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MSA 600 Administrative Research and Report Methods
Submitted by:
Yolanda Thomas
Project Instructor:
Dr. Kessler
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Table of Contents
Page Number
Chapter 1
Problem Definition
3
Chapter 2
Literature Review
8
Chapter 3
Research Methodology
14
Chapter 4
Data Analysis
[Future]
Chapter 5
Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations
18
Terminology and Definitions
[Future]
References
09
Appendix A
Permission to Conduct Study
Appendix B
Transmittal Letter/Survey cover letter/Instructions
Appendix C
Adult Consent Form
Appendix D
Survey/Interview Questions
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Chapter 1
Background
Domestic violence does not always involve an act of physical abuse. Domestic violence
takes on many forms which includes but not limited to an individual manipulating and controlling
the other; this is usually in a cruel or unwarranted way. In a situation whereby an individual uses
any means to control another in a way that intimidates and harms the person is considered domestic
violence (Saltzman et al. 2002). Saltzman et al. 2002 state Physical abuse refers to when an
intimate person uses force to control his partner. Physical abuse can start out as a shove and
escalate to violent force such as hitting, biting, kicking and assault with a weapon. Assaults by use
of a deadly weapon may include any object used to harm another individual such as household
items and automobiles (Martin 2014, p. 337).
Statistics of Domestic Violence
Domestic violence affects individuals in all socioeconomic backgrounds, and education
levels; this may also include races, age, religions, and gender. Domestic violence occurs in intimate
relationships of all kinds including married and unmarried, heterosexual and homosexual
relationships, as well as dating and previous relationships (Tjaden & Thoennes, 1998). Thoennes
et al. states, “95% of reported assaults on spouses or ex-spouses are committed by men Against
Women (1998). Martin 2014 states, “325, 000 women get pregnant at the time domestic violence
occurs” (p. 336). Domestic violence usually begins with what Martin 2014 calls the ‘honeymoon
phase’ (p. 338). The new relationship is ideally defined as fairytale; this is where the partner is
particularly complimentary and charming. The abuser is usually very cunning and charming, after
the comfort phase sets in he/she becomes very possessive and entitled.
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Protection Measures
In the early 1960’s feminists started shelters for battered women and from those early
beginnings, laws against domestic violence started being enacted (Stoever, 2014 p. 1041). Reforms
in criminal justice laws built more protective laws against domestic violence (p.1041). Protection
orders were implemented to put into place safety for the victims of domestic violence by restricting
the abuser access to the victim’s home and work (p. 1042). Protection orders are granted by a judge
usually after the petitioner and the abuser appear in court. The judge’s role after hearing both sides
is to determine whether violent threat does exist. Sadly, there are domestic violence cases where
the petitioner is not granted a protection order due to deficiency in presentation of the case as well
as the evidence.
In these cases, sometimes the evidence is embellished or even false. However, there are a
percentage of cases where the victim fails to convince the court. In most States, protective orders
are only valid for a limited duration of time and are subject to review by a judge before it can bereissued (p.1046). Stith (2009) states “To ensure the quality of intervention programs provided to
offenders, Roland Maiuro reported that in 2007 more than 90 percent of all States had developed
standards for domestic violence offender intervention” (p. 913). These new standards are reflective
of the use of group interventions in most states and as it is required of most offenders.
Domestic violence protection has changed rapidly over the years, and law enforcement
officials are trained to be more responsive and intuitive in situations where the evidence points to
domestic violence. Victim’s advocacy programs and support groups provide various levels of
assistance in protecting the victim and providing programs designed to treat and reform domestic
violence perpetrators. These human service programs are crucial in assisting domestic violence
victims with protection as well as facilitation of the healing process.
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Liberty House
Established in 1981, Liberty House is a non-profit agency located in Dougherty County,
GA. Liberty House offers full services for victims of domestic violence, their friends, families,
and children. This non-profit agency also offers referral information to offenders of domestic
violence. It is the agency’s philosophy that domestic violence is not a private concern, but one
that needs to be responded to and recognized by the whole community. Domestic violence, besides
this, has also long term impacts on the victim which may end up being traumatizing. These
influences comprised of stressed family relationships, lack of sleep, sexual dysfunction,
dependence on drugs, chronic depression, poverty, chronic pain (Marc H. Bornstein, Michael E.
Lamb, 2005). Therefore, it is prudent to say that domestic violence is a vice that ough to be fought
agianst as it brings about immorality in our society.
Domestic violence takes the society backwards especially in disregard of the society’s
expected standards. Follow up measures must be done in order to discourse the domestic’ violence
severe effects. Domestic violence victims, first, must learn to exclaim with the purpose of getting
support from psychoanalysts. However, the victim, in this case should be understanding and
confident with the intention of being in a position to express the emotions. Those domestic violence
victims who have been neglected by the community can be assisted by Liberty House to come out
in the open from offensive surroundings and start living meaningful lives. The vision of the
organization is “to work towards the elimination of domestic violence in our community and
service area by providing emergency shelter, advocacy, education, awareness, community
resources, and collaboration to ensure that all victims are empowered to achieve self-sufficiency.”
(Liberty House, 2016).
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Research Problem
As mentioned above, Liberty House provides services to those who are victims of domestic
violence. There are many children and women who continue counseling services after leaving
Liberty House. However, a problem has been seen in the recent years. What is it that can be done
to make sure that the women after they leave the residence are still getting counseling that they
need to keep them from getting back into further destructive relationships?
It is very important to define the way that the women are in fact being treated. When they
come to Liberty House, they are given access to safe housing, medical attention, group work, and
also counseling to help them to find a sense of identity and to get back on their feet again. These
are things that are available for both men and women as well as children at this facility. Part of the
time there at the facility is to make sure that the victims are aware of what their rights are, however
when provided services are no longer at their disposal it is difficult for them to know what they
are to do.
Research Objectives
This research is aimed at finding the factors that are causing the decrease in the number of
women and children who continue counseling services after leaving Liberty House along with
identifying the actions that can be taken by the staff and volunteers to help increase the number of
women who continue therapy session after leaving the site.
Scope/Delimitations
The study is designed to provide research-based evidence to answer the primary question
on what factors causing the decrease in the number of women and children who continue
counseling services after leaving Liberty House and what actions can be taken by the staff and
volunteers to help increase the number of women who continue therapy session after leaving the
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site. This research is only focused on Liberty House and will be beneficial for staff and volunteers
to find out the solution of the problem.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
Domestic violence protection has changed rapidly over the years; the law enforcement
officials are trained to be more responsive and intuitive in situations where the evidence points to
domestic violence. Victim’s advocacy programs and support groups provide various levels of
assistance in protecting the victim and providing programs designed to treat and reform domestic
violence perpetrators. These human service programs are crucial in assisting domestic violence
victims with protection, and special programs to facilitate healing.
There are about three-quarters of the feminine inhabitants who have been estimated to be
living in rural areas; they happen to be the most vulnerable as they are victimized by their partners.
(Belluck,1997) Now Americans are starting to final realize that the facts cause child abuse and
domestics violence, which is a dangerous problem in the general public. From an inquiry of court
indictments, it is apparent that the substantial number of domestic violence cases have risen. When
reading over a recent report, just in one day alone, more than 55,000 women, children and men
seek assistance from organizations that offer domestic violence services their communities. Many
people are forced to find shelter in temporary housing as a haven of emergency shelter. It is bad
enough that over one - quarter of these individuals, 60% are children. There have been more than
a 25% increase of crimes that are associated with felonies as well. These are severe crimes related
to sexual assaults and domesticated crimes (Survey 2011a).
Domestic violence and child abuse organizations participate in a crucial role when assisting
injured parties with finding protection from physical and mental situation. For millions of
individuals they service as a shelter of hope and trust that otherwise have no means to turn to in
such unsafe situations. There is an steady increase in the amount of emergency call to hotlines
according to a survey that was recent, for protection and shelter, cases of child abuse, trauma
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counseling and legal servicing. Unfortunately, several cases are not known about because the
victims are either at the shelter, too afraid to report or simply do not know about the resources that
are available to them; in this case that perpetrator responsible for the crime is left unpunished. In
addition, these victims are associated with unemployment, poverty and other residual issues.
Leading to a turmoil; this explains why children and women find themselves in these types of
situations which render them helpless. These grievances could be a series of events that extend
from fatal conflicts, insignificant cuts: joined with mental issues.
If funding and projects are not initiated as they should be, the minority of young aged group
and low-income victims are at a higher risk of living dysfunctional lifestyles thus live within
intimidating neighborhoods and surroundings. Basically, they are forced to live in physical and
mental suffering, putting them in an everlasting cycle of disorder. Lavinia et. al. (2010) describes
a study that calculated physiology factors on a person’s predisposition to aggression in intimate
relationships. The study looked at physiological reactivity, which is defined as changes to a
person’s body brought about by a stimulus. The study found that individuals that are antisocial and
violent are more likely to be predisposed to being abusive to their partner.
To prove their findings, they found abusive males to interview. The males had to be
seriously violent ranging from shoving to weapons. They also must have been abusive six or more
times to be included in the study. They also found an equal amount of non-violent partners to
interview as well. The experiment involved the participation of not only the males, but the
participant’s partner as well. They experiment had the couple talk about two things in which
typically provoked discourse. While the conversation was in progress, the researchers measured
the both party’s heart rate, pulse transmission to finger, and the amplitude of finger pulse.
However, the study did not find any increase in the violent husbands compared to that of non-
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violent husbands. Nevertheless, the wives of the violent partner exhibited an increase in finger
pulse amplitude and finger pulse transit time than that of the non-violent partners. The study
suggested that, due to the increase in pulse, wives of abusive husband’s experience heightened
feelings of rage, sadness, worry and fear (Lavinia et. al. 2010). This study shows that research does
not support that abusive partner’s experience heightened cardiovascular response to discourse
compared to that of non-violent partner.
In a different study, Shorey et al. (2011) discusses how much genetically predisposition to
trait anger plays a role in female aggression towardstheir male partner. In the context of this study,
trait anger is defined as the genetic predisposition to respond in anger when placed in situations
involving large amounts of stress. The study found that there was indeed a correlation between
women that suffered from trait anger and those that were prone to express violence towards their
partner. The individuals were asked to give their information such as age, salary, ethnicity, whether
or not they were married, and the length of time that they have been in their current relationship.
The same participants were then given a test called State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory
(STAXI) (Shorey et al. 2011). This was used to review the participant’s trait anger. The women
were asked questions about themselves in order to see if they usually feel angry. The questions
were answered on a scale from one to four in (one being not at all, and four being very often). The
test was proven to be accurate. When examining the results, the researchers found that 58 percent
of the women struggle with trait anger. This proves that Shorey’s et al. (2011) prediction about the
direct correlation with inherited trait anger to physical and psychological abuse was accurate.
This study (Shorey 2011) serves to prove that our genetics and physiological response are
involved in how we act. Some people are more prone to violence due to inherited anger. This
makes it much more difficult for them to control their inclination to be violent towards the ones
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they love. This does not make committing crimes by any means acceptable, however it does give
law enforcement something to consider when dealing with cases involving domestic violence.
Each of these two studies considering the physiological ramifications on behavior have shown that
there is more to the criminal than just deviance. For some, it is a part of their born instinct. Alcohol
In the criminal justice field, it is universally known that alcohol tends to be a factor in most
of the crimes that people commit. McKinney et al. (2012) mentions that there has been a consistent
link between the alcohol outlet and domestic violence. One of the largest reasons for intimate
partner violence is the abundance of alcohol consumption (McKinney et al. 2012). Testa and
colleagues (2011) say that men who drink heavily are at a much higher risk factor to be abusive
towards their intimate partner. They say that just one partner using alcohol can significantly
increase the likelihood of domestic violence.
In a study (Livingston 2010) preformed in Australia, researchers found that 25 percent to
50 percent of all domestic violence cases involved the use of alcohol. This study that suggests that
limiting the availability of alcohol would then reduce the amount of domestic violence. This
particular experiment incorporates a longitudinal relationship among domestic violence and the
amount of alcohol that is available within specific neighborhoods. The study used 186 different
postal codes from around Melbourne, Australia. This sample represented around 85 percent of all
of the Melbourne population. They examined the alcohol sales from each of those postal codes to
see if there was a positive correlation between increased sale of alcohol and an increase in domestic
violence.
Livingston (2010) collected the data involving domestic violence from the Victorian Police
Services. The raw data was taken from the Law Enforcement Assistance Program (LEAP). All of
the data is in regards to family incidents between the years 1996-2005. One factor that must remain
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under the spotlight is that not all cases of domestic violence were reported or responded to by the
police. They performed a cross-sectional longitudinal study. The results found that there was a
small, yet highly significant positive correlation between the increased sale of alcohol and an
increase in domestic violence. Waller and her colleagues (2012) preformed a study that focused
on effects of alcohol sales and the rate of domestic violence within a large demographic areas. This
study included people involved in an intimate relationship, but not necessarily married. They
hypothesized that alcohol use would be directly and indirectly correlated with domestic violence
within intimate relationships.
The study (Waller et al. 2012) took students from Wave III of the National Longitudinal
Study of Adolescent Health which was preformed originally in 2001 to 2002. The sample consisted
on 52 middle schools and 80 high schools. They used ordered sampling methods for selection. The
study tried to get responses from all students that were originally in Wave III, however the response
rate was only around 77.4 percent. They were administered questions via laptops. The study
included questions about how often they felt threatened, hit, injured, etc. in the past year by their
partner. Once that information was obtained from the participants, the researchers collected the
data of alcohol outlets in those individual’s neighborhoods. They also measured the participant’s
consumption of alcohol within that previous year.
