Developing a Method Plan with the Decision Circuit

STUDENT #1

Just a sec… waiting for some signs of screen life here. I want to read you my research question...

(yawning)

... finished my lit review on workplace revenge late last night… oh, here it is!

"Given that nurses often experience revenge for calling out wrongdoing in the workplace, what kinds of advice or tools are provided to nurses during their training?"

STUDENT #2

That sounds… developed compared to the last time we talked! Just quickly explain its connection to the literature.

STUDENT #1

Well the literature shows that nurses compared to other occupational groups face high levels of worker-to-worker vengeance. This stems from a “culture of silence,” an attitude of “put up or shut up” which obviously leads most to just shut up. However those who do speak out face damaging reprisals, anything from social ostracism to being fired. So I found little in the literature that deals with solutions, such as training. I just want to know how nurses are trained, or not, to deal with worker-to-worker vengeance.

STUDENT #2

Okay so looking at Decision Board One, you already have a decent resarch question. Your rationale seems pretty solid, just turn the question into a declarative sentence to make it a thesis statement… or did you opt for a hypothesis?

STUDENT #1

Thesis.

STUDENT #2

So will it be explanatory, exploratory or descriptive?

STUDENT #1

Clearly descriptive, as I plan on finding out what nurses in training are taught about how and when to speak up regarding wrongdoing. I will not be trying to EXPLAIN why there is revenge in the workplace or EXPLORE how it is expressed or experienced.

STUDENT #2

Sounds fine for now, we can always re-visit it if needs be; right?

STUDENT #1

Yes, perfect. Now what about YOUR Board One decisions?

STUDENT #2

Well you probably remember that my focus is on the Russian media treatment of black widows? Of the “grief rage” of Chechen female suicide bombers?

STUDENT #1

(nods in agreement)

STUDENT #2

The media depict male suicide bombers as politically motivated to gain power, never in connection to the loss of a family member. In contrast, the female equivalent, the “widow” is shown to be motivated by a crazed need for revenge, someone who is emotionally distraught, incapable of thinking clearly. There is a clear gender bias in these depictions of male and female political extremists.

Я поворю по-русски

(Ya govoryu po-russki)

STUDENT #1

You speak Russian?

STUDENT #2

Да!

(Da!)

STUDENT #1

Okay, so do you have a working thesis?

STUDENT #2

Yeh, of course… I jotted something on my phone on the bus on the way over…

(searching for it on phone)…

that: “The Russian news media depicts Chechen female suicide bombers as emotionally distraught, reduced to acts of personal retribution in a grief-striken state compared to their male counterparts.” Will figure out how to better formulate the thesis later

STUDENT #1

Seems pretty well defined now, so how about the other items?

STUDENT #2

(checking off items at Board One)

Check for the thesis and…

Check for descriptive as well…

the same as you… and for much the same reasons.

STUDENT #1

Okay, so moving to Decision Board Two—what forms of data do you need?

STUDENT #2

Actually, I had to attack all of questions on this board together, as a cluster, not as a list. And it wasn’t difficult. You?

STUDENT #1

Yeah, they all seem so interconnected. I understand, so go ahead and continue checking off your items.

STUDENT #2

Since I want to discover how the news media in Russia is framing depictions of the black widows my primary source of data will come from news articles under the heading. Communication/media output. I will also need Data collected and analyzed by researchers to help me with contest; you know, to describe and analyze the background conflict, black widows in other conflicts and media in Russia.

STUDENT #1

And what will be your technique of data gathering?

STUDENT #2

Content analysis since I need to systematically pick apart Russian news articles to determine how they are framing the revenge.

As for a data processing instruments I need two: a Data Entry Code Sheet for processing the data from the news articles, and an Inventory of Information Sources that will list the sources required to better understand the issues and players in the Chechen-Russian conflict, of the context within which depictions of the black widows are being “framed.”

STUDENT #1

Okay, sorry to interrupt, you have to focus: decide on your sampling strategy, otherwise you will be everywhere and nowhere at the same time, if you know what I mean?

STUDENT #2

Good, yeah I know what to focus on: the Moscow theatre attack. My father’s best friend survived the attack. About 50 armed Chechen militants including a few black widows held a full-house of Russian theatre-goers hostage.

STUDENT #1

That’s better now... okay keep checking items off…

STUDENT #2

Hmmm Sampling?... Now the unit of analysis will be Russian news articles with Chechen black widows as their focus. Russian national-level print news will be the target population and the sample will be a non-random purposive sample. The sample size will be 10 articles in total. They will be purposively selected in the sense that I will select the 10 that clearly depict the black widows and provide detailed descriptions.

STUDENT #1

But why not take all the articles for one particular event such as the one you seem to know about the most, the Moscow theatre attack?

STUDENT #2

Hey that’s not a bad idea…

STUDENT #1

Glad to have been of some use! Now how about the last cluster of questions on decision board three?

STUDENT #2

Well for sure, since my sample size is small and non-random, I’ll be choosing a qualitative type of analysis. The study that I am partially replicating used a narrative analysis which I think I will model as well, but worried about leaning too heavily on that other study. What do you think?

STUDENT #1

I wouldn’t worry. Weren’t you there when the teacher talked about how “praiseworthy” it is to refer to studies for corroboration in all aspects of the paper, not just the literature review? The fact that you’re looking at a totally different country and group of black widows should make it unique enough; don’t you think?

STUDENT #2

Yeah, true… no researcher starts from scratch!

STUDENT #1

Exactly, and this way you can compare your own content and case against that of the other content and case. So…

(pointing to bottom of Board three)

… ethics?... limitations?... bias?

STUDENT #2

I have a lot of jotted notes on this. The short of it is no ethical issues with respect to human subject contact since I am interacting with print news articles and not people. Ethical considerations regard the due diligence that I need to show to the information by not exaggerating or twisting the facts just to suit my thesis. And of course I will be crediting all sources used…

… there are too many limitations and sources of bias to go into right now… we’ve spent enough time on my plan, let’s quickly move to your case and wrap up.

STUDENT #1

Oh wow, look at the time! Okay… well I can make it quick. The pieces easily fall into place for me.

STUDENT #2

Okay, so we already finished Board One so let’s look at Board two.

STUDENT #1

Right, for Board Two I know that the forms of data must obviously be the text books and lesson plans used by nursing teachers to teach nursing students. See I think these books and materials fall under the heading of Communications/media output in the From data that is available. I can get all this material from my aunt who teaches nursing , and from a few nursing teachers at my college.

STUDENT #2

Great, that is so convenient.

STUDENT #1

Speaking of convenient—sampling I mean—I cannot perform a study on a randomized scale so I am fine with a non-representative purposive sample. This means my sample will be the nursing program at my college and the units of analysis will be the teaching materials relative to “whistle-blowing” and maybe even professional codes of conduct.

I accept that my findings cannot then be generalized to other nursing programs at other institutions.

Besides, the analysis will most probably be descriptive where I can show what kinds of materials are offered and how much, in what ways and when the instructions are delivered relative to whistleblowing and revenge.

Done?

STUDENT #2

Not quite… don’t forget that even if you’re not using a direct method involving human contact, for ethics you should make sure you do not name particular teachers or students

STUDENT #1

Ooo, good idea!

(check mark beside ethics for non-human…)

Look at the time! Gotta go to class! Sorry… let’s think about our decisions a bit more on our own and revise if necessary tomorrow?

STUDENT #2

Sounds like a plan… See ya, then!

STUDENT #1

Ciao!