In this week’s Workshop, visit your previous workshop and post responses to the following:
- What is the current version of your research question?
- Reflect on the choice of interviewing as the data collection method for addressing your proposed study. Why might you choose interviewing over other qualitative data collection techniques (e.g., focus groups, observational data collection)?
- Consider the kinds of questions you would like to ask. Are they personal? Embarrassing? Might they put your participants at risk? Provide some examples of the kinds of questions you would like to ask.
- Identify one or more possible ethical considerations given the types of questions you would like to ask. For example, if you are asking someone to reflect on his or her experience as a drug addict, perhaps that person will reveal stories about hurting loved ones or breaking the law. How might you handle this?
Week 4 discussion
Problem statement
Capital punishment is legal in the state of Texas. Since 1982, Texas has executed 578 people, with the most recent executions occurring this year (TCADP, 2022). In 2022 Texas executed 5 individuals. In the earlier years before 2004, the law permitted the execution of juveniles. However, with more controversies surrounding the execution of minors, the death penalty was revised only to affect adults – People aged 18 years and older (Holler, 2018). The impact of the death penalty on the affected parties has yet to be exhaustively researched. These include the immediate family members of the victims and other closely attached parties. The psychological impact of the death penalty on immediate family members is of great concern. Holler (2018) noted that the debate which led to the amendments on the age of the death penalty only to include adults was challenged from a psychological perspective. His research and most other researchers delve into the sentenced victim’s intellectual capacity, leaving out the mental impacts on the affected parties. The issue the topic intends to address is the psychological impact that capital punishment has on the immediate family members of the victim.
Purpose statement.
The gap in research is the psychological impacts of the death penalty on the immediate family members in the state of Texas. To address this gap, the research aims to investigate how immediate families of victims faced with the death penalty cope with the situation and how the situation affects their psychological well-being. This includes answering research questions: How do families that have had one of their family members executed cope with the circumstance of pronunciation of the judgment and after execution? What is their psychological well-being before and after the execution of the victim?
Instrument
Psychological well-being is a social construct and thus requires a scale constructed to measure this construct. Among the scales that can be used for the same include The Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Gao & McLellan, 2018). These shall be useful in collecting and measuring data used in the research. The paper shall take a qualitative approach to assess the situation, answer the research question and finally make recommendations over the same challenge.