However, after collecting the data, the researchers found no bivariate relationship between
the use of alcohol and the likelihood of domestic violence. Although there are many statistics that
claim that alcohol affects the like hood of intimate partner violence, we have seen that may not
always be the case. Over all, research shows that alcohol consumption increases one’s risk of
domestic violence, but as seen in the study conducted by Waller and her colleagues, not all studies
come up with that same conclusion.
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Liberty House Treatments
One thing that sets apart Liberty House from many of the other shelters that are out there
is the fact that all victims are accepted, this is not just a facility that allows women to come and
take part but it is one that allows men who are also victims of domestic violence. One thing that
the staff has done is appropriate a very long list of resources that will change the course of the
future for the victims when they are admitted. If they have not had access to legal counsel and to
support, they will have the access right away from the beginning.
Part of the main issue that happens however is that when the victims leave the sanctity of
the house, many of them stop getting treatment and may even return to the original situation that
took them there. We are going to conduct research over the past 10 years that the shelter has been
open so that we are going to be able to see why people are returning to these bad situations and
what can be done to educate people about the resources that are available outside of the shelter.
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Chapter 3
Research Methodology
Research Approach
. In this chapter, the reasons and the approach that will be used to look at research
questions and how they are presented. The objective of the research is to determine why it is that
when women leave the sanctuary of Liberty House that they are no longer able to keep up with the
therapy and the counseling that they have gotten while they are in the sanctuary of the shelter.
The chapter is divided into five sections and completes with a summary. The first section
will look at all of the questions that are outlined in chapter 1 and the data that is collected. The
second section will look at the approach of the data that is collected. The third section will look
and focus on the procedures. The fourth section will look at the proposed approach to answer these
questions. The final section will examine the limitations of the methods of research.
Data Collection
Focus on specific units ought to be key so that a protocol can be developed in facilitation
of data collection in cases as sensitive as domestic violence cases. In this case for it be a successful
process confidentiality has to be assured to those who are providing the information. Apart from
definition and classification of domestic violence, the domestic setting should also be studied; the
collected information will shed a light on the type of behaviors that are in the surrounding. Data
must be collected all round including the victim, the perpetrator as well as the incident itself. This
means that the collected information will be pursued in such a way that it allows deeper analysis
of the incident in regard to the victims and the perpetrators characteristics as well as the nature of
the violence itself.
Based on the objectives of the research, the questions were established.
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1. What is the reason that women who are a part of domestic violence situation are not able
to stay in the counseling that they have been introduced to while they were in the shelter?
2. What could the staff do to encourage women to stay in the resources?
3. What is the reluctance of the women to stay in counseling after they return from their stay
in a shelter?
4.
What can we learn from past residents that has been their largest issue with continuing
counseling?
These questions will ensure that the main problems that are outlined in the problem in
Chapter 1 are able to be answered. The research and design method will discuss how it is possible
to meet this goal.
Data to be collected
In order to see what the main issues were for women in the past it will be very important
to conduct a survey that will allow the women to speak freely. A survey, which will be Appendix
A will be shared with 30 women who have left the Liberty House and to look at what their main
issues were when they left the shelter. We will look at why it was that they were or were not able
to maintain their level of counseling. Of the 30 women that were a part of the survey, 10 of them
will be interviewed by phone so that it will be possible to examine what issues these women faced
in detail whether the reasons were social, financial, or from another reason.
Data Collection Procedures
Data collection will begin in late June of 2016. To ensure that the guidelines of the
approach are maintained, there will be two instruments that are used. First there will be a
questionnaire that will look at the opinions of the effectiveness of the approach that is currently
used by the Liberty House. Also this will look at the issues that led to the women not being able
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to continue counseling when they leave the shelter. The survey will be scored on a 1-5 basis and
that will mean that it is possible to make sure that all of the women are able to be measured
quantitatively as well as qualitatively.
Next an interview will be given that will ensure that the management of Liberty House is
able to get a much better perception of the beliefs, the thoughts, and the challenges that are out
there regarding the research questions. The interviews will be conducted in a way to make sure
that they are able to look at all of the details and they will be able to look at the key data that will
be very important. The interviewers will allow for the participants to express the thoughts, the
concerns, and the blocks that they encountered as well following the process. The interviewer will
take notes to make sure that there is accurate reflection and also that there is consistency with all
of the answers.
Proposed Approach for Data Analysis
There will be qualitative and quantitative data that is used for the interviewing and that
means that it will be possible for there to be immediate results available for viewing as they will
be able to be analyzed for the effectiveness of the study.
