Essay Sample on The Socio-Economic Impact of Teenage Pregnancy

Introduction

The proposed study will utilize qualitative research method because the phenomenon of interest to the study can be best addressed non-numerically. Participants' social and economic aspects of teenage pregnancy can be best examined through an in-depth description of lived experiences. Such an explanation can be accomplished through the use of words or stories about the issue. Consequently, respondents will explain various socio-economic aspects of adolescent motherhood through open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews because such qualitative methods do not limit participants to specific responses. The research question that the study will address is: What are the experiences of teenage mothers regarding socio-economic aspects of teen pregnancy in a low-income community?

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Data Collection Method That Can Be Used to Address the Research Question

Because the proposed study will utilize a qualitative research approach to collect teenagers' social and economic experiences of teenage pregnancy, the most suitable data collection technique is interviews comprised of open-ended questions. Such questions enable the participants to provide contextual feedback, detailed, and in-depth information regarding all aspects of the research question (Gee, 2017). It is also worth noting that open-ended questions allow a researcher to know participants' attitudes and feelings regarding the issues addressed in each of the statements (Gee, 2017).

An interview comprised of open-ended questions is useful to the proposed study. Singer and Couper (2017) emphasized that the primary benefit of embedding such items in qualitative interviews is increased coverage and breadth of the issues at minimal extra cost. For example, in the proposed study, the participants will not be limited in their description of their economic experiences regarding teenage pregnancy. Each of the respondents will also provide a detailed explanation of the issues based on her context. Consequently, it is expected that each of the open-ended questions will generate diverse responses regarding the topics addressed (Saeed, Gazem, Patnaik, Balaid, & Mohammed, 2017). Because of this, such items enable the researcher to have an in-depth knowledge of the research problem.

Another benefit that can be attributed to open-ended questions is that they give researchers a high diversity of answers (Sponemann, 2015). Consequently, there is a high likelihood that the researchers will collect rich, qualitative data capable of adequately addressing the research question and the research problem. Moreover, they allow the researchers to gain insight into the research problem. (Shaffer, 2016). That is, through open-ended questions, there increased the likelihood of unexpected aspects of the research topic will be uncovered (McDonough & Egolf, 2015). Respondents' freedom to give any answer questions, in an unlimited length and breadth, implies that the researcher is more likely to find something that is unexpected or unique among the responses. These answers are highly valuable in gaining a better understanding of the research problem.

It is also worth noting that in when respondents are not limited to specific responses, infinite number of possible answers to each of the statements are gathered (Reitman, H., & Reitman, R., 2015; Taylor, 2017). Because no limits are placed on the response, interviewees can tell the investigator anything they feel is appropriate to each of the statements and everything they want the researcher to know. That is, unlike close-ended questions, the respondents have freedom of expressive themselves in a manner they deem fit to addressing issues addressed in the questions.

Data Analysis Approach and Reasons for Selection

The proposed study will utilize theme development or thematic data analysis approach. Thematic analysis can be described as a process that leads to the identification of themes or patterns in qualitative data (Castleberry & Nolen, 2018). There are six phases of theme development. In the first phase, the researcher familiarizes himself or herself with the data. Familiarization of oneself with data is accomplished through a thorough reading of the transcripts (Maguire & Delahunt, 2017). The researcher needs to be familiar with all the data collected during the interviews and make short notes of the early impressions.

In the second phase, initial codes are generated (Maguire & Delahunt, 2017). They are developed through by organizing data systematically and meaningfully. It is a process that results in the reduction of large amounts of data into smaller portions. In the proposed study, open coding will be used- meaning there are no pre-set codes but codes develop and as the researcher works through the coding process (Feldman, Buchalter, & Hayes, 2018). The third step involves a search for themes. In this stage, related codes are merged into a broader group known as themes. The fourth phase of thematic analysis consists of a review of themes- modification of preliminary themes identified in the third stage for coherence and distinction from each other. In the fifth stage, the themes are defined by discussing each of them. In the final stage of the thematic analysis, the final report is written (Maguire & Delahunt, 2017).

There are two key reasons why thematic development is the most appropriate data analysis technique. First, qualitative data comprised of stories or words related to each of the research questions will be gathered. Secondly, it has been reported to be a robust method for unraveling of themes of shared experiences across the respondents (Hartel, Zerbe, & Ashkanasy, 2015).

References

Castleberry, A., & Nolen, A. (2018). Thematic analysis of qualitative research data: Is it as easy as it sounds? Currents in Pharmacy Teaching and Learning, 10(6), 807-815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cptl.2018.03.019

Feldman, S. S., Buchalter, S., & Hayes, L. W. (2018). Health information technology in healthcare quality and patient safety: Literature review. JMIR Medical Informatics, 6(2), e10264. https://doi.org/10.2196/10264

Gee. (2017). The pros and cons of using open ended questions. Retrieved from https://blog.smartsurvey.co.uk/the-pros-and-cons-of-using-open-ended-questions

Hartel, C. E. J., Zerbe, W. J., & Ashkanasy, N. M. (2015). New ways of studying emotions in organizations. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.

Maguire, M., & Delahunt, B. (2017). Doing a thematic analysis: A practical, step-by-step guide for learning and teaching scholars. Retrieved from https://ojs.aishe.org/aishe/index.php/aishe-j/article/view/335

McDonough, J., & Egolf, K. (2015). The advertising age encyclopedia of advertising. Routledge.

Reitman, H., & Reitman, R. (2015). Aspertools: The practical guide for understanding and embracing Asperger's, autism spectrum disorders, and neurodiversity. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.

Saeed, F., Gazem, N., Patnaik, S., Balaid, A. S. S., & Mohammed, F. (2017). Recent trends in information and communication technology: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference of reliable information and communication technology (IRICT 2017). Springer.

Shaffer, S. E. (2016). Engaging young children in museums. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

Singer, E., & Couper, M. P. (2017). Some methodological uses of responses to open questions and other verbatim comments in quantitative surveys. Retrieved from https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/52403

Sponemann, M. (2015). Graph layout support for model-driven engineering. Norderstedt, Germany: BoD - Books on Demand.

Taylor, R. R. (2017). Kielhofner's research in occupational therapy: Methods of inquiry for enhancing practice. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis.