Outline/Template for Research Project Proposal
What effect does the foster care system have on the mental health of children ages 15 years and under?
31 March 2022
1. Introduction
· What effect does the foster care system have on the mental health of children ages 15 years and under?
In today’s unsafe environment and exposure to harmful conditions for children, foster care is growing to be a necessity in countries. However, the constant care by the federal government and external families indicates there is a decline in foster care (Administration for Children & Families, 2021). The well being of children is a necessity for the state and its policymakers as it creates the state of life for their adulthood. Thus, through this research, I seek to investigate the impact of foster care on children’s mental, social and physical well-being. Specifically, children under the age of 15 years due to their vulnerable and presumed naïve state. Foster care offers extensive care that can have both a positive and negative impact on children. The findings of the research will be critical in establishing the importance of extensive care and insights into foster care’s role in creating a holistic environment for children.
2. Background/Review of Literature
· The social importance, scientific relevance, and feasibility.
· The potential biases
Various researchers have mainly focused on evaluating the role of the federal government on foster care and mental state (Yi et al, 2018; Miranda et al, 2019; McBeath et al, 2014 ). Yet scarce focus has been given to the effects of foster care on children under the age of 15 years in regards to their social life. Informed by this observation, this current research proposal seeks to fill this gap by conducting an empirical study on how foster care correlates to the mental wellbeing of children under the age of 15 years. The findings of the research will be critical in establishing the importance of extensive care and insights into foster care’s role in creating a holistic environment for children.
This research proposal seeks to shed light on the current system by analyzing already existing research about the effects of foster care on the mental health of children under the age of 15 years. Morgan et al (2018) argue that feasibility studies allow a researcher to gain prior possibilities in regards to difficulty in accessing information. Thus, based on this, this research is quite doable as there is ready information on the internet. There is plenty of information and resources available though many of them are not first hand experiences. Further, visiting a nearby foster care home within the state will allow me to collect real-time information. Through the use of interviews, I will analyze the information and contribute to the existing research on children in foster care behavior and social life.
Research is prone to potential biases that can interfere with the process of data collection and its evaluation. Schäfer et al (2019) argue that in research that involves human participants, there is a high bias on confidentiality and privacy. That, based on the nature of the research seeking to gather information from children under the age of 15 years, there might be a risk of confidentiality. Even more, the research has a personal influence on my view towards foster care due to my family also housing children, specifically those who struggled with their mental health during my childhood. Thus, this might blur my aim and objectives in discovering whether there is a positive influence in foster care. However, to avoid potential biases, it is necessary to conduct personal interviews to truly understand the point of view of a child in foster care to unlearn my previous thoughts as someone who has only seen it rather than experiencing it.
3. Rationale
· The hypothesis: Foster children are at risk for developing mental health issues that can pose a negative effect on their quality of life.
· The independent and dependent variables independent: behavior? Mental issues?
· List the concepts being explored: developing mental health problems while in the system, how this impacts their lives currently and into adulthood
· Reliability and validity
Based on my interest in the protection of children, I aimed to gather knowledge on how children progress in foster care and how the effects can impact their future. In researching, I noticed a gap in how their social life is, as most researchers focus on their attachment and mental issues. Thus, this research is guided by some theories on social behaviors and social learning theory. Based on the research proposal, children’s behavior is the independent variable. For this research children’s behavior is measured through their language, interaction, and social skills. It is quite evident that there is a need to explore the children’s effect in foster care due to their large presence as indicated by the statistics.
Foster care has negative effects on children’s behavior especially those under the age of 15 years. What effects?
Children in foster care experience extensive social skills due to their interaction with different personalities in foster care.
Foster care has a positive influence on children under the age of 15’s perspective on life and adulthood.
Children in foster care are more likely to be aggressive in their behavior due to different experiences of behaviors among the children and staff.
4. Method and Design
Here you will give a very detailed description of how you propose to go about collecting data and testing the questions that you are examining.
