Experimental Plan (Week 3)
In order to carry out a successful experimental plan, there is the need to have all the variables at hand. These are the factors that have to be manipulated so as to get the expected results and thereby draw a conclusion for the study.
Independent variables: For the participants under the study. The dependent variables will include race, gender, and age. These factors cannot be affected by any other factor in the study as they are fixed. However, using respondents with varying ideas and perceptions with reference to the same will be a good way to get the possible effect of these factors on the perception on legalization of marijuana.
Dependent variables: These are factors that are affected by the manipulation of the independent factors. They lead to the drawing of conclusions which is achieved through an analysis of the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. In this case, the dependent variables will include perception on marijuana, acceptability level for the drug, and opinion on the legalization of marijuana. By looking at these factors in comparison with the independent variables described above, it will be possible to assess the acceptability race for the drug in relation to gender, age, as well as race. This relationship will enable the testing of the hypothesis.
Extraneous variables: It has to be noted that in line with the experimental hypothesis, there is the need to go for literature review on the perception before 1990. Since this information cannot be collected using the primary means, the use of secondary data will come in. This brings in the probability of less accuracy. Other factors that can affect the outcome of the present study include the manner in which the data will be collected as this can affect the results, the methods of data analysis and their efficiency. The rapport between the researcher and the respondents will come in as any suspicion by the respondents can lead to giving o false information. These factors are beyond the control of the researcher but still affect the overall outcome of the study. Therefore, they have to be considered.
Experimental Plan (Week 4)
A sound experimental plan is very crucial or essential for the realization of a proper study. Two main approaches will be employed for this study.
There is the qualitative study. This will be concerned with looking at the perception of the people with regard to marijuana and what they think should be done about it. the kind of information required for this study will include the people’s perception and understanding of marijuana, its effects, the regulations in the country about marijuana and the assertion as to whether they would approve of it or not.
The methods of data analysis in this case would include focus group discussions where the individuals would give the information and their understanding about marijuana. The discussions would be recorded and transcribed later, and analyzed qualitatively. In order to get a conclusive feedback, it would be important to make sure that a lot of information is gathered.
In the qualitative research on marijuana, the sample would be selected from the population that is to be studied. That is, a representative sample would be picked from the inhabitants of the different parts of the nation. They would also be differentiated in terms of gender, age, and race. The sample would be representative.
After the sample has been selected, the participants would then be required to fill a questionnaire that looks at their understanding and opinions with regard to marijuana. As opposed to the qualitative study, the questions in this case would be closed. The responses can then be coded and assigned numerals, which would allow for quantitative analysis. Statistical analysis would be done using SPSS V. 20 for windows where the descriptive statistics would be applied to analyze the perceptions of the people and their position on marijuana. Such information would be useful in testing the hypothesis.
Design and Methods (Week 5)
The study will employ the quantitative strategy. This will be done in form of a survey which will look at the knowledge, practices and attitudes with regard to marijuana. The knowledge will be based on what the people know about marijuana, its side effects, its usage, growth, production and so on. On the attitudes, the factors to be assessed will include the perception or opinion with regard to the drug, the mode of administration, the acceptability of the same. On the practices, there will be the need to analyze how and why people use it, how much they take in, how they take it and the means of acquisition.
In order to carry out an effective survey, there will be the need for the selection of an appropriate sample. In order to make sure that the sample is representative and that the findings can be replicated or generalized in the general population, the systematic random sampling method will be employed. This will be applied such that every 5th member of the population under study is included in the study.
After the sample has been selected, the pre-prepared questionnaires will be administered to them. They will fill the questionnaires and give them back to the researchers for further analysis. Due to the fact that the data collected will be in numerical terms, the analysis will be easy as it will just be analyzed using the SPSS program. The descriptive statistics will be used to give the mean, frequencies and mode of the responses. These will be used to assess the number of people who would prefer the legalization of marijuana in the current age. This will be compared with the proportion that supported the same before 11990. After this analysis, it will be possible to test the hypothesis and come up with a conclusion as to whether a larger proportion of the people in the current age support the legalization of marijuana or not.
Literature Review (Week 6)
Marijuana, also known as cannabis, is one of the hallucinating drugs that are commonly used in the US and the world in general. There are various debates concerning whether it should be made legal or illegal. In line with these, there are conflicts in the issue as there are some states which allow its usage, whereas the federal law does not allow it (Cerda et al, 2012; Nation, 2012). This leads to a kind of confusion as to whether it should be accepted or not. Some of the arguments proposed are as stated below.
