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How would you locate resources in a community in which you have no relationships?

How would you locate resources in a community in which you have no relationships?  GOOGLE with follow up phone calls and asking clients what resources they have used..

OK now for the real questions

1  Client under the influence is session?

I first would ask them what they used today, assure them that telling the truth this setting is very important due to possible medical emergency. If they can hold a conversation continue to have a discussion, if not I will ask them to go say down in one of our quiet/induction rooms. If they drive I always keep their keys and send them home by Uber or ask if there is someone to pick them up. In my many years I have only had to do this a few times and there was no argument from client.

2 Our agency serves Substance abuse population including providing MAT what interests you about serving this population?

I have been serving this population for many years. I see more now then ever before that people are going to school with a focus on substance abuse. I don’t think anyone wakes up one day and decides they want to do this, It is something that you gravitate to due to your own personal experiences or as in my case you fall upon it and love it. MAT prior to the “epidemic” was not something that was advertised, methadone and sever drugs for alcohol dependence were the only MAT used, MAT was frowned upon and people singled out due to their inability to practice “total abstinence” all that was mostly due to people not understanding addiction, even though that still exists in todays world the bottom line is now you can be standing next to someone on MAT and never know. It is by no means a cure like many think it is a tool used with therapy to make positive changes in live.

  1. How do you balance your work and personal life?

You have to learn to leave work at work. Practicing selfcare is often difficult for therapist due to the crisis and problems they deal with on a daily basis. Selfcare looks different for everyone at some time during each week you must take a timeout and do something that you enjoy and can concentrate on other than work. Therapists will often bring work home with them or worry about your clients however, you are no good to them if you don’t take care of yourself.

  1. What types of clients do you find the most difficult to works with and why?

Clients that develop severe mental illness due to drug use, they often have a hard time understanding that they do have MH issues and believe that if they stop using the symptoms such as paranoia, depression and anxiety will just go away. I have found in most cases these symptoms exacerbate before they get better. Having a person who has had a lifetime of substance use and does not believe MH is a problem are difficult due to the symptoms they present with even after sometimes a year or more of clean time changing behaviors and understanding the problem is the hard part about recovery, putting down the drug is the easy part.

 

  1. Tell me about the most difficult case you had to worked on.

I started at a methadone clinic and in the first week I had a client who was put in the clinic due to problems that she had in her last clinic, she was 24 weeks pregnant and was jumped by people from her clinic (reasons were sketchy) she was grieving the loss of her son who was born after she was beaten and passed within the first few hours of birth. She got out of the hospital but never asked about the baby, she said that she did not have money to do anything.  About 4 weeks later she said that the morgue had been calling her and she did not know what to do. I contacted the social worker at the morgue and she told me about a program that would help with the arrangements for the baby, the client and I went to the morgue she claimed the body and burial arrangement were made at no cost to the client. She had the funeral she wanted for her baby.  Unfortunately she never did learn about grief she relapsed after the funeral. For a long time I had the bag with everything from the hospital the babies birth and death certificates plus some other personal belongings she left in my office. I left them with my director when I left the job not sure what ever happened to her or the things.

 

  1. How do you handle an aggressive client?

I always focus on the clients strengths in order to change the subject of wherever the aggression is coming from, Join in the resistance rather than assault resistance. Shift discussion to the persons personal goals to change which will avert aggressive discussion and power struggle

 

 

How do materials and process affect your impression of the works?

[Last Name] 1
Student
Instructor
Course
Date
Katsushika Hokusai
Intro
1st thoughts of the artist
1. Why you chose the artist
2. Memories, impressions, and associations
Biography
1. When and Where works were made (political)
i. Define issues of the day
ii. Potion or Market/Career
2. Who was the artist (personal)?
i. Stories about the artist
ii. Quotes of the writing of the artists
Thesis
Body 1
A. Formal analysis
1. Description – elements
a. Line, Shape, Form, Volume, Mass, Texture, Value, Space, Color, Motion, Time, Pattern
2
2. Effect – Principles
a. Unity, variety, balance, scale, proportion, focal point, rhythm
B. Iconographic Analysis
1. Symbols, Traditions, cultural, aesthetics, religion content
C. Critique – Feminist, Gender, Critical Race, Psychological
Body 2
A. Materials and process
i. Paint, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, architecture, craft, graphic design, alternative media and process
B. How do materials and process affect your impression of the works?
AKA Thesis
Thesis examples
Compare / contrast
Expository – explaining
Argumentative – defend a claim
Cause and effect
Analytical – Two sides of an issue
Works Cited
Hokusai. Hokusai Biography – Hokusai on artnet. http://www.artnet.com/artists/katsushika-hokusai/biography
3
Hokusai. Hokusai Artworks – Hokusai on artnet. http://www.artnet.com/artists/katsushika-hokusai/
Youtube. Better Know the Great Wave | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios.

Youtube. The eye of Hokusai.

Why is stress more prevalent in healthcare? What impact can it have on an organization,

Stress is a common phenomenon in healthcare. Write about stress in healthcare and the impact it can have on employees, organizational performance, the delivery of patient care, etc. Identify and describe the different kinds of stress that can occur. Discuss why stress in a healthcare environment may be more of a pressing issue as compared to other industries (be sure to address factors, such as, professional hierarchy, personalities, ethnicity, gender, etc.). Describe if / how employee burnout (due to stress) is impacting the delivery of care. Once you have written about stress in the workplace, identify some best practices to alleviate the negative effects of stress in the workplace. How should managers behave so that employees experience less stress on the job? Ground all your work in existing theory. What strategies can the organization use so that the employees experience less stress on the job? This write-up has to be supported by current facts and literature.

Possible Deliverables

  • What does the healthcare environment look like currently?
  • Why is stress more prevalent in healthcare? What impact can it have on an organization,

employees, and patients.

  • Define stress – when is it good and when is it bad?
  • What can administrators do to address employee stress? What can employees do to better manage stress?
  • Using established theories to describe stress in a healthcare environment

Ethics and Research in Professional Contexts:Identify potential conflict(s) and points of agreement in terms of ethical arguments

SH5000 Ethics and Research in Professional Contexts

Analysing the Case-Studies:

When thinking about moral decision-making in professional contexts you may approach your analysis of a given dilemma by going through the following steps:

  • identify the ethical issue(s) in the dilemma;
  • identify the different people involved, describe how each one might view the dilemma, and explain why you think they take this position. Different people might include patients, users, carers, the general public, pressure groups, front-line professional workers, assistants, service managers;
  • identify potential conflict(s) and points of agreement in terms of ethical arguments;
  • consider how gender, ethnicity, religion, age, sexuality, disability, and/or other differences you think are relevant, might influence how people respond to the dilemma.
  • consider how far relevant codes of professional conduct and law, as applied to the dilemma, help with arriving at a moral solution

Case study —- Mrs K is a 37-year-old woman with four children. She consults her doctor for irregular periods. She had been using a diaphragm as contraception, having stopped taking birth control pills because of their side effects.

Her doctor tells her that she is pregnant. She does not want another child. She says she already has as many children as she can cope with. Mrs K suffers from depression.  Her doctor considers her circumstances fall within the Abortion Act 1967 and refers her to a clinic.

Mr K disagrees with abortion. 

Did the doctor do the right thing?

https://www.bma.org.uk

https://www.gmc-uk.org/ethical-guidance

https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-conduct-performance-and-ethics/

https://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/standards/item/217-code-of-conduct

https://patient.info/doctor/consent-to-treatment-mental-capacity-and-mental-health-legislation

Professional Ethics resources

 

Here are some web links for professional ethical codes of conduct in Health and Social Care and in Youth Work:

  1. General Medical Council: http://www.gmc-uk.org/publications/standards_guidance_for_doctors.asp
  2. British Medical Association: http://bma.org.uk/practical-support-at-work/ethics
  3. Nursing and Midwifery Council: nursingworld.org/codeofethics
  4. National Youth Agency: http://nya.org.uk/dynamic_files/workforce/Ethical%20Conduct%20in%20Youth%20Work%20(Reprint%202004).pdf
  5. The Hippocratic Oath – article here: http://www.iep.utm.edu/hippocra/
  6. Universal Declaration of Human Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
  7. Human right: https://www.bma.org.uk/collective-voice/influence/international/global-justice/human-rights

 

 

Mental Capacity

 

 

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/9/contents

 

  1. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/making-decisions-for-someone-else/mental-capacity-act/

 

 

QALYfying the Value of Life: https://jme.bmj.com/content/medethics/13/3/117.full.pdf

The QUALY method – using utilitarianism in practice:

Harris, J, “QALYfying the Value of Life”, Journal of Medical Ethics 13, 1987, pp. 117-123.

 

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275714106_In_A_Different_Voice_Psychological_Theory_and_Women%27s_Development

 

 

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275714106_In_A_Different_Voice_Psychological_Theory_and_Women%27s_Development

 

Antidepressants:

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/antidepressants/considerations/

 

https://adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/women/pregnancy-and-medication

 

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/antidepressants/antidepressants-in-pregnancy/#.Xc_Qvy2cZQI

 

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression

 

https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

 

 

The abortion and mental health controversy:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6207970/

 

 

father right

 

https://family.findlaw.com/paternity/fathers-rights-and-abortion.html

 

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-59259-450-4_1

 

https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1394&context=jlp

 

https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1268&context=fac_works

 

 

Moral status of the fetus: Fetal rights

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1440-1754.2003.00088.x

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2788452/

 

https://academic.oup.com/medlaw/advance-article/doi/10.1093/medlaw/fwz014/5510054

 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/termination-abortion-for-foetal-abnormality/

 

 

Abortion Act 1967

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/87

 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/215147/dh_132849.pdf

 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002581727003800103

 

abortion doctors and the law

 

 

 

 

diaphragm as contraception

 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/contraception/contraceptive-diaphragm-or-cap/

 

https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/birth-control/diaphragm

 

 

 

Utilitarianism and Consequentialism

 

Classical utilitarianism:

Bentham, J (1789), An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation, (edited by J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart (1970), London: Athline Press).

 

Mill, J.S. (1861), Utilitarianism (various editions, e.g. R. Crisp, (ed.) 1998, New York: Oxford University Press.

 

Criticism of utilitarianism:

Williams, B. “A Critique of Utilitarianism” in J.J.C. Smart & Bernard Williams, (eds.) (1973) Utilitarianism: For and Against, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

 

The Four Principles Approach:

Beauchamp, T.L. and Childress JF (2001) Principles of Biomedical Ethics (5th edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

The QUALY method – using utilitarianism in practice:

Harris, J, “QALYfying the Value of Life”, Journal of Medical Ethics 13, 1987, pp. 117-123.

 

 

 

Characterising the ethical professional: virtue, care, narrativity, paternalism.

 

 

Virtue ethics:

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Book 2, on virtues…it can be viewed online here: http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.2.ii.html)

 

 

The Ethics of Care:

Gilligan, Carol (1982) In A Different Voice. Cambridge: Harvard UP (esp. the Jake and Amy example, pp. 26-28)

 

V.Held, (2005) The Ethics of Care, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 

Narrativity and ethics:

  1. Brody, “’My Story Is Broken; Can You Help Me Fix It?’ Medical Ethics and the Joint Construction of Narrative”, in KWM Fulford et al (eds), (2002) Healthcare Ethics and Human Values. An Introductory Text with Readings and Case Studies, Blackwell, pp. 133-40.

