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Program Evaluation Plan Part 2: The Research Design COUN6965 Applied Research and Program Evaluation in Mental Health Counseling Capella University Program Evaluation Plan Part 2: The Research Design Research design is an integral part of a program evaluation. Utilizing the methods of quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed-methods for a research design, and knowing which is the best method to use will be imperative to gaining necessary information from participants, as well as adequately evaluating a program. The emphasis and focus of this paper will look at the
specific research design for the program Brotherly Love. Additionally, there will be an emphasis on evaluations designs, data collection and data analysis plans, as well as reliability and validity considerations. There will be an outline of both quantitative and qualitative methods, comparisons of those methods, along with the benefits for both methods individually, and how those married together to be utilized in a mixed-method evaluation approach. Evaluation of Brotherly Love The proposed group Brotherly Love is aimed to address the personal growth of minority adolescence in the inner city, who have been affected by trauma in a short-term group. The counseling group will be conducted for minority male adolescence attending school and living in the inner city. Brotherly Love will be a small group comprised of 8-10 students within the ages of 15-18 years old. Students will meet twice a week for eight weeks, on Mondays and Wednesdays at the local community center across from the high school, from 2 : 30 - 3 :30pm. With the collaborative work of school administration, this will allow the students to leave school at 2pm to walk across the street and attend group sessions in a timely manner. The individuals would live in the state of Connecticut, in areas with higher rates of exposure to violence and crimes and would have experienced or exposed to traumatic events that may include abuse, criminal acts, and neglect. The screening process will be in coordination with the school’s administration and school social workers, where printed information and applications will be
gathering that specific data. Quantitative designs are useful in program evaluations, as many times they can be fast and focused when testing theories, and giving specific numerical data. Evaluation question 2: Is PCT effective in addressing and increasing low levels of self- esteem and personal growth? In this question, the independent variable is the interventions, and the dependent variable is the level of self-esteem and personal growth. The utilization of a single-group design can be used as it consists of one group of individuals participating in the program, which is the same group being evaluated. A quantitative method is effective in data analysis, in conducting appropriate assessments at beginning of the program, and giving the same assessment at the end of the group program, to accurately measure the data and assess the shift and change and the significance that is present. When developing and initiating your research proposal, it will be imperative to have a sampling plan and intended sampling strategy to conduct properly and successfully. The population that is chosen that will be most appropriate will include minority youth, males, ranging in ages from 15-18 years old, within the state of Connecticut. Furthermore, youth participants will have to have been exposed to an array of traumatic events, ranging from abuse, violence, racial trauma, etc. In regard to status, participants will come from inner city areas, located in or around Hartford, CT. Participants will be those who have filed out the necessary paperwork on their own for group, and those who have been referred to the group, from the local schools, by the school social workers and administrators, with a sample size of 10 participants. A purposeful sample strategy will be applied in developing a sample from this population. With a purposeful design, it requires the involvement of selecting individuals who have experienced and/or have been exposed to traumatic events.
Selected Measures of Outcomes Trauma and traumatic experiences can affect youth, minority youth particularly, and initiate very strong emotions that can persist long after an event has occurred. Trauma experiences and events occur on a daily basis affecting many different individuals. When looking at minority youths in the US, they are disproportionately affected by traumatic events (Pumariega, 2022). Adolescence at this stage, are looking for their own independence, while being influenced by factors all around them, which can cause them to face many critical challenges during this life stage. Many of these changes can make them feel isolated, which shows a need for the ability to express their feelings, address conflicts, values, and self-doubt in order to come to a place of self-acceptance. Working in a smaller research setting, will allow for the quantitative study to be more precise and easier to analyze. A Quantitative study will allow me to see the direct correlation of low self-esteem to exposure to traumatic events, and how those experiences can lend to the decrease of self-esteem and the image an adolescent will have of themselves. Additionally, the qualitative study will give a more in depth look at those experiences and how they affect an individual, impacting their self-esteem level, and establishing effective interventions and treatment plans to combat these levels. The proposed sampling procedure would be a simple random sampling procedure. As this is set up to be an equal opportunity or chance for those in the population to be selected to be in the sample. Very reminiscent to being assigned a number and having the number at random being picked from a hat. The proposed group will be a small group, consisting of 8- participants. As this is a small counseling group, this specific sampling procedure will allow all interested individuals with similar struggles with an equal opportunity to participate in the counseling group. This procedure will allow me choose participants from the same pool of
screening process, to make sure consent is provided and given, before students are considered and accepted into the group. Contact will be made by to the adolescents and their parents by the licensed professional counselors and interns conducting the group. Data will be collected through a pre and post assessment. A measuring tool that would deem appropriate to utilize would be the Child Behavior Checklist, which allows in gathering any baseline data in reference to any behaviors that may be associated with trauma (Balkin & Kleist, 2016). Once 8 weeks of group counseling sessions have been successfully completed, the assessment can be revisited in order to gage if there has been a decrease in any behaviors or symptoms one has been experiencing. To follow up, to recognize any outcomes of maintained or further progress, a 3 month follow up would be conducted. Additionally, a standard questionnaire, such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), a 10-item self-report measure, will be administered prior to group counseling sessions, and then re-administered at the end of the group sessions in order to measure where their self-esteem started and any progress or growth that was made by the end (apa.org). Also, a case study is a specific screening design that would be appropriate, as it will include interviews and observations of the participants, as well as a standard questionnaire that will measure their self-esteem level. This screening process will allow the counselors to see which candidates would be most compatible members for the group, based on the group’s specific needs and goals. This can be done pre and post assessment and can be used in conjunction with the quantitative questionnaire assessments. Data Analysis Plan When it comes to data analysis, it is critical to understand how data in research is analyzed in order to understand the evaluation of the program. Using specific tools will guide in translating the correlation and differences amongst the data (Giancola, 2020). In this data
analysis, the t-test would be the best tool to utilize, in testing the differences amongst the self- esteem level of participants at the start of the program and post program. This will allow the identification of any substantial comparisons and/or differences of the means of the two samples (Balkin & Kleist, 2016). With the use of behavior checklists and self-esteem assessments, the t- test will be able to measure and investigate where there in the assessment there is a change and shift to see of there is progress, decline or a stand still in the results, which will help give insight to where adjustments need to be made in the group with goals and interventions, as well as adjustments to behavior plans. To accurately analyze the data from the semi-structured interviews for this research, and thematic analysis will be utilized. With a thematic analysis, it will allow for identifying, analyzing, as well as interpreting any themes within the qualitative data (Clark & Braun, 2017). Participants will be able to retell their stories and experiences, as to gain understanding to their lived experiences, and then analyze any themes or patterns they were emerging through the use of thematic analysis. Reliability, Validity, and Credibility Considerations Reliability can be measured in a form of a rating scale, ranging from 0 to 1.0, which will inevitably reflect the tests measure’s ability of consistency over time while under the same conditions, with a 1 representing a perfect correlation (Whiston, 2020). When looking at Validity of an assessment, it means the assessment measures or tracks exactly what it’s claiming to measure. The Quantitative data that is being utilized in collecting data through assessments and questionnaires, will be able to provide the appropriate reliability and validity information.