Methodological Limitations
It is very important to realize that there can be many different kinds of limitations that are
a part of many different factors. A few of the issues could come from the sample, the methodology,
the presence of bias in the results. This is not a complete random sample; it is a group of people
who were chosen for participation. It is important to make sure that in the selection of this group
of people that they represent the complete sample of women who are victims and they show the
full age range. It is very important as well to make sure that the parameters and the objectives are
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met, however, it will also have a slight bias in the research because the answers are going to be
limited by the objectives.
The level of bias is also dependent upon the researchers’ ability to have valuable responses
from qualitative interviews. It is also possible that there will be a difference of opinions and
different conclusions that simply come from different researchers. That means that it is very
important to look at the data and to make sure that it is handled in an objective manner. The sample
could be very different depending on who they were sampling. It is very important as well to make
sure that it is known that the variance may also come from the bias that has been a part of the
researcher. This can happen based on opinions that the researcher is not aware that are a part of
the bias. It is important that all of this bias is minimized as much as possible during the process.
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References
Lavinia, P., Sullivan, E., Rosenbaum, A., Wyyngarden, N., Umhau, J., Miller, M., & Taft, C.
(2010). Biological correlates of intimate partner violence perpetration. Aggression and
Violent Behavior, 15(5), 387-398.
Liberty House, 2016. Mission and Vision Statement. Retrieved from
http://www.libertyhouseofalbany.com/aboutus.html
Livingston, M. (2011). A longitudinal analysis of alcohol outlet density and domestic violence.
Addiction Research Report, 106, 919-925. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2010.03333.x
Martin, M. E. (2014). Introduction to human services: Through the eyes of practice settings (3rd
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. ISBN: 9780205848058.
Marc H. Bornstein, Michael E. Lamb – 2005. Developmental Science:
An Advanced Textbook
McKinney, C., Chartier, K., Caetano, R., & Harris, T. (2012). Alcohol availability and
neighborhood poverty and their relationship to binge drinking and related problems among
drinkers in committed relationships. Journal on Interpersonal Violence, 27(13), 2703-2727.
doi: 10.1177/0886260512436396
Shorey, R., Brasfield, H., Jeniimarie, F. & Stuart, G. (2011). The association between impulsivity,
trait anger, and the perpetration of intimate partner and general violence among women
arrested for domestic violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(13), 2681-2697. doi:
: 10.1177/0886260510388289
Stith, S. (2009). Intervention Programs, Domestic Violence. In H. T. Reis & S. Sprecher (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Human Relationships (Vol. 2, pp. 911-915). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE
Publications.
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Stoever, J. K. (2014). Enjoining Abuse: The Case for Indefinite Domestic Violence Protection
Orders. Vanderbilt Law Review, 67(4), 1015-1098.
Tjaden P, Thoennes N. Stalking in America: Findings from the National Violence Against Women
Survey. Washington (DC): Department of Justice (US); 1998. Publication No. NCJ
169592.
Waller, M., Iritani, B., Christ, S., Clark, H., Moracco, K., Halpern, C., & Flewelling, R. (2011).
Relationships among alcohol outlet density, alcohol use, and intimate partner violence
victimization among young women in the united states. Journal of Interpersonal Violence,
27(10), 2062-2086. doi: 10.1177/0886260511431435
Weldon, S., & Gilchrist, E. (2012). Implicit theories on intimate partner violence offenders. J Fam
Viol, published online. doi: 10.1007/s10896-005-9014-y
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Appendices
Appendix A
Permission Letter
Appendix B
Participant Letter
Appendix C Participant Consent Form
Appendix D Participant Survey Questions
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Appendix A
Permission letter
Date 20th June 2016
Yolanda Thomas
Dear Ms. Thomas,
I have reviewed your request to conduct a research project involving the Liberty House of
Albany, GA and the surveys, interview process that will be used. I feel that this project will be
beneficial to House of Liberty Albany GA. You have my permission to distribute the survey and
interview the victims for this project. The following stipulations should be observed: the
interviews will be conducted during free and personal time, the interviewees will be required to
fill a consent form and the results must be submitted to the relevant department in the
organization.
If you have any questions regarding this letter of approval, please give me a call at 229-4397094.
Sincerely,
Eric Stone
Director Eric Stone
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Appendix B
Date
Dear Participant:
My name is Yolanda Thomas and I am a graduate student at Central Michigan
University. For my final project, I am examining the issues that revolve around domestic
violence and the House of Liberty as a shelter for the victims. I am inviting you to
participate in this research study by completing the attached survey.
The following questionnaire will require approximately 20 minutes to complete. There is
no compensation for responding nor is there any known risk. In order to ensure that all
information will remain confidential, please do not include your name. Copies of the
project will be provided to my Central Michigan University instructor and the House of
Liberty Albany GA. If you choose to participate in this project, please answer all
questions as honestly as possible and return the completed questionnaires promptly
through an email and a sealed envelope. Participation is strictly voluntary and you may
refuse to participate at any time.