 

 

4 Principles approach:

Beauchamp & Childress (2008), Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 6th edition.

 

The normative theory that gives the ‘Principle of Respect for Autonomy’ is Kantian Deontology. See:

Kant, I. (1785) Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, trans. Gregor, Mary, J, (1998), Cambridge, (pp.7-16, 25-39 – the sections on the ‘Good Will’ & the ‘Categorical Imperative’).

 

On consent and capacity:

Sayers, G.M., Schofield, I & Aziz, M, ‘An Analysis of CPR Decision-making by Elderly Patients’, in Fulford, et al, (2002),Healthcare Ethics & Human Values, pp. 304-311

 

The UK Mental Capacity Act 2005 – URL: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/9/contents

 

Eyal, Nir, “Informed Consent”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Online (Fall 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) URL: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/informed-consent/#Aca

 

Faden, Ruth R., and Tom L. Beauchamp. 1986. A History and Theory of Informed Consent. New York: Oxford University Press

 

 

 

Book

 

Utilitarianism and Beyond:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=w4WpmLw9u7QC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NYNOeHVQh-UC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

 

 

 

 

SH5000 Ethics & Research in Professional Contexts Week 1 Handout  important information

Part one: Ethics

In Part One of this module we will study various ethical theories, and explore how they might be applied to moral dilemmas in professional contexts relevant to your degree pathways. We will look at how far, if at all, ethics can inform and guide the making of moral choices and the consequent performance of actions for professionals in health and social care, youth work, and other social professions.

Here are some key terms that you will need to become familiar with:
Ethics – the theory of right and wrong conduct
Morals – the practice of right and wrong conduct (behaviour)
Moral Philosophy – inquiry into the idea of moral conduct; the attempt to come up with a rationally defensible theory of right and wrong conduct.

Meta-ethics – inquiry into the meaning of moral statements (e.g. “it is wrong to lie,” or “killing humans is always wrong ”), their truth or falsity, and the existence of any moral facts that may underlie them. Normative Ethics – systems of moral belief that assume certain ethical norms as the basis for making moral judgments (e.g. “it is good to be happy” or “ it is right to do one’s duty”), and which explain the use (but not the meaning) of moral terms in moral statements as a result. Normative ethical systems clarify the values and reasoning that lie behind moral choices, and provide means of moral justification in accordance with certain specified rules and/or principles.

Applied Ethics – the application of normative ethical theories to moral problems or dilemmas, often hypothetically, with the aim of arriving at a solution or an appropriate moral understanding of the issues. Practical Ethics – the practical use of moral theories when deciding how to act in everyday situations, where moral choices need to be made and actions performed.

Personal ethics – the level at which moral choices are made in accordance with personal beliefs about what is morally valuable.
Professional ethics- the level at which moral judgments are made in accordance with certain professional codes of conduct, within the context of performing one’s professional duties appropriately. N.B Our studies will involve examining the way moral judgments are arrived at, not legal or religious ones. Where these may seem to be importantly related we will attempt to clarify and explain the connection, but our focus throughout will be on ethical and not legal or religious theoretical positions. Some questions to bear in mind:

What makes a choice a moral as opposed to a non-moral one?
Why be moral? (i.e. Why ought I to do what morally I ought to do?)
Shall I act on personal impulse or intuition, or is there any objective guidance that can help me to decide what is the right thing for me to do?
Why might it be valuable for social professionals to study ethics?
Can you think of examples of problems or choices that professionals in your areas might be faced with that can be classified as moral dilemmas? Can ethics help to solve them?

What makes a choice a moral, as opposed to a non-moral, one?

Is there a distinction to be made between moral dilemmas and other kinds of dilemmas that humans may be faced with? If so, what exactly is it?

You may believe that many choices we are faced with during our lives are pretty straightforwardly matters of personal preference. That is, you may accept that often, when you find yourself in the position of having to make a decision about what to do next, the choice is ultimately yours alone and can be made in any way you wish. In these types of cases what we actually do as a result of the choices that we make can be said to be neither moral nor immoral.

For example, I may have woken up this morning and found myself wondering whether to wear my blue jumper or my green jumper today. This choice seems to be one of personal preference. I may think: “well, it’s up to me!” I may believe that I am free to choose to wear whatever I want, on the basis of whatever I wish. Perhaps green is my favourite colour, so I’ll choose the green jumper. Or perhaps I feel like trying blue for a change, etc.

However, we can query whether or not the action that results from my making a choice between my two jumpers (i.e. the picking up and putting on of one or other of the jumpers) could actually constitute a moral choice. We could describe it as a right or a wrong action, a good or a bad one, or claim that we ought or ought not to have performed it. And, we can wonder whether it really is a case of choosing being simply up to me.

Suppose that I live in a community where wearing blue clothes is commonly taken to signify membership of a particular cultural/religious/political group, with particular values? Wearing the blue jumper because I intend to signify my group membership, or resulting in people responding to me favourably or unfavourably because they believe I am a group member, or to reflect my values as a

 

group member, all render my choice a moral and not simply a personal one. The choice becomes one that is significant to me and to others – it somehow socially matters.

Moral dilemmas, then, involve people having to make choices to perform actions where their intentions, the results of their actions, and the values reflected in their choice are significant – they matter, and not just to the individual performing them.

Ray Billington in his book Living Philosophy (Routledge, 1993), suggests that we can distinguish between the following 5 features of moral choices:

  1. Nobody can avoid them;
  2. Others are, however remotely, involved;
  3. They result in decisions that matter;
  4. They are debateable: the ‘right’ choice is never wholly obvious or totally indisputable – there is

no single, definite and final solution;

  1. They involve the element of choice between more than one option.

A Further Distinction:

The decisions we take when faced with choices result in behaviour that can be classified as moral, immoral or even amoral. That is, they result in the practice of what we may call right or wrong conduct, or perhaps simply conduct.
But on what basis are we to judge whether the conduct is moral, immoral or amoral? One thing we can attempt to do is to evaluate the behaviour/conduct/action with reference to ethics (the theory of right and wrong conduct). We can judge the action in terms of certain ethical norms and/or principles in order to try to determine its rightness or wrongness. So, whether or not you believe that a particular action is moral or immoral or even amoral will depend upon the values that you hold and the ethical arguments that you use to decide what is right and wrong. There are different forms of justification in ethical theory, and we will look at some examples.

Although there is much disagreement amongst ethicists about what the proper basis for moral decision- making ought to be, they all agree on one thing – that we ought to be moral. They all say that we ought to do what morally we ought to do. Do you agree? Why/why not?

A Central Meta-Ethical Debate: Are there any Moral Facts?

A puzzle that will probably crop up during the course is one that has engaged ethicists since ethics was first clarified as an area of inquiry (in western philosophy with Plato & Aristotle in the 5th Century B.C.). This puzzle centres around the question of whether or not there are any moral facts, and asks, if there are such facts, whether or not we can know them. This is not something we will spend much time examining (there’s a vast literature on this topic that goes beyond the limits of our course), but it’s important for you to consider whether or not you take morality to be a matter of mind-independent facts or whether you take it to be a matter of socially constructed knowledge, because this will have repercussions for your approach to arriving at solutions to moral dilemmas. If there are certain moral truths (perhaps it is true that it is wrong to kill, for example), and we can discover these truths, then you might believe that working out what to do in any given case involves finding out (using some method) what the relevant moral fact is & then acting in accordance with it. However, if you hold that morality is rather about creating socially desirable or useful norms, and acting in accordance with these, then your approach to solving dilemmas will probably involve some process of determining what is desirable or useful for a particular society, and working from there to create moral prescriptions.

How will we proceed?

We will be studying the central tenets of some of the most well-known and commonly used western normative ethical theories, e.g. Utilitarianism and Deontology, Virtue Ethics and Care Ethics.We will consider the significance of these theories for practical choice-making by attempting to apply them to a selection of dilemmas (expressed as case-studies from professional contexts – you will be given case- studies to work with on the module, and you will also be encouraged to bring in case-studies to discuss from your own experience, or from newspapers, books, television, the internet or other media).

We will take into account relevant laws, policies and professional codes of conduct and issues of rights and morality in these cases, and we will also look at what the relationship between morality and cultural and religious difference might be. But our focus will be on thinking about how far ethical theory is of practical use in helping us come to make decisions about how to act when faced with moral dilemmas in professional practice.

  • } Conscientious objection is a familiar issue in cases of abortion or contraception. What about conscientious objection to physical examinations of the opposite sex?
  • } In Britain, the problem is complicated. On the one hand, official guidelines from the General Medical Council take a tough line. They state that medical students are not allowed to refuse to participate in parts of their medical training because they have objections of conscience.
  • } On the other hand, a recent survey of British medical students revealed that nearly half of them believed that doctors could conscientiously object to any procedure whatsoever

Cook, M. Bioedge, (27.10.12) – http://www.bioedge.org/

  • § Analysing concrete professional ethical dilemmas leads to theoretical philosophical questions, and vice verse.
  • § Studying applied ethics involves this interaction in a manner that aims for deep critical reflection
  • § The relation between reflection & action – the process of deciding what to do.
  • § Exploring values – not all values are ethical values
  • § Ethics is about leading the good life/doing the right thing/finding meaning &purpose …not acting on impulse, but acting justly.

Examining:
§ immediate situations § possible future ones

With the aims of:

  • § identifying the ethical dimensions of these situations
  • § considering various approaches to them
  • § Making evaluative judgments
  • § Acting well – doing the right thing!

A View:

  • } They involve the element of choice between more than one option;
  • } Nobody can avoid them;
  • } Others are, however remotely, involved;
  • } They result in decisions that matter somehow;
  • } They are debatable: the ‘right’ choice is never wholly obvious or totally indisputable – there is no single, definite and final solution, always a

counter-argument.

Billington, R. (1993) Living Philosophy, Routledge

Systems of moral belief that assume certain ethical norms/standards as the basis for making

moral judgments (e.g. “it is good to be happy”, or “ it is right to do one’s duty”).

Normative ethical systems clarify the values and reasoning that lie behind moral choices, and provide means of moral justification in accordance with certain specified rules and/or principles.

The application of normative ethical theories to

concrete moral problems or dilemmas, with the aim of arriving at a solution or an appropriate moral understanding of the issues.

What’s the distinction between morals & ethics? Theory – ethics can inform

action/behaviour/practice – being moral

The practical use of ethical theories when

deciding how to act in concrete situations, where moral choices need to be made and actions performed.

 

Very important context

WHAT IS A RIGHT?

  • Ò The idea of a ‘right’ has a long history.
  • Ò A ‘right’ is, broadly, a legal, ethical or social principle of

freedom or entitlement;

  • Ò So, having a ‘right’ to something amounts to falling under a normative rule about what you are owed or what you are permitted to do, according to a legal system, ethical theory, or a social norm.
  • Ò When someone has a right, another person or institution has a corresponding duty to comply with that right.

N.B. Moral rights are distinct from legal rights. Legal rights involve formal agreements that there are such rights. RIGHTS IN THEORIES

2 traditions of rights: (references on reading list)

John Locke (1680)– human rights as natural & inherent to all humans, equally. Inalienable (you are born with them; they cannot be taken away).

Jeremy Bentham (1816) – inalienable rights as ‘nonsense on stilts’; rights must be justified in terms of the Principle of Utility, & can be revoked or overridden if doing so maximises utility. Rights are meaningless unless legally enforceable, & specific.