First of all, it has to be noted that the debate on the drug is quite sensitive and has an influence even in the political arena. For instance, Stein (2012) has it that in the recent American polls, Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate seemed to support the legalization of the drug. His presence in the ballot box was likely to draw some votes away from his contestants, especially Mitt Romney, who did not support its legalization. Well, this is just an indication of how serious the issue of marijuana legalization can be.
It has crossed to the social arena as well, and also in the professional field of medicine. On the social arena, studies have been carried out to investigate the aspect of legalization and utilization of marijuana by the youths (Friese and Grube, 2013). The argument is that if the drug is legalized for the medical purposes, there is high possibility that it would more readily available to the youths. This could easily lead to abuse and misuse of the same, which could probably lead to various short term as long as long term effects (Frum, 2012).
Frum (2012) further indicates that there would be some psychological problems associated with the use of the drug. Therefore, the argument is that the drug should not be legalized. The reason is that it can lead to the deterioration of the social organization within the society. There is no reason as to why this should be the case. This is the reason as to why the debate on marijuana seems to be inclined on failing any attempts to legalize it. For instance, there was a bill in the California state which sought to make the drug legal for any individual aged over 21 years. The main argument was that if it was made legal, then the production would be taken up by corporations and other influential organizations. In the long run, a lot of people would be exposed to the drug. It would actually be impossible to regulate or monitor its distribution so as to make sure that it is only available to people aged 21 years and above. The bottom line is that there are more of risks than advantages associated with the legalization of the drug.
On the other hand, there are also some arguments that are in factor of legalization of the drug. For instance, there is the argument that the production and sale of the drug could be a boost to the economy of the country since the producers would be taxed. This would earn some money for the government’s coffers (Conant and Maloney, 2010).
Another supporting facto is that the drug could have some medical benefits to the population. This was the reason as to why legalization on the medical basis was preferred (Cockburn, 2012). The argument was that the drug has some therapeutic characteristics which can be effective in releasing some conditions such as stress and depression among others.
Based on such arguments, there is a tendency of the population to move towards the legalization of the drug. Caulkins et al (2012) indicate that as of 2012, “almost half of the population was in support of the legalization of the drug”. One of the main factors behind this support is the argument that the drug could be used for medical purposes.
Von Drehle et al (2012) also share the same sentiments where they observe that the current generation seems to be less conservative with regard to the use of the drug. All they call for is the moderation so that the effects of the drug cannot be so harmful to the population in general. The most amazing factor is that the legalization calls seem to be taken up even among the communities which are thought to be adversely affected by the use of the same. Thornhill (2011) observes that the African Americans support the legalization in moderation. This is because they believe that such a move would significantly reduce the number of the individuals from these races who are put behind bars for crimes related to possession and usage of the drug.
Based on these arguments, it is very clear that the community seems to be considering the legalization of marijuana. There are various reasons for the same which include the therapeutic characteristics of the drug as well as the need to uphold the freedom of choice of the people. Well, this is quite different as compared to the past generations who would have very strict laws to regulate the use of the same. It is for this reason that this study is necessary so as to compare the perception of the drug in the past and in the current generation. This will help in assessing whether there is a difference in support of marijuana legalization between the two generations.
Sampling Procedure (Week 7)
As already indicated, the main aim of this study is to investigate the perception of the drug in the modern society. Therefore, there is the need to get the information from a sample that can be generalized for the entire population. The sample also has to be varied such that it considers all the people in the population. The sampling procedure to be adopted is the systematic random sampling and the stratified sampling.
The sample size required is 120 participants. These will be selected from the general population by using the systematic random sampling as indicated above. The inclusion and exclusion criteria will be based on the fact that the participants have to be aged over 21 years. The gender rand race will also be considered. The gender distribution should be equal. Similarly, the racial distribution should also be quite balanced. About 30 participants should be Caucasians, 30 African Americans, 30 Hispanics, and 30 individuals from the other minority groups. Such a sample is expected to be quite representative.
The various races will be used as the strata. Within the strata, 30 respondents will be selected by applying the systematic random sampling where every 5th individual is included in the study. In the long run, it is expected that a representative sample will be achieved.