Thank you for taking the time to assist me in my educational endeavors. The data
collected will provide useful information regarding domestic violence as a vice in our
society and house it can be eliminated once and for all. If you would like a summary copy
of this study please complete and detach the Request for Information Form and return it
to me in a separate envelope. Completion and return of the questionnaire will indicate
your willingness to participate in this study. If you require additional information or have
questions, please contact me at the number listed below.
Please note that if you are not satisfied with the manner in which this study is being
conducted, you may report (anonymously if you so choose) any complaints to the MSA
Program by calling 989-774-6525 or addressing a letter to the MSA Program, Rowe 222,
Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859.
Sincerely,
Yolanda Thomas
Thoma1yl@cmich.edu
Dr. Kessler
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Appendix C
Adult Consent Form
Study Title: LIBERTY HOUSE ALBANY GA
Student’s Yolanda Thomas; MSA Program
Instructor’s Dr. Kessler; MSA Program
Introductory Statement
I am a student in Master of Science in Administration graduate at the CMU conducting a
research in fulfillment of my graduation requirements. My study involves an analysis of the
issues revolving around domestic violence victim as well as their abusers. Anyone who may
have questions regarding this study may come to me directly or reach me through my contact
information as provided.
What is the purpose of this study? The purpose of this study is to find an answer to why the
number of participants who continue counseling after leaving Liberty House decreases.
What will I do in this study? I am eligible to participate in this study because I have been an
employee at the Liberty house and cases of domestic violence keep escalating. I have also passed
through the evaluation system. I will conduct interviews and will have consent forms for the
interviewees to sign, for those who don’t mind to being taped.
How long will it take me to do this? This study will take a minimum of 15 minutes and a
maximum of twenty minutes to conduct the interviews per person.
Are there any risks of participating in the study? The risks associated with this study include
lack of accurate data to help us come to a perfect conclusion.
What are the benefits of participating in the study? Some of the benefits that will be brought
about by this study includes changes in how domestic violence victims are handled and how their
abusers are punished People who have been victims of domestic violence will be able to speak
out and he heard rather than hiding in their agony. They will also be hopeful of favorable
outcomes at the end of the case negotiations
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Will anyone know what I do or say in this study (Confidentiality)?
The interviews I will conduct will be confidential. The interviewees will sign confidentiality
forms and the information will only be accessed by me and my supervisor, or if the law dictates
that I disclose.
Will I receive any compensation for participation? Privacy will be one of our priorities and
information will not be leaked or disclosed unless of the above specified instances. It is good to
note that this study is in the best interests of the public and taping will be done voluntarily;
information can only be disclosed without consent if the public interest demands it. Thus
compensation will not be effected in case of any disclosure where public interests calls for
disclosure.
Is there a different way for me to receive this compensation or the benefits of this study?
You can receive benefits of this study by vising the Liberty House Albany GA and requesting for
their advice.
Who can I contact for information about this study? Yolanda Thomas or Dr. Kessler
You are free to refuse to participate in this research project or to withdraw your consent and
discontinue participation in the project at any time without penalty or loss of benefits to which
you are otherwise entitled. Your participation will not affect your relationship with the
institution(s) involved in this research project.
Please note that if you are not satisfied with the manner in which this study is being conducted,
you may report (anonymously if you so choose) any complaints to the MSA Program by calling
989-774-6525 or addressing a letter to the MSA Program, Rowe 222, Central Michigan
University, Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859.
My signature below indicates that all my questions have been answered. I agree to
participate in the project as described above.
______________________________
Signature of Subject
__________________
Date Signed
A copy of this form has been given to me. _________ Subject’s Initials
______________________________
Signature of Responsible Investigator
__________________
Date Signed
Appendix D
25
LIBERTY HOUSE ALBANY GA
Survey Questions
1. When you left Liberty House you knew where to go to continue to get counseling for
free?
2. When you left Liberty House you felt social pressure to not continue to get counseling?
3. When you were at Liberty House you saw real value in the services that you got while
there?
4. When you left Liberty House you returned to your former partner who had committed the
violence?
5. When you left Liberty House you returned to your former partner because you had
children with them?
6. When you left Liberty House you felt like you had a new set of skills and new education
about domestic violence that would allow you to get the help you need?
7. Liberty House provided you with continued outpatient assistance after you were no
longer in the shelter?
8. Would it be helpful to you to have outpatient services after you left Liberty House?
9. Do you think there should be check ins with former enrollees after they leave?
10. More education in local areas for women can help prevent violence for future
generations?