Method:
· Reliability and validity:
· Unit of analysis: foster children who are currently enrolled in a specific school district
· Expected sample size: 50 individuals
In this section how do you propose to collect the data and why? Describe the general methodology you choose for your study, in order to test your hypothesis(es). Explain why this method is the best for your purposes. Identify the units of analysis and participants: Who would you test and why? Describe the sample you would test and explain why you have chosen this sample. Include age, and language background and socio-economic information, if relevant to the design. Are there any participants you would exclude? Why, why not?
Approach/Design and Procedure:
· Anticipated time frame: longitudinal
· Chosen research approach: deductive approach
· Clear outline of methods to be used: Symbolic interactionism, micro
I will collect additional data by conducting face to face interviews with foster children in order to get first hand accounts of how the system can impact mental health. These interviews are important to not only obtain this first hand information but to build a rapport so that it is more likely to receive genuine answers. I would focus on school age foster children up to age 15 as this age selection is right in the middle (old enough to fully understand the situation, not old enough to leave)
Here you should be more specific about precisely what steps you will take to test your hypothesis(es) and answer your research questions. What kinds of factors do you need to control for in your study in order to test your hypotheses? Describe how you can rule out or control for other apparent effects that can bias and affect your results.
How are you going to introduce and present the stimuli/test/survey/interview questions? Explain the research approach, introductions, set up. What are the participants in the study going to do? How long will it take (I hour, 5 minutes?)? How will they participate (In person, virtually)? How are you recording and keeping track of the data and information shared (field notes, paper survey, etc.)? What data capture plan do you have (Pen and paper, mobile phone, excel spreadsheet, etc.). What expectations of the study participants do you have? You should also discuss ethics, consent, and approval here.
Analysis
Here you can briefly discuss how you plan to analyze the results. Also outline what kind of results would confirm or disconfirm your hypothesis? We did not cover this much in class, so you can keep this section short.
5. Draft of the data collection tools
· Draft of the data collection tools
Include a draft copy of each of the data collection instruments that you plan to use (e.g. survey, ethnography, interview protocol, etc.) Sometimes this is included as an appendix to a proposal. You may choose to do that instead. Either approach is fine.
6. Significance and Conclusion
Discuss, in general, how your proposed research would lead to a significant improvement over other original studies, and how it would benefit the field. (In other words, why should someone care? If you were applying for money to do this, why would someone fund you? If you wanted to publish your results, why would they be interesting?)
7. References
Include all references in APA or another approved reference style. Whatever you choose, be consistent in your application.
References
Administration for Children & Families. (2021, November 19). National data shows number of children in foster care decreases for the third consecutive year. Administration for Children & Families. Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2021/national-data-shows-number-children-foster-care-decreases-third-consecutive-year
McBeath, B., Kothari, B. H., Blakeslee, J., Lamson-Siu, E., Bank, L., Linares, L. O., … & Shlonsky, A. (2014). Intervening to improve outcomes for siblings in foster care: Conceptual, substantive, and methodological dimensions of a prevention science framework. Children and Youth Services Review, 39, 1-10.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.12.004
Miranda, M., Molla, E., & Tadros, E. (2019). Implications of foster care on attachment: A literature review. The Family Journal, 27(4), 394-403.https://doi.org/10.11771066480719833407
Morgan, B., Hejdenberg, J., Hinrichs-Krapels, S., & Armstrong, D. (2018). Do feasibility studies contribute to, or avoid, waste in research?. PloS one, 13(4), e0195951.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0195951
Schäfer, T., & Schwarz, M. A. (2019). The meaningfulness of effect sizes in psychological research: Differences between sub-disciplines and the impact of potential biases. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 813.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00813
Statista. (2022, February 9). Foster care in the U.S. – number of children 2007–2020. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/255357/number-of-children-in-foster-care-in-the-united-states/#::text=FostercareintheU.S.numberofchildren20072020&text=In2020about407493children,livinginfostercarenationwide.
Yi, Y., & Wildeman, C. (2018). Can foster care interventions diminish justice system inequality?. The Future of Children, 28(1), 37-58.