AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER WOMEN
Question 1: Parameters of the Research
The topic selected for this research is “The rates of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.” The researcher’s interest in this topic stems from the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are over-represented in the Australian Criminal Justice system (NATSILS 2013). In particular, they are incarcerated at a rate fourteen times higher than non-Aboriginal and Torres Islander peoples (NATSILS 2013). According to statistics (NATSILS 2013), the incarceration rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men increased by 35% in 2010 while the incarceration rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women increased by 59 % during the same year (NATSILS 2013). Moreover, according to NATSILS (National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Legal Services) (2013), the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Island arc people are the most disadvantaged groups of people in Australia and that they are subjected to many serious issues with regards to access to justice.
This topic is of interest to the researcher because she finds it ironic and unjust that while the rest of Australia is progressing and enjoying the comforts of modern living, there remain certain groups within the same country who are unable to enjoy the same privileges; and instead, continue to live under conditions that are less than ideal.
NATSILS (2013) reported that the high incarceration rates among these groups of indigenous people are linked to broader issues of economic and social disadvantage, such as high levels of poverty, over-representation in the child protection system; high rates of homelessness and over-crowded housing; high rates of mental illness; high levels of drug and alcohol abuse; high rates of unemployment; and poor education outcomes. However, what the researcher aims to determine is how the Aboriginal and Torres Strait women’s upbringing contributed to their delinquent or deviant behavior. This is relevant because so many of the problems nowadays are linked to people’s childhood development. In this regard, parents can play an important role in causing as well as solving these kinds of social problems. As well, this topic illustrates issues on social inequality, which need to be addressed.
Question 2: The Research Question
The question for this research is, “What role does child development play in the high rates of incarceration among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women?” This is based on the assumption that a link exists between parental role in child development and delinquent behavior, which can carry through to adulthood; thus, leading to incarceration. This is further based on the findings of Forehand, Miller and Chance (1997), which showed that higher levels of parental monitoring led to lower levels of adolescent deviance. Similarly, the findings of Hoeve, Dubas, Eichelsheim et al. (2009) showed links between parenting (i.e. parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as hostility and rejection) and delinquency.
Question 3: Epistemological Position and Theoretical Framework
The researcher chooses to take the interpretivist epistemological position, as he will be dealing with the collection and analyses of subjective knowledge. This will also enable him to obtain an understanding of how and why things happen (Raddon n.d.). Since the researcher aims to study the relationship between parents and children among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, the researcher’s observations will be subject to much interpretation since cultural beliefs, customs, and traditions may pose differences between the researcher’s concept of proper parenting and that of the research subjects’. In this regard, ,it is important for the researcher to first obtain information on the cultural background of the subjects to be studied.
As for the theoretical framework, the researcher would use the symbolic interactionist theory by Matsueda (1992), which posits that the reflected appraisals of the self are significantly affected by parental appraisals and prior delinquency.
Question 4: Ethical Issues Associated with the Research Question
Some of the ethical issues associated with the research question include the maintenance of the researcher’s privacy and anonymity (Anon., Chapter 4 n.d.). In particular, their privacy should be guaranteed. In addition, no identifying information about them should be revealed in any form of communication. Another issue is the confidentiality of the information provided by the participants. In particular, the information they provide during the course of the research should not provided to anyone else. As well, the researcher should ensure that he obtains informed consent from the participants, that is, they should be informed of the nature of the study and they should be given the opportunity to choose either to participate or not.
Question 5: Methodology/Research Design
The research will involve in-depth interviews with the participants, which will allow the researcher to form conclusions on whether a link exists between parental role and child development and delinquent behavior. However, the formation of these conclusions would require the researcher to interpret the data gathered; hence, the interpretivist epistemology. Although the data gathered will be from the participants’ own self-reports, their interpretation by the researcher may still be subjective due to the differences in the participants’ and the researcher’s cultural backgrounds and values and belief systems.
The research will involve a convenient sample of 20-30 participants, specifically incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women between the ages of 18 and 50. They would have been incarcerated for at least a year. Moreover, to enable the researcher to obtain data that allows him to determine whether a link between parental role and delinquent behavior exists or not, prisoners with mental health problems will not be included among the participants. Although it i possible for their mental conditions to be attributed to the nature of their relationship with their parents, it may also be attributed to a number of other factors; thus, it will be considered beyond the scope of the current research.