 

WHAT ARE ‘HUMAN RIGHTS’?

  • Ò The Lockean tradition of natural rights – post WW11 Human Rights framework
  • Ò The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 – formed to protect against the abuses of the war.
  • Ò Motivated in part by the way Nazis doctors experimented on non-consenting persons.
  • Ò HR protect individuals and groups against actions that interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity
  • Ò They are principally concerned with the relationship between the individual and the state in a democracy.
  • Ò But what about empathy and one-to-one relationships as in healthcare…?

 

  • Ò HR empower individuals and communities by granting them entitlements that give rise to legal obligations for governments.
  • Ò They can help to equalize the distribution of power both within and between societies, mitigating the powerlessness of the disadvantaged.

Ò They are sometimes legally guaranteed by human rights law,

e.g. in the UK: Human Rights Act, Sex Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act, Equal Opportunities Act, Mental Capacity Act, Children Act, etc.

 

THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)

Articles relevant to health care:

  • Ò Because all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, they should act as brothers towards each other (Article 1).
  • Ò No distinction should be made determined by colour, nationality, politics, possessions, race, religion, sex, or status (Article 2) (non-discrimination).
  • Ò Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person (Article 3).
  • Ò Everyone has the right to privacy of correspondence, family and home. Honour nor reputation should be attacked (Article 12).
  • Ò Everyone has the right to marry and procreate (Article 16).

 

 

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE RIGHTS

Ò Negative rights protect people from physical and mental abuse – non-interference. Passive duties.

Ò Positive rights permit a substantive claim to be made. For instance, they may recognise the right to receive health care. Active duties.

Ò Is there a right to health? – recent debates (see references The Lancet & work by Amartya Sen).

 

RIGHTS OF HEALTH-CARE PRACTITIONERS

  • Ò the right to decline to respond to excessive demands by difficult patients;
  • Ò the right not to have to continue to treat patients with whom you feel incompatible

RESPONSIBILITIES OF HEALTHCARE PRACTITIONERS

Ò To inform patients of their options;

Ò To offer to treat patients; Ò To respect patient

confidentiality;

Ò To respect patients’ decisions.

Ò The duty of care

RIGHTS & DUTIES OF PROFESSIONALS

 

INFORMED CONSENT

Patients have a right to information about their condition & the treatment options available to them, so they can consent or refuse.

The right confers a duty on healthcare professionals to provide relevant information in a clear, non-coercive manner, suited to the patient.

Informed Consent seen as crucial in the moral doctor-patient relationship. Why?

Valuing autonomy (self-determination)…

(Article 3) right to life, liberty, security of the person…

But is the right to consent an absolute right?

Difficult to see how it can be – too many factors making it likely that fully informed, truly voluntary consent will be hard to achieve.

Not an absolute right in UK law.
Is this moral? What should the limit be?

 

CONSENT & CONFIDENTIALITY

If it’s not absolute when can the right to informed consent be breached?

Example: Public health & infectious disease control. In order to protect the public from contagious infectious diseases, The Public Health Act (1984) regulates notification of diseases and mandatory treatment of conditions like tuberculosis (TB).

The individual’s right to consent is restricted in two areas:

Firstly information about the patient’s diagnosis has to be given to the relevant authorities. The patient should be informed. It is mandatory for a medical practitioner to disclose personal details of the patient and the diagnosis to the relevant authorities even if the patient does not agree to this.

Secondly patients suffering from communicable diseases can be forced to take their

medication by supervised administration or involuntary inpatient treatment.

If a patient confesses a crime or a planned crime to a doctor, it is left to her to decide whether to pass on this information to the police. This decision requires careful weighing up whether the right to consent on passing on information is more important than the right of the public to be protected.

GMC guidance (Confidentiality: Protecting and Providing Information, 2004) gives general advice on disclosure, but leaves the ultimate decision with the medical practitioner…

What moral guidance/reasoning can help here?

 

BALANCING RIGHTS – THE ABORTION DEBATE

What happens where a right is interpreted differently by different parties?

Example: the right to life of a fetus vs the right to choose the use of her own body of a pregnant woman in the case of abortion.

UK – 1967 Abortion Act – medical justification.

UK – 1991 Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act (24 weeks rule).

USA – 1973 historic Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case which effectively made abortion legal in the US – privacy justification..
.

please use the key words to explain  the case study for example using words like  deontology  virtue ethic  more virtue and example why you are using this to describe your point……… and so on.

THE ETHICAL PROFESSIONAL: VIRTUE, CARE, NARRATIVITY.

 

 

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS & MORAL CHARACTER

  • Deontology – respect autonomy, rights, dignity
    § Utilitarianism – act efficiently to get most beneficial outcome

These are standard in professional codes of conduct

But being ethical is not just about performing right or good actions…..

Moral character

addressed by Virtue Ethics, Care Ethics, Narrative Ethics

 

DEONTOLOGY & UTILITARIANISM

morality as primarily a following of certain action-guiding principles

VIRTUE ETHICS

morality as primarily the cultivation of certain

dispositions or character traits

BEING MORAL – ACTIONS OR PERSONS?

 

ARISTOTELIAN VIRTUE ETHICS

Aristotle 5th Century B.C. Athens: The Nicomachean Ethics This theory focuses on the goodness of persons, not the

A person is good or bad depending on whether or not they possess certain virtues or vices.

aim for excellence of character; strive to be ideally virtuous

We can say: persons ought to have a virtuous personal character if they are to treat others well and behave responsibly

goodness of actions.

 

THE MORAL VIRTUES

Ò Aristotle claims there are certain moral virtues which humans can & ought to try to develop, in order to become as moral as possible.

Ò Courage; patience, honesty, kindness, etc.

Ò Eudaimonia – a sense of living well, flourishing (not the same as utilitarian happiness/well- being…)

 

Ò Virtue is moral knowledge. Practical wisdom.

Ò The virtuous person just knows how to act – she doesn’t need to follow rules. No decision- making procedure as such.

Ò The mean between extremes – e.g. not too cowardly, but equally not too courageous as this could be risky/rash.

 

VIRTUE VERSUS DEONTOLOGY

Both look at the motive of the agent.

But rather than looking at the person’s reasons & intentions for their action, as in deontology,…

…virtue theory looks at the character trait which motivates the action

VIRTUE VERSUS UTILITARIANISM

Unlike utilitarianism, virtue theory does not look at the consequences of an act to evaluate the act….

…it only looks at the character of the agent

HOW VIRTUE THEORY DIFFERS FROM DEONTOLOGY AND UTILITARIANISM

 

QUESTIONS/CRITICISMS OF VIRTUE ETHICS

Who is virtuous?

Someone who acts virtuously.
But which acts are virtuous acts?!

In order to say which is a right act, don’t we need objective guidance (i.e. rules, norms)?

Collapses back into evaluating acts not persons!

 

CARE ETHICS

Ò Newer theory based on the work of Gilligan, C. (1982) In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory & Women’s Development, Harvard .

Ò Similar to virtue theory in some respects

Ò Emphasis on empathy, care, emotion, connectedness/relationships, considering concrete persons, as part of moral reasoning.

Ò focus on resolving conflicts & peacemaking to preserve relationships wherever possible

 

Gilligan identifies 2 different modes of moral reasoning.

Ò Feminine mode – emphasises care, emotion, compassion, particular situations, experience, relationships. Private.

Ò Masculinemode–emphasisesreason,impartiality, principles, justice, rights. Public.

Ò Historically, the masculine mode has been seen as superior & more morally mature

The Jake and Amy example (pp.26-28 in Gilligan).

 

Care ethics says these 2 modes are

different

but

equally valuable

and both can lead to morally right actions. Can be complementary

We need both justice and care

This theory emphasises gender relations…but makes no claims about the essential nature of men or women. (Indeed, Gilligan found the care mode expressed by both genders within disadvantaged groups.)

 

 

PLURAL VALUES…WHAT SHALL I DO?

Shall I act on personal impulse or intuition, or is there any objective guidance that can help me decide what is the moral thing for me to do?

Ò Normativeethicaltheoriesspecifynorms/standardsof right & wrong behaviour.

Ò Principles of normative ethics can motivate & justify actions & policies in professional practice – used in codes.

Ò Differenttheoriesgivedifferentmethodsforreasoningto moral actions…

A Consequentialist theory – actions are not good or bad in themselves; the consequences are what count.

Teleological – aims at a telos(goal) & evaluates the morality of an action in terms of progress towards that goal.

The right act is the means to a good consequence. No act is intrinsically wrong. Ends justify the means. So…what is the good consequence for utilitarianism?

UTILITARIANISM

 

WHAT WOULD THE CONSEQUENTIALIST DO?

Dr X has a patient with a persistent cough. X rays suggest incipient lung cancer, but are inconclusive. The tests need to be repeated in order to confirm the diagnosis. The patient is anxious, and the doctor is reluctant to alarm her unnecessarily.

Dr X considers lying to his patient and saying the X-rays need to be repeated purely for administrative purposes

Ò J. Bentham (1748-1832) Ò J.S.Mill (1806-1873)

Ò Bentham – we are governed by our capacity for pleasure & pain.

Ò Mill’s Utilitarianism (1861) the classic text.

CLASSICAL UTILITARIANS

Bentham’s Principle of Utility. Hedonic calculus

Mill – Actions are right to the degree that they tend to promote the greatest good for the greatest number.

What is the ‘greatest good’?

Bentham – maximise the quantity of pleasure
Mill – maximise the quantity of high quality pleasure

.

UTILITARIANISM

  1. ACT utilitarianism : In order to assess whether an act is right or wrong, look to the results of the individual Do they maximise pleasure overall?
  2. RULE Utilitarianism : Use general, utilitarianly formulated, rules to decide in all cases. This form of utilitarianism can be divided into (a.) strong rule &

(b.) weak rule utilitarianism, where (a.) states the rules must never be broken & (b.) allows for rule- breaking on utilitarian grounds..

2 FORMS OF UTILITARIANISM

 

WHICH ENDS SHOULD WE PURSUE?

Some possibilities:
maximise pleasure/happiness/wellbeing minimise suffering/pain
Are these the main goals of human lives?

 

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

As in the film, The Matrix, you have the option to wire your body up to a machine which will provide a ‘virtual’ life of total happiness, in which every preference and desire will be satisfied. Your body will remain inert, and your ‘life’ will simply be a series of computer- generated illusions.

Would you choose this rather than live a ‘real’ life with the risk of suffering and pain?

  • Ò  How do we know WHAT to maximise?
    – eg happiness, pleasure, absence of suffering…
  • Ò  How do we what WILL maximise utility?
    – difficulty of weighing up consequences & making
  • Ò  How do we know WHO to benefit?
    – animals, embryos, brain-dead people, newborn babies…
  • Ò  Can we accept that e.g. sacrificing a life is sometimes right? – this goes against many people’s moral intuitions….
  1. Williams’ criticisms ( B. Williams & J.J.C.Smart’s “Utilitarianism: For & Against” 1992)

predictions…

MORE PROBLEMS WITH UTILITARIANISM

 

SOME CONCEPTUAL CHALLENGES

Ò The organ lottery
One person’s organs can save five lives. Should

we sacrifice that one to save the others?

Ò Jim and the Indians

An evil dictator is holding 10 Indians hostage. He is about to kill all of them, but says if Jim kills one, he will let the other 9 go free.

