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Purpose Of A Qualitative Study

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Purpose
There is a lack of research that has used a qualitative approach to studying the unique nature of military and family life when raising a child with autism. This study would fill the gap in the literature through deliberation of the unique context in which military families raising a child with autism actively manage everyday life.
This study would use a qualitative methodology consisting of a three in depth semi-structured interviews and an analysis. Interviews should include open-ended questions exploring resilience, parent experiences of raising a child with autism, and military lifestyle. Using a semi-structured interview format will provide an arena to increase understand of the families’ experiences and insight. Interview guides …show more content…

Autism diagnosis as well as military status will be by parent report and supporting documentation is requested but not required. After a review of the relevant literature, the target number of families for the study is between 20-25. Sample size will be validated using a test population. The amount and quality of data will be reviewed throughout the recruitment process in respect of the support of each interview towards saturation of data.
The recruitment will target the state of California. California was selected based on the proximity to researcher, as well as having the largest military population in the nation (168,820 as of August 2003). The San Diego area has the largest concentration of military personnel and will be the initial target for participant recruitment.
Procedures
First Institutional Review Board approval must be obtained through the appropriate authority to include study procedures and protection of human subjects. All participants need to consent to study procedures by signing an Institutional Review Board approved consent form prior to being …show more content…

Data to be analyzed includes interview transcriptions as well as general observations, and reflections of each interview. Interviews will be recorded via audiotape and later transcribed for analysis. Initial data analysis will occur after each interview, and the researcher will write a brief reflection of the interview focusing on common themes, categories, patterns, and relationships. Preliminary reviews may reveal areas that the researcher overlooked in the interviews and allow time to address these topics in future interviews. Initial themes and categories identified in the data will help the researcher develop codes to be used later for a systematic analysis of the data.
Results
As per the literature, I would expect caregivers to identify a multitude of barriers and stressors they encounter daily while raising a child with autism in a military lifestyle. Geographic relocations compound this issue, as IEPs are often not applied uniformly from state to state, DoD to civilian schools, or even across within-state school districts.

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