Design (Week 8)
The study will adopt a within subject strategy. This is where all the practices carried out and the activities are restricted to the subjects of the study. The strategy also aims at eliminating any possibility of having extraneous variables interfering with the findings of the research. Since the study is based on a social issue that is quite controversial, care will be needed so as to make sure that the study does not go out of context. There can be a lot of extraneous variables, and the control can only be achieved by making sure that the study is within subject.
All the questions asked will be quite specific; hence the respondents cannot easily go out of context. At times, it can be quite hard to control the extent to which the respondents stay within the dictates of the study. Due to this factor, caution will be taken to ensure that most of the questions are closed ended. This will leave little or no room for going out of context. This will aid in the control of the external factors and help in maintaining objectivity in the study.
The analysis of the data also needs to be done in such a manner that all the factors assessed can be analyzed and interpreted with the highest degree of accuracy. Well, this will be assured by using SPSS for the analysis. This package allows for the coding of data, such that the researcher can arrange the data in a manner that is likely to make sense, be easily understood and derive results that can be used to make a sound conclusion. It is due to these factors that the within-subject strategy fits best for this study.
Ethical Considerations (Week 9)
When carrying out any work of research, it is important to make sure that all the ethical considerations are in place. This is even more emphasized when the study uses humans as the subjects. For this study, there are three ethical factors that are to be considered. First of all, there is the issue of informed consent. In order to achieve this, the respondents will be approached and the nature of the study as well as the role of the respondents will be explained to them. If the participants agree to participate, they will sign the form of informed consent after which they will be considered to be included in the study.
Debriefing is the other issue that is to be considered. After being involved in such a rigorous exercise dealing with such a sensitive issue, it is highly likely that the participants will have much of mental pressure. They might also be in a dilemma as concerns the drug since they will have touched on some sensitive issue. As such, the researcher will make sure that there is a session where the participants can vent out any pressure accumulated. This can be through a few moments of sharing with each other or engaging in recreational activities such as games.
More often than not, the research activity takes up individuals’ time. As such, it is at times to get people committed in a research activity due to the perception that it is taking up their valuable time. In order to avoid such a scenario, the study will employ a compensation plan. This is where the participants who agree to participate will receive a token of appreciation. There will be key holders, caps and T-Shirts which will be in a kind of ballot. One the participants fill the questionnaire and hand it in, they will be asked to pick a voucher from a box at random. The item written on the voucher will be handed over to the participant. It is hoped that this strategy will be a motivation for participation.
Conclusion 10 & 11)
After the data collection and analysis, the findings will be presented in forms of charts, graphs and tables. These will be based on the various aspects of the study that were analyzed. The discussion of the findings will lead to the testing of the hypothesis. They will indicate whether the current population is more open to the legalization of marijuana as compared to the generation before 1990. This will also lead to the recommendation as to whether the drug should be legalized or not.
References
Caulkins, J. et al. (2012). A Voter’s Guide to Decriminalizing Marijuana. American Interest, Vol. 8(2), pp. 28-36.
Conant, E. & Maloney, K. (2010). Pot and eth GOP. Newsweek, Vol. 156(18), pp. 30-35.
Cockburn, A. (2012). Obama and Marijuana: A Great Betrayal? Nation, Vol. 294(25), pp. 10.
Cerda, M. et al. (2012). Medical Marijuana Laws on 50 States: Investigating the Relationship between State Legalization of Medical Marijuana and Marijuana Use, Abuse and Dependence. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Vol. 120(1-3), pp. 22-27.
Friese, B. & Grube, J.W. (2013). Legalization of Medical Marijuana and Marijuana Use among Youths. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, Vol. 20(1), pp. 33-39.
Frum, D. (2012). Weed Whacked. Newsweek, Vol. 160(25), pp. 22.
Nation. (2012). Altered State. Nation, Vol. 291(26), pp. 17-22.
Thornhill, T. (2011). African Americans and the Marijuana Legalization Paradox: Do Race-Specific Murder Victimization Rates and Race Specific Drug Arrest rates Explain It? Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, Vol. 9(2), pp. 110-135.
Stein, J. (2012). Who is Gary Johnson? Time, Vol. 180(20), pp. 20-22.
Von Drehle, D. et al. (2012). Grass Roots. Time, Vol. 180(26), pp. 32-35.