A 3rd form:

Preference utiltarianism – take into account people’s subjective preferences when calculating the greatest overall amount of pleasure. It allows for individuals themselves to state what for them constitutes pleasure or pain, & prevents any one criterion of these to be imposed.

But some argue that certain actions are just plain wrong, regardless of people’s preferences.

CONTEMPORARY UTILITARIANISM

 

UTILITARIANISM IN PRACTICE

Decisions about the allocation of healthcare resources are often made using a utilitarian QALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year) model.

“The essence of a QALY is that it takes a year of healthy life expectancy to be worth 1, but regards a year of unhealthy life expectancy as worth less than 1. Its precise value is lower the worse the quality of life of the unhealthy person (which is what the ‘quality adjusted’ bit is all about).“

  1. Williams, ‘The Value of QALYs’, Health and Social Service Journal, July (1985), Vol. 3 *

 

 

 

Should that school board member be really concerned about the graduation rates of those who do not get the school guidance counseling intervention plan?

Assignment 6: Non-Parametrics

Chi-Square Test of Association (Independence)

A school system is concerned about the low graduation rate among their high school students. The superintendent assigned a task force to research possible reasons that could explain the low graduation rate. The task force decided to conduct a preliminary literature review about current graduation rate research. The literature review signaled that among several key factors that are related to completion of high school is the development and execution of a school guidance intervention plan. The task force decided to investigate if such is the case in the high school with the highest dropout rate in their district. The following data was collected. (7.5 points)

Valenti High School Data

  Guidance Intervention Plan
Students obtaining a high school diploma No Yes
No 577 46
Yes 381 492

 

  1. A short explanation about the following. Please copy and paste them into your discussion.
  • Chi-Square Test of Association
  • The Case Processing Summary table
  • Cross tabulation table
  • Chi-square Tests table
  • Clustered Bar Chart
  1. Write down the value of the Pearson chi-square and its associated tail probability (p-value). Is it significant? (Use the Morgan text pp. 36-38, for the APA style writeup)
  2. In terms of the experimental hypothesis, what has this test shown?
  3. Suppose a school board member asked you whether or not there were significantly more students who did not graduate than those who did graduate when the guidance services intervention plan was not provided. Run a chi-square test to answer this question.
  4. Report the chi-square test of association
  5. Should that school board member be really concerned about the graduation rates of

those who do not get the school guidance counseling intervention plan?

 

 

Spearman Rho = Use dataset: Student Engagement.sav

You want to conduct a study to determine the relationship between student engagement and student satisfaction. Two surveys were disseminated to a group of students: (a) The Student Engagement Survey, which uses a 5-point Likert scale for level of engagement, ranging from Very Disengaged (1) to Very Engaged (5); and (b) The Student Satisfaction Survey, which uses a 5-point Likert scale for level of satisfaction, ranging from Very Dissatisfied (1) to Very Satisfied (5). Conduct a Spearman Rho analysis to determine if there is a relationship between student engagement and student satisfaction. (7.5 points)

  1. Why is a Spearman Rho analysis the most appropriate for this scenario?
  2. Write null and alternate hypotheses.
  3. Run the Spearman Rho correlation (HINT: Select Spearman Rho instead of Pearson in the SPSS dialogue box) and copy and paste the SPSS output into the assignment.
  4. What is the r value? What is the p value? Is the result significant? Why or why not?
  5. Now run the analysis using the Pearson correlation instead of the Spearman Rho. How do the findings compare to the Spearman?
  6. Using the Morgan et al. (2012) text please write up a sample results section.

 

Total Points Earned:            /15 Points Possible

How should I choose the time frame for my literature review? Is there a minimum number of years?

  1. What structure should I follow for my essay?

It is recommendable to follow the structure below:

I Introduction II Main Body

  1. a) Method – briefly present the criteria used for selecting the journals & articles included in your literature review;
II. b) Analysis of the articles selected – critically discuss the content of the academic articles included in your review (in terms of purpose, context, theoretical background, method, findings and conclusions);

III. Conclusions

  1. Should I include an Index/Table of content?

No, there is no need.

  1. Is the references list included in the word count?

No, the references list is not included in the word count. Everything else however is included in the word count (including any tables, figures, graphs, endnotes, footnotes etc. you may choose to use).

  1. Can I use reference of reference (e.g. X et al., 2004 cited in Y et al., 2010)

For good academic practice, you should always consult the original source.

  1. How should I choose the time frame for my literature review? Is there a minimum number of years?

There is no set answer for this question. Literature reviews can include articles published the last 7, 10, 20 … 50 years. This is for the author to choose. For the purpose of this assignment the minimum time frame is from 2014 onwards.

  1. How should I choose the Journals to include in the literature review?

There are a few journals, particularly relevant the entrepreneurship field, recommended on the study guide. You can definitely include them in your literature review, but you can also include other journals relevant for the specific topic chosen to analyse. Please consult the ABS list for further guidance on this.

  1. How many journals should I include in my literature review? Is there a minimum number?

This is a decision the author of the study should make. What is important is to justify your choice appropriately. There is no perfect number as such, but for the purpose of this assignment the minimum number of journals to include in your literature review is 2 journals.

  1. How should I choose the articles from these journals?

Simple! You need to search using keywords appropriate for your topic and specify these keywords in your method section (see Q19 for further information).

  1. How many articles should I include in my literature review?

There is no straight forward answer for this question, I’m afraid. This is part of your assignment. It depends on your choice of topic, journals and time frame.

  1. Can I use references published before the time frame chosen for my literature review?

Yes, of course you can, particularly if they are seminal papers which contribute substantially to the development of the field. However, it would be advisable to use them to support your arguments, in the introduction and/or conclusion, as opposed to directly form part of your literature review.

  1. Am I allowed to change the title?

Yes, of course you are. The only things you need to ensure is that your title is included under the broader umbrella of the topic selected and that you clearly specify at the beginning of your essay which of these 2 topics you address in your essay.

1

  1. Can I choose to focus on a subtopic of the broad topics presented?

Yes, you are allowed to do this. You first need to clarify (either by using a definition or classification) that the subtopic chosen is included under the broader umbrella of 1 of the 2 topics on your coursework.

  1. If the coursework I chose says “write on topic A AND/OR topic B” is it ok to focus on only topic A or only topic B?

Yes, this is perfectly fine.

  1. Do I need to collect any empirical (e.g. survey, interview data for this course work)?

No, there is no need for you to collect any empirical data for this coursework. You only need to conduct a content analysis of the articles selected clearly demonstrating integration and synthesis capacity.

  1. Do I need to discuss any case studies?

You are allowed to do so, (for example in the introduction), but you are not required to do so.

  1. Should I provide tables, graphs or models?

You do not necessarily have to, but you are encouraged to do so if they are the result of your own analysis of the relevant literature.

  1. What should I write in the conclusions?

In the conclusions it is recommendable to provide an outline of the main findings of your literature review. You also need to include the limitations of the study, recommendations for entrepreneurs and future research directions clearly deriving from your study.

  1. Should my literature review be as elaborated (and long) as the systematic literature reviews published in ABS 3 and 4 grade journals?

Given the word limit and the time frame for this course work, you are not expected to develop such elaborated (and long) reviews.

  1. How do I search for the journals?

You can choose which journals to search from by selecting them from the ABS list, uploaded in the MG5592/MG5801 Blackboard Learn.

 

Describe one (1) reason why you want to change the behavior and one (1) benefit the change will bring

ASSIGNMENT 04
C04J Introduction to Psychology
Directions: Be sure to save and answer in complete sentences, and be sure to use correct English, spelling and grammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should be four (4) double-spaced pages; refer to the “Assignment Format” page located on the Course Home page for specific format requirements.

Part A

For Part A of this assignment, you will apply the principles of operant conditioning to modify an existing behavior. Target a behavior to be modified, either an undesirable behavior that you would like to eliminate or a desirable behavior that you would like to strengthen.

1. Generate a plausible explanation for why the problem exists.
2. Describe one (1) reason why you want to change the behavior and one (1) benefit the change will bring.
3. Carefully design a program for modifying the behavior, making sure to include all relevant conditioning principles incorporated within your plan (which might include the use of positive and negative reinforcers, punishment, shaping, schedules of reinforcement, modeling, extinction, stimulus discrimination or generalization, primary and secondary reinforcers, and so on.) Your plan should include three (3) steps.

Part B

Design a series of test items that would indicate the different intelligences according to Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. Provide one (1) original example of how you would test each of the eight (8) different intelligence’s

Please use Perdue APA sample Essay
.
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/index.html

Describe the main ethical issues involved in education research, especially with children

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After studying this chapter you should be able to:

  • Identify and describe the multiple contexts for education research
  • Describe the main ethical issues involved in education research, especially with children
  • Describe practitioner research, and identify its advantages and disadvantages
  • Discuss the role and contribution of small-scale empirical studies in education
  • Identify the advantages and disadvantages of researching your own classroom, school or college

There are multiple contexts for education research. Those aspects considered here are the academic context, the literature context, the physical–social context, the political context and the ethical context. This chapter first briefly comments on the academic, literature and physical–social contexts of education research. It next considers the political context, using an example from the literature of the professional development of teachers. This example is chosen because it leads to the ideas of the practitioner researcher, of small-scale empirical studies and of teachers researching their own classroom, school or college. After that, there is a section on research with children, which leads to a more general consideration of the ethical context and the ethical issues involved in education research. The important literature context of research is given separate consideration in Chapter 6.

In one sense, the academic context of research is a fundamental premise of this book. When education research is done as part of a degree or higher degree, its context is necessarily academic. Typically, a proposal is developed and submitted for approval before research for a higher degree can proceed. Then, after execution of the research, the research report – usually as a dissertation – is submitted for assessment. At all stages of this process, there are standard and (usually) clearly defined requirements and expectations which are part of the academic context. These range from the style of writing and format of documents, through the size, scope and nature of projects, and the way projects are executed, to its intended outcomes and contributions. Throughout this book, these different aspects of the academic context are addressed, and research writing itself is dealt with in Chapter 15.

Because of its importance, the literature context of a piece of research is the special subject of Chapter 6. It is an aspect of the academic context – a dissertation is expected to demonstrate mastery of the literature relevant to its research topic. No research occurs in a vacuum, and the literature is a valuable source of previous knowledge and thinking about any topic. This applies both to empirical (or research) literature and to theoretical literature, a distinction that is described in Chapter 6. Together, they provide the main literature context for a piece of research.

Like the literature, the ethical context is of primary concern for any piece of education research. Important ethical issues are always involved in research with people, and these are usually magnified when the research is with children. The research world’s understanding of these ethical issues, and the priority given to them, have both increased dramatically in the past 20 or so years. As a result, they now need to be carefully considered and addressed at all stages of a project – the planning, the execution and the reporting and dissemination. Section 3.6 of this chapter deals with these ethical issues, with special reference to research with children.

The physical and social contexts of education research are often self-explanatory, though more prominent in some types of research than others. The primary setting and physical context for education research is clearly schools, colleges and universities. At the same time, in today’s world education and training occur in many other settings as well. Examples are in preschools, in the military, in police organizations, and in corporations and commercial organizations. Whether the research is in colleges, schools or classrooms, or in some other setting, its physical and social contexts are usually obvious. This does not mean they can be ignored, however – for example, the physical context may influence data collection possibilities and arrangements (as in the location of colleges and schools). The social context for research in schools and classrooms involves principals, teachers, students and often parents, and the ethical context of research always involves social dimensions. The same is true for research in other settings. These social dimensions are accentuated when researchers study their own college, school, classroom or other setting. In some studies, however, the physical and social contexts of the research are much less prominent, and much less clearly defined. An example would be an education policy analysis study, based mainly on documentary data. By contrast, in many studies there is a large overlap between the social and political contexts of the research.

3.1 THE POLITICAL CONTEXT

The political context for education research can be quite complex and is often very interesting in its own right. While a local political context is more directly relevant for some topics and projects than for others, there is, at the same time, always a general political context that exists. This is because education, at all levels, has many stakeholders, and public accountability is necessarily involved. In addition, education is a prominent part of government policy, sometimes at a state level and very often at a national level as well. Inevitably, therefore, opposing points of view exist, and many topics in educational policy and practice are the subject of highly politicized debate. These debates usually have international connections and overtones. Examples of such topics are the assessment of educational outcomes, teacher training and development, school funding and the structure of education systems. This general political context is typically made more visible, and new dimensions are added to it, by the involvement of the media. Thus it is common now for major newspapers to carry regular education sections and features, and for radio and television programmes to discuss, debate and analyse educational issues. In addition to the general political context, a more local context will be relevant to some education research topics, perhaps all the way down to the ‘micro-politics’ (Ball, 1987) of the schools where research is being conducted.

An interesting demonstration of the importance of the political context of research is the work of Campbell, McNamara and Gilroy (2004: 12–25) on teacher professional development. In describing this context, they point out that teacher education and teacher professional development have become a major focus of government policy, that several related government initiatives intersect with this, and that opposing arguments are prominent. The debates this leads to are heightened by the need for (and media interest in) public accountability for teaching and education. While the focus of these writers is on the UK, one can see similar situations with respect to teacher professional development in other countries – for example, the USA, Canada and Australia. Highly politicized debates inevitably span international borders on these sorts of issues, and there are both common elements and country variations involved in the many tensions that come to the surface. Campbell, McNamara and Gilroy point out that discourse and definitional issues are also involved – for example, what exactly is meant by teacher professional development in today’s world – and they cite research which analyses the discourse of teacher education reform (Cochran-Smith and Fries, 2001).

For Campbell, McNamara and Gilroy the idea of teachers doing research is an important part of professional development. This is often the basis for teacher-initiated school-based inquiry. There are different forms and descriptions of teacher-initiated school-based inquiry (for example, teacher inquiry, action research, collaborative research), but they are consistent with the idea of the teacher as researcher, which itself is an example of the more general category of the professional practitioner researcher.

3.2 THE PRACTITIONER RESEARCHER

As a general rule, in previous decades of practice in education and other professions, practitioner involvement in research was restricted to the role of ‘consumer’ rather than ‘doer’. The thinking behind this was that the practitioner did not have sufficiently advanced training in research methods to be able to conduct research, but at the same time, needed enough training to be able to read and understand reports of research, and to apply research findings as appropriate. The research itself was carried out by trained researchers, often academic staff from universities, rather than by practitioners (e.g. teachers). Among the many problems with this model, however, was that the research reports were often too technical for practitioners to follow, and, in any case, the research was often concerned with topics not directly relevant to practitioners’ professional concerns. Such problems widened an already existing gap between research and practice. Over time, practitioners and researchers came to be seen as two separate communities, often having little direct contact with each other.

More recently, new emphasis on, and new conceptions of, continuous professional development for practitioners are leading to new types of involvement for practitioners in research. Specifically, they are becoming involved in different ways in the doing of the research, not just in the consuming of it. But now it is research on topics much more directly connected to their own professional practice. In this conception, involvement in research about their own practice is seen as an important part of on-going learning, and an important way to develop greater practitioner expertise. At the same time, this coincides with a world-wide movement across the professions towards evidence–based practice – the deliberate and organized collection of evidence about practice, as it goes on, in order to inform and improve practice. Thus in health, for example, evidence-based practice involves using the best available evidence to make informed medical and health practice decisions. Similarly, in education in the USA, government agencies that sponsor evaluations have aggressively pushed the concept of evidence-based policies and programmes. This push to develop the evidence base is now seen to have relevance at the level of the individual practitioner.

This view of professional development thus promotes the concept of the practitioner-researcher, and in education of the teacher-researcher. At the same time, the history of action research in education is a reminder that involvement of the teacher in research is not necessarily straightforward. The rise in popularity of action research in the 1970s was driven by a desire to reduce the separation between professional action and research, and to bring the two roles together. In other words, teachers were encouraged to become action researchers, and to research as well as to teach. Over time, however, disillusionment occurred. The action research teachers produced was typically seen not to have sufficient academic strength and rigor to convince often sceptical audiences. In the face of this scepticism, teachers found the burden of researching in addition to teaching to be not worth the time, effort and trouble. Thus enthusiasm for action research declined. In line with today’s enthusiasm for the concepts of the practitioner-researcher and the teacher-researcher, there is currently a renewed interest in action research (see section 7.6). It is one of the ways in which teachers’ professional development is being encouraged, but its history is a reminder of some of the difficulties.

Thus the challenge is to find good ways to implement effectively the concept of practitioner researcher, and different models of implementation can be found. One of these is the introduction and growth of the professional doctorate in education (and corresponding professional doctorates in other professional areas). In education, this degree is called the Doctor of Education degree, usually abbreviated around the world to Ed D. Being a doctorate, the Ed D requires a research dissertation, and the university still provides the necessary academic training in research and research methods. But, typically, Ed D candidates are encouraged to select topics for their research which are relevant to professional practice, including their own. The research is intended, in other words, to have direct applied relevance to professional practice. In recent years, professional doctorates, and especially Ed Ds, have been a major growth area for many universities in different countries.

Another promising practitioner researcher development is forms of partnership which grow up between professional researchers (for example, academic staff in universities) and teachers. These partnerships may take various forms – they may be based in schools, or perhaps jointly in schools and universities, they may show varying degrees of formalization, and they may be accompanied by project-based teacher consortia. But a distinguishing characteristic is that the starting point for the research tends to be a professional or applied problem or topic, rather than the more theoretical or academic starting points which are typical of university research. With this more applied starting point, the role of academics is then to help shape and focus the project, to develop the research questions to guide it, and to assist and advise on appropriate methods for designing the project and for collecting and analysing data. Box 3.1 gives an example of such a partnership

 

BOX 3.1
A higher degree–professional development partnership

An innovative teacher-researcher–professional-development partnership is that between the Hwa Chong Institution in Singapore, and the University of Western Australia Graduate School of Education. In this particular partnership, the university teaches both its Master of Education degree and its Doctor of Education degree directly in the school, to members of staff. Central motivations behind the programme included a desire for teachers to increase their knowledge and confidence about research, for use in their own teaching, and for topics for research to be chosen according to their relevance to professional practice in the school.

Thus there are various ways in which teachers and education administrators, as practitioners, and education researchers, are coming together. Writing about the UK, Taber (2007: 117) points out that there are increasing expectations that teachers should undertake small-scale empirical studies to inform their own practice. This applies to trainee teachers, but also to practising teachers as part of their on-going professional development – and it has always applied to teachers doing higher-degree research programmes. This means that the idea of carrying out small-scale empirical research projects is now built into all stages of the teaching career.

3.3 SMALL-SCALE EMPIRICAL STUDIES

In addition to the pressure from these expectations, there is generally today a greater understanding of the role and importance of small–scale research projects in a field such as education. When the quantitative approach dominated education research, as it did in the 1950s, 1960s and (to a lesser extent) the 1970s, there was an understandable emphasis on using samples of sufficient size to permit multivariate statistical analysis and inference. Inevitably, this meant large samples. Among its many effects, the rapid growth of qualitative research in the 1980s and up to the present has reinforced the value of smaller-scale research projects. There is now a greater realization that large sample sizes are not a necessary requirement for all research projects, and that it is not realistic to plan for large samples in many research situations, both because of resources required for large sample data collection, and because of issues of access and cooperation. At the same time, there is better understanding of the value of small-scale studies, both for their contribution to knowledge, insight and professional practice, and for their importance in research training.

There are limits to what can be done in any one project, and most experienced researchers and research supervisors would agree that it is better to have a small–scale project well done than a bigger project superficially done. ‘Bigger is better’ is by no means necessarily true, and bigger is often defined in terms of sample size. In addition, qualitative research shows us that there are trade-offs involved. A small–scale (or small sample size) interview-based project can go into considerable depth with a small sample, whereas a quantitative survey can investigate a much larger sample, but not in the same way or to the same depth. Both research strategies have their strengths, and often combining them can combine these strengths. But the point stressed here is that well-executed small–scale projects have much to contribute.

When practising (or trainee) teachers conduct empirical research in their own classroom or school (see section 3.4), the projects are very likely to be small scale. And research projects for masters or doctoral degrees need to be realistic in their size and scope, especially with respect to sample size. This also usually means relatively small samples. Yet the learning experience for a graduate student can be as profound and valuable from a small-scale project as from a large-scale project, and, as Campbell, McNamara and Gilroy (2004) point out, small-scale projects can also make important contributions to teachers’ professional development. Small-scale studies can open paths to larger projects. Their findings and insights can inform larger projects, and there are many examples of this. In addition to these points, knowledge in any field, but especially in a professional field such as education, usually progresses through the accumulation of evidence across many studies, rather than because of one large-scale definitive project, and small-scale research has much to contribute here. And finally, there are outstanding examples of the contribution small-scale studies can make in their own right. Box 3.2 refers to a particularly famous case of this.

 

BOX 3.2
Small-scale research

A compelling illustration of the potential value of small-scale research comes from the work of Jean Piaget. Piaget is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of education, and some of the most widely accepted ideas in the practice of education around the world today are based on his ideas about the stages of cognitive development in children, developed almost 100 years ago. His primary research method was the case study. Much of his theorizing was based on his observations of his own three children, and other samples he used for the research were small.

There is thus a continuum of research (Taber, 2007: 7), from professional academic research published in peer reviewed journals to small-scale practical and applied projects researching professional practice. It is logical that the small-scale empirical studies teachers are now under pressure to carry out to inform their own practice will focus on their own classroom. As noted, this is in line with the push for evidence-based practice which has developed. The same is true of teacher-initiated school-based inquiry – very often, the research is planned for the researchers’ own classrooms or schools. Researching one’s own school, college or classroom raises a number of issues, advantages and disadvantages, which need to be thought through in planning and conducting the research. For simplicity, in what follows, the shorthand ‘teacher-researcher-own-classroom’ is used. Teacher-researcher here is synonymous with practitioner-researcher, and own classroom here includes own school and own college.

3.4 RESEARCHING YOUR OWN CLASSROOM, SCHOOL OR COLLEGE

As with any strategy in planning empirical research, teacher-researcher-own-classroom research has advantages as well as disadvantages. Four possible advantages of teacher-researcher-own-classroom research are:

  • Convenience: The collection of research data is not likely to involve travel to other locations, or other logistical issues often involved in collecting data.
  • Access and consent: Access to the research situation is often easier because the researcher is working in the research situation. However, issues of consent are still involved, with their ethical implications. A teacher (or administrator) cannot simply exploit the work situation for research purposes, without the knowledge and consent of people involved, including children and parents. This point is discussed further below.
  • Relevance: It is usually not a problem to connect research in your own classroom, school or college to research to professional concerns and issues. On the contrary, some problematic or particularly interesting or promising aspect of the professional situation may well be the springboard for this research in the first place. In this way, the professional relevance of the research is built into the project.
  • Insider knowledge and understanding: Teacher-researchers studying their own school or classroom can bring an insider’s understanding of the research situation, including its social, cultural and micro-political aspects. This type of understanding can enrich and deepen the research, including interpretation of its results and consideration of their transferability to other situations. At the same time, such insider status is a two-edged sword, as noted below.