Question 6: Methods for Collecting the Research Data
Open-ended questions will be asked and they will be as non-directive as possible so as not to suggest the answers to the participants. However, the researcher shall encourage the participants to provide full descriptions of their experience including their memories, sensations, images, feelings, and thoughts. The researcher may also ask for clarification of details or he may ask follow-up questions to gain further descriptions of the detail. The interviews will be conducted at a time and place selected by the participant and in accordance to the penitentiary’s rules and regulations. After the interviews are conducted, transcripts will be created and these will be encoded in a system such as NVivo, so that it becomes ready for analysis.
This method of data collection is selected because the easiest way to obtain information about the incarcerated women’s childhood experiences and about their relationship with their parents is through their self-reports. With this method, the source of data is targeted and can be preselected. Although a longitudinal ethnographic research may also be conducted where the childhood of Aboriginal and Torres Strait girls will be observed until they reach adulthood, this will obviously be a very long and costly research. Also, even if this type of research were feasible, there’s no way for the researcher to predetermine the girls who will be incarcerated in their adulthood. As such, the observations may just prove to be invalid. In particular, the researchers would have no point of comparison in the event that all the girls observed do not end up being incarcerated.
Question 7: Methods for Analyzing the Research Data
A thematic analysis will be used for analyzing the research data. It is a method that focuses on the identification of patterned meaning across a set of data (The University of Auckland n.d.). It involves a thorough process of data familiarization, data coding, theme development, and revision.
Several approaches can be employed with his method, namely the inductive, deductive, semantic, latent, realist or essentialist, and constructionist approaches (The University of Auckland n.d.). One advantage of using this method is that it is theoretically flexible, which means that it can be used with various frameworks in order to obtain answers to various types of research questions. It is also suitable for research questions that delve on people’s views and perceptions, or experiences, as well as on questions that relate to understanding and representation and to the construction of meaning (The University of Auckland n.d.).
In this regard, this method is selected by the researcher because it is capable of enabling the researcher to analyze the data, which has been gathered in an “unstructured” manner. Since the participants will have varied experiences and backgrounds and will likely use different terms to describe their experiences, the use of thematic analysis will enable the researcher to identify similarities or differences in the participants’ experiences, in turn enabling him to form conclusions or theories.
In addition, triangulation will be used to verify the reliability of the data. Along with the researcher’s own analysis and interpretation of the data, the researcher’s colleagues will also be asked to perform their own analysis and interpretation of the data. The researchers will then compare their findings and discuss the discrepancies until they are able to reach a consensus. In addition, a review of the literature will be conducted to see if the current research findings are supported by previous research and if they are, then that serves as another validation of the current findings. Finally, the results and findings will be shown to the participants so that they can verify their accuracy and truthfulness. Given the subjective nature of this research, this triangulation method will lend credibility to the findings.
References
Chapter 4: Ethical issues in qualitative research, n.d. [online] Available at:
< http://www.uk.sagepub.com/upm-data/27011_4.pdf> [Accessed 2 November 2014]
Forehand, R., Miller, K. S. and Chance, M. W., 1997. Role of parenting in adolescent deviant
behavior: replication across and within two ethnic groups. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 65(6), pp. 1036-1041.
Hoeve, M., Dubas, J. S., Eichelsheim, V. I., van der Laan, P. H., Smeenk, W. and Gerris, J.R M., 2009. The relationship between parenting and delinquency: A meta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 37(6), pp. 749-775.
Matsueda, R. L., 1992. Reflected appraisals, parental labeling, and delinquency, Specifying a symbolic interactionist theory. American Journal of Sociology, 97(6), pp. 1577-1611.
NATSILS, 2013. Submission to the expert mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples:
Access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. [online]
Available at: <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/IPeoples/EMRIP/StudyAccessToJustice/NAT
SILS.pdf> [Accessed 2 November 2014].
Raddon, A., n.d. Early stage research training: Epistemology & ontology in social science research. Unioversity of Leicester. [online] Available at:
< https://www2.le.ac.uk/colleges/socsci/documents/research-training-presentations/EpistFeb10.pdf> [Accessed 2 November 2014].
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2013. Phenomenology. [online] Available at: < http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/> z[Accessed 2 November 2014]
The University of Auckland, n.d. About thematic analysis. [online] Available at: < http://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/thematic-analysis/about-thematic-analysis.html> [Accessed 2 November 2014].
