The investigation of stressors and behaviors in African American families requires the direct participation of couples and attention to their opinions, knowledge, and experiences. An in-depth qualitative interview method will be used to examine the intentions of African American couples to create unions according to the patriarchal nuclear model and the associated stressors. An interview is a common qualitative data collection strategy as a conversation with a purpose (Cypress 303). Interviews may be phenomenological (experiences of participants) and ethnographic (exploration of the meanings), with all the necessary information being explained before in informed consent (Roulston 610). The number of questions depends on the researcher and the possibility to cover the necessary topics.
There are many reasons why this method is chosen for the current study. One of its evident advantages is interactivity and the possibility to identify unexpected topics directly from participants (Busetto et al. 3). The researcher can choose to work with open-ended questions and provide participants with freedom of thought or create close-ended questions, predicting their possible answers. Communication with families contributes to the study of stressors in African American couples, which justifies the research choice.
African American couples experience various emotions when they create families in American society. Post-traumatic slave syndrome (PTSS) and racial inequality contribute to discord in these relationships. The goal of the study is to find out the connection between PTSS, racism, and antagonistic behaviors and attitudes in African American nuclear families. The objectives include the investigation of racism in the United States, the analysis of PTSS symptoms, and the evaluation of African American relationships. It is expected to find the connection between the variables and develop further implications in research about the stabilization of African American families.
Works Cited
Busetto, Loraine, et al. “How to use and Assess Qualitative Research Methods.” Neurological Research and Practice, vol. 2, 2020, pp. 1-10. BMC, Web.
Cypress, Brigitte. “Qualitative Research Methods: A Phenomenological Focus.” Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, vol. 37, no. 6, 2018, pp. 302-309.
Roulston, Kathryn. “Interviews in Qualitative Research.” The Concise Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, edited by Carol A. Chappelle, John Wiley & Sons, 2020, pp. 609-618.