Four possible disadvantages of teacher-researcher-own-classroom research are:

 

  • Bias and subjectivity: The very nature of the teacher-researcher’s insider position may bring the risk of subjectivity and bias. It may be difficult, in other words, to maintain a dispassionate, objective, arm’s length approach to the research situation. Selective sampling, bias in the collection or analysis of the data, and bias in the interpretation of results are obvious possibilities. As noted below, however, awareness and discussion of these possibilities usually brings suggestions and ideas for minimizing their effects.
  • Vested interest in the results: When the teacher-researcher’s-own-classroom research proceeds from some professional concern, a vested interest in the outcome of the research may influence the way it is conducted and the outcomes claimed. This is especially possible when a new or different method of teaching – perhaps teacher-developed – is the focus of the research. Again, awareness and analysis of the issue is the best defence against it, and will likely throw up possible measures for its control.
  • Generalizability: The transfer of observed research results to other situations may be a problem when researchers are studying their own classroom. An example is the possibility of a strong teacher effect in a study investigating children’s learning outcomes with a new method of teaching – positive results with the new method might be due to the ability and commitment of the teacher as much as they are due to the method. At the same time, this generalizability issue applies to any research that studies particular situations.
  • Ethics: Special ethical issues may be involved just because the researcher is also the teacher. Informed consent of children and parents is one issue, but confidentiality, protection and the subsequent use of data collected for research purposes are also important. Complicating matters further is the dividing line between research data and ‘normal’ professional data. For example, teachers collect information on children’s learning and academic performance in the course of their work. Using that information as research data raises ethical issues, which need to be carefully considered.

Running through this discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of teacher-researcher-own-classroom is the theme of the ‘positionality’ of the researcher. As in the point about bias and subjectivity above, this is highlighted when teacher-researchers study their own school or classroom. However, it is important to note two general points about this theme.

First, all researchers come to their project from some ‘position’, whoever the researcher and whatever the project. There is no such thing as a ‘position-free project’. Even the (supposedly) detached objective external researcher occupies a position with respect to the research.

Second, any researcher-position with respect to a project has both strengths and weaknesses, both advantages and disadvantages. For example, the insider may bring greater understanding but less objectivity to the research; the outsider may bring greater objectivity but less understanding. Both positions, in other words, have strengths and weaknesses.

In view of this, the planning of any research should include recognition and scrutiny of the researcher’s position, and analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. Only when this matter is analysed in the planning process can the advantages of the position be maximized and its disadvantages minimized. In the special case here – of the teacher-researcher-own-classroom – such disadvantages as bias, subjectivity and vested interest can be minimized by ‘bracketing’, and by the informed involvement of colleagues. In particular, informed colleagues as ‘critical friends’ can exercise a ‘watching brief’ acting as a cross-check for possible subjectivity, bias or vested interest.

The issue of positionality is an aspect of the more general concept of reflexivity (Greene and Hill, 2005: 8). The researcher always comes to the research from some position, and the ‘lens’ of the researcher is always involved in the analysis of data, and of its interpretation and representation. Understanding this, and taking the researcher’s position into consideration, should be a part of the preparation for any piece of research, and it is especially important in research with children (Davis, 1998)

3.5 RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN

By definition, much education research – probably most – is concerned with children. There is a long history of child study in educational psychology and developmental psychology in particular. A historical perspective on this research is important here, because of the methodological and ethical context it provides for present-day education researchers.

As with other areas of research in social science, the historical tradition of educational and developmental psychology research was based mainly on positivism, favouring quantitative methods. The emphasis was on ‘objective’ and quantifiable data, with statistical analysis focusing on the aggregation of data and relationships between variables. As a result, there is a wealth of quantitatively oriented observational research on children’s behaviour, and multiple tests and measuring instruments exist for assessing children’s developmental levels, their attitudes and their behaviours. In this research tradition, children and young people have typically been positioned passively (Veale, 2005). The emphasis has been on ‘children as the objects of research rather than children as subjects, on child-related outcomes rather than child-related processes and on child variables rather than children as persons’ (Greene and Hogan, 2005: 1). In the way child study has historically been approached, the child has also been seen as context-free, predictable and irrelevant (Hogan, 2005).

In the past two decades, however, there have been major changes in the way some research with children has been construed and approached. Sometimes called a new sociology of childhood or a new social studies of childhood, this perspective ‘accords children conceptual autonomy, looking at them as the direct and primary unit of study. It focuses on children as social actors in their present lives and it examines the ways in which they influence their social circumstances as well as the ways in which they are influenced by them. It sees children as making meaning in social life through their interactions with other children as well as with adults. Finally, childhood is seen as part of society not prior to it’ (Christensen and Prout, 2005: 42). One consequence of this change has been a concern with children’s perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, views and opinions. A second consequence has been a direct research focus on children’s experience itself – how children interpret and negotiate their worlds, and the way in which their construction of experience shapes their perceptions and views. This approach not only seeks the child’s perspective – it also acknowledges children as ‘competent’ human beings in their own right, rather than as ‘deficient’ or ‘unformed’ adults (Hill, 2005). They are constructed as human beings, not human ‘becomings’ (Qvortrup, 1987; Roberts-Holmes, 2005: 55).

Table 3.1   Possible bases for differentiating children from adults

Source: Hill, 2005: 66

 

Such an approach clearly requires qualitative methods. Thus these changes are in line with the growth of qualitative methods in education research in general, and the movement of qualitative methods from the margin to the mainstream. As in other areas of education research, there has been a questioning and critique of traditional positivistic methods and of their paradigmatic and epistemological bases. This in turn has led to a broadening both of paradigm considerations and methodological approaches. In other words, positivism and post-positivism have been challenged, and other paradigms – notably interpretivism and social constructivism – have been promoted. And qualitative and ethnographic methods have become important in studies of children’s experience in multiple settings. As a consequence, the methodological toolbox for research with children is now broader than it used to be, in the same way that it is for research with adolescents and adults.

However, there are important differences between children and adults, with implications for the methods of research. Hill (2005) summarizes the key differences as competence, power and vulnerability. As shown in Table 3.1, competence here centres on verbal competence, and the capacity of children to understand and express abstract ideas. But it also includes issues of meaning, the use of non-verbal communication, and so on.

Power in this context relates to age, size and status. Researchers are usually adults, and adults are typically in positions of authority over children. These power and status differentials raise the possibility that children may find it difficult to dissent, disagree or say things which adults may not like (Hill, 2005: 63). Added to that, perceived incompetence and weakness combine to place children in a potentially vulnerable situation in research – in particular, they may be open to persuasion and influence.

These considerations sensitize us to important differences between children and adults, with implications for the way we use methods in our research. Balancing this, there are both many similarities between children and adults, and enormous variation within the general category ‘children’ – as Veale (2005: 253) notes, a ‘multiplicity of childhoods’ needs to be understood. This means that research with children needs the same full range of quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods as any other area of education research. This includes methods developed in the positivist tradition, newer methods stimulated by the growth of interest in qualitative research, and appropriate combinations of the two. In addition, however, methods for research with children need to be developmentally appropriate, sensitive to the issues of ability, power and vulnerability noted above, and able to accommodate the faithful representation of children’s views, experience and meanings, in line with the view of children as social actors and co-constructors of their own reality. Research methods for the study of children are described and analysed from this point of view by Fraser et al. (2004), Greene and Hogan (2005), Grieg and Taylor (1999), MacNaughton et al. (2001) and Roberts-Holmes (2005). There are also important ethical considerations in research with children, which are taken up in section 3.6 of this chapter.

Figure 3.1   Children in research

 

The greater emphasis on children’s experience, together with increased recognition of their rights as citizens, has also led to a reconsideration of children’s role in research. A first consequence of this is to see children as active participants in research that aims at change and transformation of aspects of their lives. A second consequence, an extension of the first, is to see children as researchers themselves. The continuum in Figure 3.1 shows these changes in the role of children in research.

‘Children as participants’ in this diagram implies participatory research. In keeping with the principles of participatory research in general (see section 7.6), participatory research with children:

  • rejects researcher-imposed realities and challenges imposed knowledge
  • seeks ways of working with children that define their own reality
  • promotes reciprocal learning between participants and researchers
  • recognizes and promotes awareness of children’s agency in transformation.

Research methods developed to implement these ideas are described by Veale (2005).

Even in participatory research with children, however, adults are the planners and designers. The concept of children as researchers, as in the right-hand point on the continuum in Figure 3.1, goes further, involving children in the selection of research topics, and in the shaping, planning and designing of research projects. Thus, Kellett (2005) asks why, when we place such importance on the benefits of research for the personal and professional development of adults, children should not have access to these benefits. She provides evidence, based on two years of pilot testing, that children can be taught to do empirical research without compromising its core principles. She points to a number of important learning benefits from teaching children to do research. These include the development of metacognition and critical thinking, improving the ability to develop focused research questions, extending children’s logical and lateral thinking, and their organizational and management skills. Higher-order thinking is especially promoted in the data analysis stage, and research reporting and dissemination sharpens writing, communication and organizational skills. Less tangible, but equally important benefits flow from ‘project ownership’, particularly in terms of motivation and self-esteem. In addition to these learning benefits, there is the knowledge children can create through their own research. Kellett’s book (2005) is an experience-based, step-by-step guide to teaching the research process to children aged 10–14. It also includes examples of research projects designed, executed and reported by children.

3.6 ETHICAL ISSUES

Empirical research in education inevitably carries ethical issues, because it involves collecting data from people, and about people. Planning for research must therefore identify and consider the ethical issues involved, and a research proposal must show how they will be dealt with. As O’Leary (2004: 50) points out, researchers are unconditionally responsible for the integrity of all aspects of the research process.

The literature on ethical issues in education research is of two main types. First, there are the codes of ethical and professional conduct for research, put out by the various education research organizations – examples are the principles and guidelines published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA, 1992) and the British Educational Research Association (BERA, 2004). The second type of literature is the various commentaries on ethical issues, sometimes across social research in general, and sometimes specific to education research. Examples are the writings of Miles and Huberman (1994), and Punch (1986, 1994) in social research, and of Hill (2005) and Roberts-Holmes (2005) in education and psychological research. Both types of literature are valuable. The first type offers researchers guidelines for ethical conduct, and checklists of points to consider. The second describes what issues have come up for different researchers, and how they have been handled. These two bodies of literature together provide a general framework for dealing with ethical issues. That general framework often needs elaboration for education research dealing with children, as is discussed below.

Ethical issues arise in quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches, but they are sometimes more acute in some qualitative approaches. This is because, while all social research intrudes to some extent into people’s lives, qualitative research often intrudes more. Some qualitative research deals with the most sensitive, intimate and innermost matters in people’s lives, and ethical issues inevitably accompany the collection of such information. With the growth of interest in qualitative methods, recognition and consideration of ethical issues have become a bigger feature of the education and social science research literature. Ethical issues saturate all stages of the research process, beginning with the researcher’s choice of topic, which raises such questions as why is this research worthwhile, and who benefits from this research?

