gaining of permission from gatekeepers, an outline of the research study will be presented to them in fulfillment of checklist’s step 3.  This researcher’s applied study will seek to identify what best marketing and management best practices leads to long-term consumption loyalty.  The aim is to obtain ten randomly selected interview participants to be audio-recorded in a face-to-face semi-structured interview.  The resulting data will be used to complete the researcher’s Doctor of Business Administration Doctoral Research or Dissertation at Argosy University.  In addition, dissertation will be made available to participating businesses who grant access to their employees and/or consumers.  The qualitative research seeks to identify phenomenon present in general population so there is flexibility in subjects.

Step 4: Review

The purpose of this study is to attempt to identify if and how long-term consumer loyalty is built for three original firms: Colgate, Gatorade, and Quaker Oats.  The researcher will obtain approval from Argosy University’s Institutional Review Board to interview participants for this research.  The three original firms are studied to see how they counter effects of rival imitating firms Crest, Powerade, and generic store-brand Oatmeal. 

Informed consent and ethical treatment will be given to the voluntary participants.  There will be no compensation for participation.  However, interested subjects will be given a copy of the dissertation.  The study seeks to identify best practices for original firms to out-compete rival copycat firms through obtaining and retaining long-term consumer loyalty.  Through in-depth semi-structured questioning in an open-ended face-to-face way with ten interview participants who have a long consumptive history of using either one of the brands mentioned, we seek to answer research questions and fulfill purposes. There may be subjects without long consumption of any of the brand mentioned, so these will be skipped until ten viable candidates are in play.

Steps 5 and 6: Participants

To participants, this researcher will present a more lively introduction to the research to aid in recruitment.  This study seeks to garner data on what makes people loyal to one brand over another imitating, yet lower-costing brand.  This study seeks participants to voluntarily consent to a face-to-face, tape-recorded interview with this researcher that should last about 30 minutes.  The questions will mainly be open-ended and there is no right or wrong answer.  Participants do need to meet a baseline requirement of buying loyally from at least one brand studied: Colgate, Crest, Gatorade, Powerade, Quaker Oats, and versus generic store-brand Oatmeal.  Participants will not be compensated, but are welcome to a printout of this researcher’s Argosy University Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) dissertation, which will use data from interviews.

This researcher will obtain prior approval from Argosy University’s Institutional Review Board to ensure that the study treats participants with ethics and respect.  This study will not harm participants in any way, shape, or form.  In addition, this researcher will obtain prior approval from company participant works for and supervisor if the interview is done on company time or on company premises.  Interview data will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and imported into qualitative data analytic software Atlas.ti to help with organizing and analyzing.  Should there be any follow-up questions, this researcher can perform exit interviews after interviewing all ten participants for closure.

Obstacles

This researcher has made the request for resources to do the interview quite broad to ensure flexibility in enabling research data to be gleaned.  Starting with the firm employed at, this researcher will obtain at least two participants there: one supervisor and one employee.  From there, this researcher will request and hopefully obtain permission from five other institutions to interview one manager and one employee at each.  The challenges to obtain this permission may present themselves.  Barriers to taking consent effectively for research interview include reluctance of involvement, no time, and clinician inexperience (Wood, 2016).  Firms may unfortunately deny based on lack of time, interest, or knowledge.

According to Amundsen (2017), access poses challenges that are not impossible to surmount, but that require researchers to negotiate a great deal.  Amundsen (2017) states strategies to gain access include making long-term trust-filled relationships, respecting cultural differences, using social networking, and getting permission at multiple levels.  Negotiating deals with gatekeepers and harnessing knowledge of politics and relationships of power were other strategies to gain access to research sites and participants (Amundsen, 2017).  According to Hazel and Clark (2013), many tactics must be used to recruit participants.  This researcher will harness contacts, employment location, and face-to-face business cold-calls to secure access.

 

References

Amundsen, D., Msoroka, M., & Findsen, B. (2017). "It's a case of access." The problematics of accessing research participants. Waikato Journal Of Education (2382-0373), 22(4), 5. doi:10.15663/wje.v22i4.425

Hazel, N., & Clark, A. (2013). Negotiating doorstep access: door-to-door survey researchers' strategies to obtain participation. International Journal Of Social Research Methodology, 16(4), 307-321. doi:10.1080/13645579.2012.687136

Wood, F., Martin, S. M., Carson ‐ Stevens, A., Elwyn, G., Precious, E., & Kinnersley, P. (2016). Doctors' perspectives of informed consent for non-emergency surgical procedures: a qualitative interview study. Health Expectations, 19(3), 751-761. doi:10.1111/hex.12258

Top of Form

· David Berner

yesterday at 11:21 AM

Hi Tracey,

 

Your post was well-written, and you bring up some very good points that we all have to consider when requesting permission to conduct research in a given environment or institution. I am currently preparing emails and correspondence to the community college where I plan to conduct my study, and the main issue about which I am anxious is the prospect of the students not wanting to participate. As Tracy (2013) implied, voluntary participation is a problematic factor to conducting research, and I am already aware of how busy some college students may be, and the prospect of doing a survey may not be in their best interests. For me personally, I am trying to figure out how to convey to them that this research could help their experiences in higher education, as well as help others like them in the future. Hopefully, they will see the benefit and how much their input is appreciated.

Have you started work on your Methodology chapter yet for your Dissertation? It’s where I am and I’m finding it to be probably the hardest one yet, simply because things are getting real now!

Do you anticipate one of the three obstacles that Tracy (2013) discussed as being a potential hurdle?

Great job this week!

David

Reference:

Tracy, S.J. (2013) Qualitative Research Methods: Collecting Evidence, Crafting Analysis,

Communicating Impact. West Sussex, UK.: Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved from:

http://okt.kmf.uz.ua/atc/oktat

atc/Basics_of_research_methodology/Tracy_2013_qualitative_research_methods_collect

ng_evidence_crafting_analysis_communication.pdf

 

Roy Combs

yesterday at 1:24 PM

Good tough analysis considering some of the primary problem areas such, as gaining access.