Please answer according to the scale below:
Strongly Disagree
5
NA
Disagree
Neutral
Agree Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
[Document title]
Dear Participant:
Thank you for taking the time to be a part of this study which will help us to see after you left Liberty
House what could have been done to provide more support and aid. Please take the time to think about these
responses. These are going to be very helpful to us to make sure that we are able to share new solutions with
others.
How many years ago were you at Liberty House?
What is your age?
Questions
1. Are you employed full time currently?
2. Are you getting counseling for your past abuse after leaving Liberty House?
3. Were you given resources that allowed you to know how to continue your counseling?
4. Are there the same level of resources available to you outside of Liberty House?
5. Is there a stigma that you feel since you left Liberty House related to getting counseling?
6. What is the biggest issue that you have with getting counseling now?
7. Is the largest issue for getting counseling financial, social, or another factor?
8. How many other women you met in Liberty House do you keep in touch with?
9. Are you continuing to get access to other resources outside of Liberty House?
10. Do you think there is more that could be done to ensure that women have continued help?
26
Personality Testing in the Workplace
1
Chapter 3
Research Methodology
Research Approach
In this chapter, the methodology that will be used to assess the research questions is
presented. The objective of this research is to examine the effectiveness of the personality test
with respect to the hiring and promotion of candidates and incumbent employees. This chapter is
divided into five sections and a summary. The first section will present the original research
questions outlined in Chapter 1 as the data to be collected. The second section will focus on the
data collection approach. The third section will focus on the data collection procedures. The
fourth section will focus on the proposed approach for data analysis and the final section will
focus on the methodological limitations of this research.
Data Collection
Based on the objectives of the proposed research, the following questions were
established:
1. Is there evidence of the effectiveness of personality testing in increasing training
efficiency, or reducing the time necessary to train new hires?
2. Is there evidence of a link between personality testing and a reduction of personnel
turnover? Specifically, what effect does personality testing have on this variable?
3. Is there evidence that personality testing has an impact on the workplace social
environment? Specifically, what effect does it have on morale?
4. In terms of evaluating incumbent employees to promote, what effect does personality
testing have on this decision process? Specifically, how does the use of personality testing, in
conjunction with the standard methods of historical employee performance, compare to the
Personality Testing in the Workplace
2
standard methods of employee performance? In other words, does the addition of personality
testing increase promoted employee performance relative to the promotion selection methods
without the use of personality testing?
These questions will attempt to address the main issues discussed in the statement of the
problem in Chapter 1. The research design and methodology that follow will be used in order to
meet that goal.
Data To Be Collected
This research will use qualitative and quantitative methods to address the proposed
research questions. This section will review the research design as well as the justification for the
use of the mixed methods approach. In order to obtain the relevant and important information
needed to answer the proposed research questions, a survey will be sent to 30 professionals
(Appendix A). They will be known to work in a capacity that requires them to make decisions
regarding initial hires and/or promotion of incumbent employees and whose company uses the
NEO-PI R Personality Test as a factor in the selection process.
Of those 30 professionals, 10 will be interviewed either in person or via telephone by the
researcher (Appendix B). Systematical sampling will be used in selection for interviews by
requesting that the companies involved create a list of participants within their organization and
selecting every 3rd employee. These interviews will allow the research to better cover the
understanding of the experiences and emotions involved and gain a more in depth perspective on
the interviewee’s thoughts regarding the research questions.
Data Collection Procedures
Data collection will begin in the fall of 2008. In order to stay within the guidelines of the
mixed methods approach, two instruments will be used.
Personality Testing in the Workplace
3
First, a survey questionnaire will be used to assess the participants’ opinions regarding
the effectiveness of personality testing with respect to training procedures and increased training
efficiency, incumbent employee selection for promotion, employee morale, and personnel
turnover. This survey will be based on a 1-to-5 Likert scale so that the responses can be analyzed
quantitatively.
Second, an interview will be conducted with a smaller sample of managers and/or human
resource personnel in order to gain a more thorough understanding of their perceptions, thoughts,
and beliefs regarding the research questions. Interviews will be conducted in order to gather
additional data and to verify key observations. The interviews will provide participants an
opportunity to express their perceptions, concerns, and experiences regarding the personality
testing. Notes will be taken during the interview and will be recorded in order to ensure
accuracy and consistency.
Proposed Approach for Data Analysis
The two types of analysis that will be used for this research are the quantitative analyses
of the survey responses and the Moustakas (1994) methodology for interview coding,
interpretation and analysis. Since the survey responses will be measured by the Likert scale, they
will be available immediately for analysis. The means and variances of the quantitatively
collected survey data will be calculated and compared in order to answer the research questions.