Punch (1994) summarizes the main ethical issues in social research as harm, consent, deception, privacy and confidentiality of data. Miles and Huberman (1994: 290–7) have a broader list of eleven ethical issues that typically need attention before, during and after qualitative studies, though many apply to quantitative studies also. Each issue is briefly outlined below, as a series of relevant questions – as noted, they give a valuable general framework for dealing with ethical issues.

Issues arising early in a project:

  1. Worthiness of the project – is my contemplated study worth doing? Will it contribute in some significant way to a domain broader than my funding, my publication opportunities, my career?
  2. Competence boundaries – do I have the expertise to carry out a study of good quality? Or, am I prepared to study, be supervised, trained or consulted with to get that expertise? Is such help available?
  3. Informed consent – do the people I am studying have full information about what the study will involve? Is their consent to participate freely given? Does a hierarchy of consent (e.g., children, parents, teachers, administrators) affect such decisions?
  4. Benefits, costs, reciprocity – what will each party to the study gain from having taken part? What do they have to invest in time, energy or money? Is the balance equitable?

    Issues arising as the project develops:

  5. Harm and risk – what might this study do to hurt the people involved? How likely is it that such harm will occur?
  6. Honesty and trust – what is my relationship with the people I am studying? Am I telling the truth? Do we trust each other?
  7. Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity – in what ways will the study intrude, come closer to people than they want? How will information be guarded? How identifiable are the individuals and organizations studied?
  8. Intervention and advocacy – what do I do when I see harmful, illegal or wrongful behaviour by others during a study? Should I speak for anyone’s interests besides my own? If so, whose interests do I advocate?

    Issues arising later in, or after, the project:

  9. Research integrity and quality – is my study being conducted carefully, thoughtfully and correctly in terms of some reasonable set of standards?
  10. Ownership of data and conclusions – who owns my data, my field notes and analyses: me, my organization, my funders? And once my reports are written, who controls their diffusion?
  11. Use and misuse of results – do I have an obligation to help my findings be used appropriately? What if they are used harmfully or wrongly?

As Miles and Huberman point out, these issues typically involve dilemmas and conflicts, and negotiated trade-offs are often needed, rather than the application of rules. But heightened awareness of all these issues is an important starting point. Feminist approaches to research have contributed further perspectives on the ethical issues involved. Thus, Mauthner et al. (2002) point out that ethical debates in society in general are increasingly wide-ranging, and these authors show that ethical concerns in research are similarly more wide-ranging than can be covered by sets of rules. Their key themes are responsibility and accountability in applied feminist research practice based on personal experience methods. Some of the ethical issues their analysis exposes are questions of intention underlying research, the many meanings of participation and the important idea that consent may need to be on-going and renegotiated throughout a research project. Several other writers (O’Leary, 2004; Hill, 2005; Roberts-Holmes, 2005) also point out that the key issue of consent is an on-going process. It is not a one-off event, but must be continuously renegotiated. The right to withdraw, or not to participate in some part of the research, must be respected.

These general ethical issues are especially sharply framed in qualitative research on children’s subjective experience in natural contexts. This subject is discussed in detail by Hill (2005). Against the background of increased emphasis in the past 20 years on the rights of the child (see, for example, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989), he uses the list of issues shown in Table 3.2 to identify key ethical issues in research with children:

He elaborates these key issues, showing that in today’s world especially, some are not as straightforward as they might appear. For example, discussing potential harm or distress (2005: 72–4), Hill notes various possibilities. What should be done during a research project if an adult has abusive intentions towards children? If emotional harm is likely to result? If a child becomes upset? If a child discloses an incident of abuse, or does something that may harm others? Or if dissemination of research findings adversely affects other people? Hill presents a similar analysis of privacy and confidentiality, showing that it involves public confidentiality, social network confidentiality and third-party breach of privacy. He summarizes his discussion of these ethical issues using a four-part rights perspective (Hill, 2005: 81):

Table 3.2   Key ethical issues in research with children (based on Alderson, 1995)

 

TOPIC SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1 Research purpose Is the research in children’s interests?
2 Costs and benefits What are the costs and risks for children of doing or not doing the research? What are the potential benefits?
3 Privacy and confidentiality What choices do children have about being contacted, agreement to take part, withdrawing confidentiality?
4 Inclusion and exclusion Who is included, who is excluded? Why? What efforts are made to include disadvantaged groups (e.g. those with physical impairments, homeless young people)?
5 Funding Are funds ‘tainted’? Are resources sufficient? In what circumstances should children be recompensed?
6 Involvement and accountability To what extent can children or carers contribute to the research aim and design? What safeguards and checks are in place?
7 Information Are the aims and implications clearly explained? Is written documentation available in other languages?
8 Consent How well are rights to refuse cooperation explained and respected? Are informal ‘pressures’ used? What is the correct balance of parental and child consent?
9 Dissemination Do participants know about and comment on the findings? How wide is the audience for the research – academics, practitioners, policy makers, the public, research participants, etc.?
10 Impact on children How does the research affect children through its impact on thinking, policy and practice? Are children’s own perspectives accurately conveyed?

Source: Hill, 2005: 66

 

1 welfare – the purpose of the research should contribute to children’s well-being, either directly or indirectly (for example, through increasing adult’s understanding of children so that their interactions or interventions are more sensitive to childrens wishes and needs);
2 protection – methods should be designed to avoid stress and distress; contingency arrangements should be available in case children become upset or situations of risk or harm are revealed;
3 provision – children should whenever possible feel good about having contributed to research as a service which can inform society, individuals, policy and practice;
4 choice and participation – children should make informed choices about the following:
  a.   agreement or refusal to taking part;
b.   opting out (at any stage);
c.   determining the boundaries of public, network and third-party confidentiality;
d.   contributing ideas to research agendas and processes, both for individual research projects and to the research enterprise as a whole.

 

While ethical dilemmas in research with children may sometimes be hard to resolve (Roberts-Holmes, 2005: 75), there is a general legal framework that applies, and professional bodies may have guidelines and codes of conduct that aim to protect both children and researchers. In addition, and most importantly for the graduate student, universities usually now have specific and detailed ethical clearance requirements for each project. These requirements will normally be based on the legal framework and codes of conduct mentioned. Education researchers need to be alert to the ethical issues their research inevitably carries, and to use the various guidelines indicated in planning how to deal with them.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Political context: local and general dimensions for many projects

Practitioner-researcher: teachers as researchers; increasingly common; multiple models

Small-scale studies: importance in training; contribution to knowledge

Researching your own workplace: advantages and disadvantages; positionality and reflexivity in research

Research with children:historical dominance of qualitative methods; new emphasis on qualitative (and mixed) methods; differences between adults and children (competence, power, vulnerability)

Ethical issues:centrally important, especially in research with children; multiple issues involved; frameworks for dealing with these issues

 

   FURTHER READING

 

Burgess, R.G. (ed.) (1989) The Ethics of Educational Research. Lewes: Falmer.

Campbell, A., McNamara, O. and Gilroy, P. (2004) Practitioner Research and Professional Development in Education. London: Paul Chapman.

Christensen, P. and James, A. (eds) (2000) Research with Children: Perspectives and Practices. Abingdon: Falmer.

Fox, M., Green, G. and Martin, P. (2007) Doing Practitioner Research. London: Sage.

Greene, S. and Hogan, D. (eds) (2005) Researching Children’s Experience: Approaches and Methods. London: Sage.

Grieg, A.D., Taylor, J. and MacKay, T. (2007) Doing Research with Children. 2nd edn. London: Sage.

Hammersley, M. (ed.) (2007) Educational Research and Evidence-Based Practice. London: Sage.

Hill, M. (2005) ‘Ethical considerations in researching children’s experiences’, in S. Greene and D. Hogan (eds), Researching Children’s Experience: Approaches and Methods. London: Sage. pp. 253–72.

Israel, M. and Hay, I. (2006) Research Ethics for Social Scientists. London: Sage.

Mauthner, M., Birch, M., Jessop, J. and Miller, T. (2002) Ethics in Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis. 2nd edn. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Punch, M. (1986) The Politics and Ethics of Fieldwork: Muddy Boots and Grubby Hands. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

Punch, M. (1994) ‘Politics and ethics in qualitative research’, in N.K. Denzin and Y.S. Lincoin (eds), Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. pp. 83–97.

Sapsford, R. and Abbott, P. (1996) ‘Ethics, politics and research’, in R. Sapsford and V. Jupp (eds), Data Collection and Analysis. London: Sage. pp. 317–42.

Sieber, J.E. (1982) Planning Ethically Responsible Research: A Guide for Student and Internal Review Boards. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

 

   EXERCISES AND STUDY QUESTIONS

 

  1. What is meant by the political context of education research? When would the local political context be most relevant? When would the general political context be most relevant?
  2. Do you think the teacher-researcher concept is a good idea? What are its strengths and weaknesses?
  3. What are the strengths of small-scale empirical studies? What are their weaknesses? How does your answer apply to each of qualitative and quantitative research?
  4. Discuss the different advantages and disadvantages of researching your own classroom, school or college. Can you think of other advantages and disadvantages than those shown in section 3.4?
  5. What does the ‘positionality’ of a researcher mean? What are different ‘positions’ a researcher might come from, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
  6. Describe and discuss the major methodological change that has occurred over the past two decades in research with children. To what extent does this fit the overall pattern of methodological change in education research?
  7. Briefly design a piece of research involving a classroom or school with which you are familiar. Identify the central research question, and what data you would need to answer it. What ethical issues arise?
  8. Study the AERA or BERA code of ethics for education research (www.aera.netwww.bera.ac.uk). On what are they based, and what are their implications, especially for research with children?

 

How do you want to run the group say every 3 months to start a new group?

TOPIC: Change Management:  A support group for cannabis user in a forensic ward (To stop them using)

A 12000 words dissertation meeting the Learning Outcomes 1-6 below

  1. Critically explore, analyse and evaluate the nature and organisation of their field of professional practice
  2. Be self directed and be able to act autonomously in designing; developing and planning their dissertation
  3. Demonstrate skill in evaluating the rigour and validity of research applicable to their dissertation
  4. Extrapolate from existing research and scholarship to identify new or revised approaches to practice
  5. Be innovative in formulating research problems/ practice development areas, locating and managing data and information, synthesising findings and drawing conclusions from the work.
  6. Analyse change or research methodologies and develop a strategy/framework to support the future implementation of their proposal

This written assessment must be word-processed using Microsoft Word and presented in Arial Font size 11pt. Double-line spacing or 1.5 line spacing must be applied throughout the main text of this piece of work, with at least 3.5 cm margin to the left to allow for binding. Pages should be numbered, and each page of the assignment should have your university ID number in the header of each page. Each chapter must start on a new page. The main text of the assignment must be aligned to the left of the page. An accurate and consistent referencing approach must be undertaken in accordance with the guidelines outlined in the current referencing guide (using APA referencing style). The use of direct quotes should be avoided unless considered as being vital and integral to the discussion. Where undertaken, direct quotes must be presented appropriately, and page numbers must be cited with the reference.

NOTE THE ESSAY IS ABOUT CHANGE MANAGEMENT NOT Research Methodology. HOWEVER use the template below

Further Explanation

Talk about:

Change Theory

Planning for Change

Models of Change

Applying Change to Practice: considerations

So why do we need to change?

So what drives change / improvement? for example: national & local policy, resources available, research / evidence, good practice examples, staff and patient,  attitudes & experiences, finances, organisation systems, structure etc…

key roles in the process for successful & sustained change:

Sponsor- having the authority to make the change happen, with control over resources; clear vision; identifying goals & outcomes

Implementer – implements the change and usually directly reports to the sponsor / manager, providing feedback on progress; important to listen, enquire & clarify at the start

Change Agent – a facilitator of change, who helps the sponsor & implementer to stay aligned, keeps the sponsor on board, gathers data, educates, advises, coaches etc…

Advocate – has an idea, is able to make the idea appealing, though needs a sponsor to make it happen; highly motivated

consider the impact of change on people; Remember

change has an emotional impact upon people

unresolved emotions if left unaddressed

period of grief towards loss of previous way of working

people may need an outlet to explore their feelings about a proposed change

group supervision may offer a solution during a transitional period

support staff to come to terms with the new way.

Focus on clinical effectiveness & clinical governance

Make use of Planning tools I.e SWOT, Lewin’s Force Field Analysis (A useful appendix, can be used to support the planning stage of any change. Allows practitioners to visualise the barriers and drivers to support change and put strategies in place to support these factors)

Make use of Models to explain your rationale

You need to include

Policies

Recent Research

Planning tool

Which model are you using I.e SWOT, Lewin’s 3 Stage Model

Hierarchy of evidence

Aims of findings

Relevance and meaning of the intervention agent

Theory behind the change

Who will act as change agent?

Who are the sponsor?

Who are the stakeholders?

What did Literature say, is it an issue? What causes it

How long the change management will be running for

Visualise how you run the group. e Jan Feb Mon- Fri etc

How do you want to run the group say every 3 months to start a new group?

How do you implement the change?

Who will be involved in delivery the running the group Nurse, Psychologist i.e.  the educator

How do you involve the patient?

The outcome you expect from the change moment;

level of control / influence

potential for Improvement

likely benefits from Improvement

likely staff commitment

probability of success

demonstration to wider organisation

Some references to help, please use more references.

Cameron, E., Green, E. (2015) Making sense of change management (4th Edition). London: Kogan Page

Derrick, N. (2015) Staff support during a ward closure. Mental Health Practice 19(4),14-19

Gottwald, M., Lansdown, G.E. (2014) Clinical Governance: improving the quality of healthcare for patients and service-users. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education / Open Univ Press

Hallett, N., Hewison, A. (2012). How to address the physical needs of clients in a mental health setting. Nursing Management 18(10), 30-35

Mind Tools (2017) Change Management. Retrieved from: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_87.htm

NHS England (2017) NHS Change Model, Retrieved from: https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/sustainableimprovement/change-model/

 

Does including parental and environmental cues when screening for childhood obesity improve outcomes in identifying childhood obesity risk factors when compared to using a BMI screening alone?

 

State of the Science Quality Improvement Paper Part 1

Advanced Research Methods: NUR505NP

November 2019

Childhood Obesity

Child obesity is one of the major health problems that stakeholders in the healthcare industry of the United States are grappling with. The steady increase in the prevalence of child obesity has become a worrying trend because it poses a serious danger not only during childhood but also extending into older age. Apparently, 5% of all the deaths in the world are caused obesity (Boswell, Byrne & Davies, 2019). If the dominance of child obesity continues in this current trajectory, half of the people in the world will be obese or overweight in decades to come (Visscher et al., 2017). Due to the startling statistics recorded with regards to child obesity, there is need for a serious health intervention by different stakeholders to curb the problem. Initially, child obesity was considered as a disease for adults but it is now one of the deadliest with its highest prevalence recorded among children (Watkins & Jones, 2015). The aim of this paper is to come up with a proposed intervention that can address proper screening for childhood obesity.

Problem Discussion

Child obesity is a big problem in the healthcare sector which raises concerns on whether enough is being done to address this ever-increasing problem. Child obesity increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, type II diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and the risk of obesity in adulthood (Grossman et al., 2017). It is important to note that childhood obesity has a substantial burden if not well addressed in its initial stages. Research further indicates that children who suffer from obesity are at a higher risk of remaining obese even in their adulthood (Watkins & Jones, 2015). For this reason, it is a concern to all stakeholders in the healthcare that children may end up having a shorter lifespan than their parents. Childhood obesity impacts the government and healthcare system negatively through increased costs in the form of treatment of this condition (Grossman et al., 2017). Childhood obesity also affects parents in that they have to incur costs in an attempt to treat their child to minimize the condition before it escalates into adulthood (Watkins & Jones, 2015). The 2015 research by National Center of Health Statistics revealed that the prevalence of obesity was high among youth with an average of 12.5 million of them being obese (Herbenick, James, Milton & Cannon, 2018). Further research established that 77-92% of the reported youth obesity cases persists into adulthood (Herbenick et al., 2018). Which all means that in the future, there is a likelihood of enormous healthcare costs that will have an impact on the country’s budget.

Due to the effects and the risks of increased occurrence of obesity among children, it is important to reexamine interventions of addressing this health problem. It is essential for parents to take an active role in addressing childhood obesity (Watkins & Jones, 2015). The aim of this proposal is to come up with an evidence-based practice of taking into consideration environmental cues and parental influence when screening for obesity among children.

PICO Question and Literature Search Process

Does including parental and environmental cues when screening for childhood obesity improve outcomes in identifying childhood obesity risk factors when compared to using a BMI screening alone?

P – Problem

Childhood obesity is a big health concern that affects people both in the United States and other places of the world as it continues to increase every single day. In terms of prevalence, obesity is high in children of ages 6 to 11 (Cheung, Cunningham, Narayan & Kramer, 2016). For the last few decades, an increase in cases of childhood obesity has been witnessed in the United States. Children from families that are socioeconomically disadvantaged and ethnic minorities recorded a high number of obese cases (Watkins & Jones, 2015). For example, a survey that was carried out in the Southwest established that blacks recorded 4.5%, Hispanics 2% and whites 0.7% of obesity cases for girls the ages of 13 to 17 years (Cheung et al., 2016). Not to mention that economic status plays a big factor as healthy food tends to be more expensive than many families can afford. The data is an indicator that childhood obesity is a serious issue that should be addressed.

I – Intervention

Screening for childhood obesity should include parental influence and environmental cues. This intervention has proven to yield better results in identification of childhood obesity (Watkins & Jones, 2015). Parents play an important role in influencing the feeding of their children and how they embrace certain eating habits. With good parental choices with regards to nutrition and influence on children to feed only on healthy diets, cases of childhood obesity are minimized. Furthermore, creation of healthy environment by feeding on the right diet by parents reduces cases of obesity. Furthermore, in school environments where healthy diets are encouraged, there can be low prevalence of childhood obesity.

C – Comparison

Screening for childhood obesity currently only involves calculation of children’s BMI. Even though body screening through calculation of BMI helps in identifying childhood obesity, there is need for more to be done especially the environmental factors that contribute to obesity. BMI helps to determine whether the body weight of the child is appropriate for the height (Watkins & Jones, 2015). This is a good intervention in identifying whether the child is obese and needs to check on their diet and even treatment.

O – Outcomes

Better identification of obesity risk factors in children will result when screening is done correctly. When a child is screened for obesity by analyzing parental influence and environmental cues, better identification outcomes are guaranteed (Watkins & Jones, 2015). Change of behavior in children through parental influence on nutritional diets helps in reducing childhood obesity (Watkins & Jones, 2015). A good environment where children are encouraged to embrace healthy diet reduces cases of obesity (Cheung et al., 2016). Furthermore, deprivation of unhealthy foods in an environment compels children to embrace healthy eating which results to reduced cases of childhood obesity. Most of the time, unhealthy eating habits are developed in an environment where junk food stirs the appetite among children.

Steps Used in Conducting the Research

Between 2014 and 2019, the researcher conducted a systematic search for literature on various electronic databases which included: EBSCO Host, PubMed, Embase, Researchgate and ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, proquest, Health Collection, Scopus and Medline. The search was guided by PRISMA statement to ensure relevant results are found. The search was also done with the use of subject headings in CINAHL, PsycINFO and Medline. In order to exclude editorials, letters and Meta analyses, limiters were used in the search databases.  The databases contain important peer reviewed journal articles about obesity in children and evidence-based practice that can help in identification of childhood obesity. Furthermore, visual scanning of the reference lists searched in the database was undertaken to determine relevant studies for this particular PICO research. The key search terms used for the research include: screening, childhood obesity, nutrition, environmental cues or surrounding, parents, Nurse Practitioners, and parents. Additionally, alternative search terms such as diet, lifestyle, family nutrition or diet, obesogenic environment, obesity risk, and body mass index (BMI) were also used during the literature review search to identify relevant peer reviewed articles.        The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a federal organization that is responsible for children’s healthcare. Through various initiatives such as Bright Futures Program, Healthy Child Care America among others, AAP promotes healthy eating among children. AAP provides important information on childhood obesity.

Theoretical Framework

The social cognitive theory and health belief model is the theoretical framework that will be used for the evidence-based intervention practice. According to social cognitive theory, an individual’s perception of norms and social pressure against an action determines how they act towards the condition (Visscher et al., 2017). Similarly, the health belief model which is embedded in social cognitive theory notes that when an individual perceives a condition as a severe risk, there is a likelihood that the person will take an active role in counteracting it (Visscher et al., 2017). The social-cognitive theory model works perfectly in reduction of obesity cases. Obesity is perceived to be a risk factor for individuals to develop chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases (Visscher et al., 2017). Research carried out established that the perception of obesity as a cause of other chronic diseases by people, particularly obese children, influenced them to seek help and change their lifestyle (Visscher et al., 2017). Therefore, change of perception is important in addressing childhood obesity.

The social-cognitive theory will play a critical role in the reduction of childhood obesity through inclusion of parental influence and environmental cues in screening. The view that parents create about healthy eating and obesity will go a long way in determining how their children make future choices about nutrition. An awareness of obesity being a deadly disease that can cause many other chronic diseases will make children wan to adjust their eating habits and act in a healthy manner. Furthermore, creating an environment that emphasizes on healthy eating, both at home and in school, will change the insight of children regarding obesity. A healthy environment and behavioral change among children, therefore, will begin with changing their perception about obesity and unhealthy diets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Boswell, N., Byrne, R., & Davies, P. S. (2019). Family food environment factors associated with obesity outcomes in early childhood. BMC Obesity, 6(1), 17.

Cheung, P. C., Cunningham, S. A., Narayan, K. V., & Kramer, M. R. (2016). Childhood obesity incidence in the United States: a systematic review. Childhood Obesity, 12(1), 1-11.

Grossman, D. C., Bibbins-Domingo, K., Curry, S. J., Barry, M. J., Davidson, K. W., Doubeni, C. A., … & Landefeld, C. S. (2017). Screening for obesity in children and adolescents: US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement. Jama, 317(23), 2417-2426.

Herbenick, S. K., James, K., Milton, J., & Cannon, D. (2018). Effects of family nutrition and physical activity screening for obesity risk in school‐age children. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 23(4), e12229.

Visscher, T. L., Lakerveld, J., Olsen, N., Küpers, L., Ramalho, S., Keaver, L., … & Yumuk, V. (2017). Perceived health status: is obesity perceived as a risk factor and disease? Obesity Facts, 10(1), 52-60.

Watkins, F., & Jones, S. (2015). Reducing adult obesity in childhood: Parental influence on the food choices of children. Health Education Journal, 74(4), 473-484.