Program of Study: PhD in Developmental Psychology – Self Design program.
Social Problem: Historically, slaves suffered significant trauma, which was carried forward through successive generations. Over the past decade, we have seen a new surge of significant and blatant disregard for the trauma inflicted on the African American community. There has been no significant research or analysis into addressing cultural trauma, and the effects of posttraumatic slave syndrome (Vil, Vil, & Fairfax, 2019) continued effect on the African Americans’ social and psychological difficulties in the United States. American society, overall, continues to ignore the effects of the way society still marginalize its African American community. Allowing this to continue will only lead to a more volatile cultural divided backlash.
Quantitative Research Problem: There has been no scholarly documentation of the number of families affected by generational slave trauma and its impact on the next generation of African Americans’ acceptance into this society.
Quantitative Research Purpose: The purpose of this study is to use a quantitative style and methodology to deduct a more logical way to test and confirm the impact of trauma on the next generation of African Americans.
Quantitative Research Question: How does addressing the impact of the posttraumatic slave syndrome reduces the damage to the next generation of African Americans.
Qualitative Research Problem: There has been no scholarly research done that identifies the various levels of posttraumatic slave syndrome in prior generations of African Americans.
Qualitative Research Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the posttraumatic slave syndrome responses of a past generation of African Americans and how this trauma is affecting the current generation’s daily interaction in society.
Qualitative Research Question: How does the new generation of African Americans respond to generational trauma from slavery when societal marginalization stemming from slavery continues.
Theory:
An intersectional approach to my research questions will reflect on what social problems or trauma cases are encountered among the community being studied. It will help narrow down the research question to mainly focuses on the specific context and social issue. Therefore, this will be a fundamental theory that will be more applicable to my study.
Intersectionality is a theory anchored that human experience is equally influenced by multiple social positions such as gender and race and will not be sufficiently realized through independently reflecting on social classes. Applied broadly in qualitative research analysis, its significance has been discovered and applied in quantitative research studies. Intersectionality outlines the approaches in which various intersecting social categories (such as ability, gender, and race) and resultant interconnecting mechanisms of oppression (such as ableism, sexism, and racism) have an impact on lived experiences of an individual (Hancock, 2019).
This signifies that both outlining the diversity of the lived experiences of the communities and individuals and an emphasis on power is core to an intersectional assessment.
Quantitative Research Designs
Quantitative research designs may involve different research approaches. These research approaches are termed quantitative research design concepts. The relationship between variables is critical in developing quantitative research design concepts. Experimental research concept factors in the manipulation of independent variables across two groups. For example, the research may consider age factors in clustering sample populations (Baker, 2017). Quasi-experimental research designs consider the natural occurrence of manipulation of independent variables.
A good example is the changing of populations in terms of social mobility over time. An experimental research design that considers a random sampling strategy will be adopted in answering the research question. The selection of scenarios will guide the primary inquiry into data. The research problem will be central in addressing the social problem under the study.
Through quantitative research designs, the research purpose will be to measure the hypothesis linked to the research problem. The quantitative research design will adopt a descriptive design concept (Nelson, Keilhofner, & Taylor, 2017).
Research sampling
The study will employ the purposive sampling strategy, a common technique in lived experience research design, and will enable selective sampling of individuals experienced in the effect of posttraumatic slavery on African Americans (Creswell, 2018). The sampling technique will allow selection of a small sample size which makes it easier to deal with. Using a small sample size of (n=10) consisting of accessible and competent anthropologists, African American Community leaders, Leaders of African American Rights Movement such as the Black Lives Movement and African American Student leadership will provide an in-depth, rich data on the lived experience of members African American communities and the significance of their stories on why’s and how’s slavery has affected their current way of life.
Data collection method
The study will employ interviews which is a consistent technique employed in Lived experience research design (Frechette et al., 2020). Interviews will allow the collecting of information that will be detailed on the lived experiences of African Americans as a result of purported implications of slavery. The interviews will be participant-focused, patient and giving the maximum concentration on the interviewee to allow a significant understanding of their stance on the issue (Frechette et al., 2020).
Quantitative Research Designs
Applying a qualitative research design, sequential studies normally use qualitative methods such as observations and interviews to collect every sample. Quantitative design differs based on the technique applied; focus groups, in-depth interviews, and observations can be considered for this study (Fischer, Boone, & Neumann, 2014). Ethnographic research is the significant and effective in-depth observational method applied to study people or communities in their naturally occurring setting.
For instance, through ethnographic research, a non-profit organization can comprehend the needs of a particular community or ethnic/racial group, and this will, in turn, shape the aid’s design. The qualitative variable, in this case, will be tribe, race, or color. Ethnographic research design intends to understand the settings, challenges, and cultures that take place. This research design type might take some data since it entails in-depth observation and data collection.
Qualitative Sampling Strategy
Purposeful sampling will be used in this study to recruit respondents (n=20) who will offer detailed and in-depth information about the identified social problem. It will be significantly determined and subjective by the researcher formulating the qualifying criteria every respondent needs to meet to participate in the study (Emmel, 2013). For this study, since the purpose of this study will be to examine the effect of trauma on the next generation of Native Americans, the two selection criteria be a) must be an African American; b) must have stayed in the studied community for more than five years; c) for leader or activist or medical practitioner, must have been active for more than five years in this community.
Qualitative Data Collection Method
The study will use unstructured interviews, which will be conducted with a minimal level of organization. This research interview aims to examine the motivations, beliefs, experiences, and views of African-Americans. Discussions will be considered to provide a ‘deeper’ realization of the social phenomena acquired from entire questionnaires.
Variable
The study will focus on the independent variable, concentration of slavery, while the dependent variable will be percent change in trauma incidences between the 1965-1970 and 2015-2020 periods. The concentration of slavery will be ratio variable, where it will be manipulated through randomly allotting subjects of the study to any of the two conditions: control and trauma deprivation. Under the condition of trauma deprivation, subjects will be requested to report trauma cases they experienced between the 1965 and 1970 during the study session. However, under the control condition, subjects of the study will be requested to report the current trauma cases prior to participating in the experiment.
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Vil, N. M., Vil, C. S., & Fairfax, C. N. (2019). Posttraumatic Slave Syndrome, the Patriarchal Nuclear Family Structure, and African American Male–Female Relationships. Social Work, 64(2), 139-146. Retrieved 6 6, 2021, from https://academic.oup.com/sw/article-abstract/64/2/139/5306358