Methodological Limitations
The limitations of the proposed research include multiple factors. Those factors include
the sample, the methodology, and the possible presence of bias. First, it must be acknowledged
that this partly phenomenological inquiry was limited by the sample of individuals who were
chosen for participation. This sample was selective as it specifically eliminated managers and
Personality Testing in the Workplace
4
human resource personnel who did not have previous experience working in a similar role where
a personality test was not used.
Second, the proposed study will be limited by the parameters and objectives of the
qualitative feature of the mixed methods research. Qualitative research is dependent upon the
researcher’s ability to develop the invariant constituents from the qualitative interviews
(Moustakas, 1994). It is possible that different researchers will arrive at a different separation of
the invariant constituents. Therefore, the findings could be different if written by other
researchers. The goal of the methodology adapted by Moustakas (1994) is to arrive at invariant
constituents and themes that would be highly likely to be duplicated if the research were
revisited by different researchers (Moustakas). Also, the data could be vastly different if sampled
from a different population. This separate sampling location or population could prove different
results. Care will be taken to minimize the impact of these limitations on the results and findings
of the research.
Finally, the researcher’s biases may potentially skew the results of the study. The
researcher has undergone personality testing on multiple occasions and has had the benefit of a
thorough information session from a psychiatrist regarding the results of the testing. A
mitigating factor is that the researcher has deliberately focused on the NEO-PI R test, whereas,
his personal experience has dealt with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI).
Care will again be taken in order to minimize any further negative effects of this bias.
Summary
This chapter reviewed the data collection, data collection approach, data collection
procedures, data analysis approach, and methodological limitations. The effectiveness of
personality testing as a means for candidate selection and incumbent employee promotion will be
Personality Testing in the Workplace
5
researched and assessed. The results of the research can add to the literature in a positive manner
regardless of the results or answers to the research questions. Practitioners who rely on the use of
personality testing can potentially be provided with additional perspectives from the outcome of
this research.
Personality Testing in the Workplace
6
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Personality Testing in the Workplace
11
Survey Questions
Strongly Disagree
Disagree Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
1. Personality testing effective is in the
workplace?
1
2
3
4
5
NA
2. My current organization is more effective
than previous organizations because we use
personality testing.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
3. I would place more emphasis on personality
testing if I could.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
4. Employees who have been tested assimilate
into their jobs better.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
5. Employees who have been tested seem to
perform better in job specific training.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
6. Employees who have been tested seem to
come to their jobs better prepared.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
7. Managers should consider personality testing
when evaluating employees to promote.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
8. Managers who have been tested seem to be
better bosses.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
9. If I were identified as not being a fit for
promotion based on a personality test, then I
should be passed over for the good of the
section.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
10. I have high moral.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
11. Personality testing is a key component to my
moral level.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
12. My close co-workers and I seem to get along
better because personality testing has helped
place the right people in those positions.
1
2
3
4
5
NA
Please comment on any questions that
you answered as a “1” or “5”
Personality Testing in the Workplace 10
Dear Participant:
Thank you for participating in this important survey. You answers will assist current and future
managers to make informed decisions regarding your organizations hiring process.
The purpose of this survey is to collect information regarding the use of personality tests in hiring
new employees and promoting incumbent employees. This information will be a key component
in assessing the effectiveness of using the personality test.
The individual data collected from these surveys will remain strictly confidential. No one from
your organization will see any answers associated with your personal demographic or personal
data. Once all of the surveys are collected, the researcher will compile the results, ensure there is
no identifying data and make them available to all participants.
The survey consists of 12 questions that focus around key workplace competencies and should
not take more than 10 minutes. The test will ask to what level you agree or disagree with a
statement and if for some reason you cannot answer a question, simply circle “NA.” The survey
will ask you to write in comments for any question that elicits a strong response. Lastly, please
complete the demographic information at the bottom of this page.
Thank you in advance for your participation and if you have any questions, please contact me at
the numbers given below.
Jason A. Henderson
Central Michigan University
Masters of Science in Administration Candidate
Phone number
Sex ______________
Years employed
1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 more than 20
Years with a company that uses personality testing.
1-3 4-6 7-10 11-14 more than 14
Number of employees supervised
1-3 4-7 7-10 11-14 more than 14
Personality Testing in the Workplace 11
Interview Questions
1. Do you think personality testing is effective in evaluating potential hires and
incumbent employees for promotion?
2. How much experience do you have with personality testing in the workplace?
3. Compare your managerial experience with your current organization and any
organizations you work with previously that did not use the testing.
4. Are there any areas of personality testing in the workplace you think are missing?
5. What is your knowledge of the arguments against using personality testing?
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