Social Research
Social Research
Introduction
The problem of childhood obesity, as in other OECD countries, has become increasingly pronounced with an estimated 8% of children being overweight or obese (OECD 2010). The problem of childhood obesity is mostly associated with poor social and psychological outcomes, together with physical health issues both in the short and long-term. To this effect, concerns relating to disordered eating among children need to attract appropriate action on childhood obesity from parents, nutritionists and the government (Hesketh & Campbell 78).
Case study journal: “A Social Marketing Study of the Influence of Fathers on Children’s Dietary Habits.” Available at: http://anzmac.org/conference/2011/Papers%20by%20Presenting%20Author/Norton,%20Julie%20Paper%20131.pdf
Case study method is often used to explore as well as investigate an existing phenomenon using a detailed contextual analysis of a narrowed range of conditions or events together with their relationships. A case study method is “an empirical inquiry which investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used” (Yin 2). In this respect, a case study method enables for the exploration and comprehension of complex issues as it is often reliable when a holistic, in-depth inquiry is needed. The case study method is therefore a priceless tool for many social science studies especially in education, sociology and community-based problems.
The case study method enables the researcher to go beyond the limitations of quantitative methods in offering holistic along with in-depth explanations of both the social and behavioral aspects under study (Kohn 45). As such, the examiner is able to exceed the quantitative statistical results and comprehend the behavioral conditions through the perspective of the actor (Zainal 54). Considering that the case study method incorporates both the quantitative and qualitative data, it serves to offer explanation of both the process and the results of the phenomenon in question through complete observation as well as analysis of the case itself.
Précis of the study
The case study I chose is titled “A Social Marketing Study of the Influence of Fathers on Children’s Dietary Habits” published in 2011. The study gives findings from qualitative research which investigated parental attitudes and behaviors affecting the quantity of food taken by young children as well as the nature of foods that are availed to the young children to eat. Specifically, the research explored the salient role of fathers in the shaping of their children’s eating habits (Norton 23). It was observed that fathers have a direct influence on their children as role models, but indirect influence on children’s food consumption through the actions of female primary caregivers (mothers). It was concluded that the presence of the father is vital in offering a greater impetus for caregivers to offer regular meals to children. It was also identified that caregivers’ partners often have negative influence on the children as poor role models or through other negative influences on the caregivers.
The Research
The aim of the research was to contribute insights relating to the parental attitudes and motivations and help in the development of effective interventions or social marketing campaigns addressing the subject of childhood obesity. The childhood obesity epidemic in the Australia affects all states and cuts across all social economic groups lines, racial and ethnic groups. Fathers have less direct interactions with their young children (especially 3 to 5 year olds) in familial situations such as mealtime (Norton 12). In terms of feeding patterns, fathers were found to employ pressure tactics with their young boys whereas mothers hailed girls for eating well. The role of fathers increases as children grow older: they play an influential role in the forecast of weight loss behaviors in their adolescent daughters, while they also influence the prediction of more severe kinds of eating problems like self-induced vomiting, laxative, and diuretic use among their adolescent boys.
Methodology
The research provides results from a two-phase qualitative empirical study. The study was concerned with the primary caregiver influences on the children’s food consumption and factors of influence on primary caregivers (children’s biological mothers). The initial phase of the study researched the influences of the primary caregivers on children’s food consumption, where sixteen in-depth interviews were done on primary caregivers of 1 to 5 year old children. The convergent interview technique was utilized and the findings informed the second phase of the study whose focus was narrowed to younger children (Norton 4).
The second phase involved some 24 interviews conducted in primary caregivers of 1 to 2½ year-old children. The researchers focused on a sample that represented a scope of i) socio-economic status; ii) working status of the primary caregiver; and iii) family configurations. Furthermore, the nature of the father’s influence, the influence of their presence or absence was extensively explored. The interviews covered a range of relevant issues including i) the child’s eating history; ii) the biological mother’s childhood eating experiences and influences; iii) their specific objectives as a parent; iv) foods considered suitable or not for the child; and v) the primary caregiver’s personal eating habits. The interviews were carried out usually in homes of participants and integrated projective techniques e.g. the use of images of food-based interactions between parents and child (Norton 2011). A standard interview protocol was employed to enable cross-case analysis and confirm or disconfirm elements of initial theory while still allowing for introduction of new concepts. The interview sessions were recorded and then transcribed verbatim. Analysis of data used the theory building strategies developed by Eisenhardt (1989) and Strauss and Corbin (1990) and then complemented the NVIVO 8 software package.
The use of interview as a data collection method by the researchers was highly appropriate because it was an effective way to gather information on the aspect of child obesity and parental influences as personal communication increased the amount of information that was retrieved from the interviewees (Whiston 28). The use of structured instrument that consisted of core questions to guide the interviews meant that trained and highly-skilled interviewers were able to pose fixed choice questions in a largely consistent format.
Research Findings
The most significant of the first phase of the research was that fathers both directly and indirectly influenced their children’s food consumption. It was discovered that a common hindrance to primary caregivers giving healthy food to their young ones was the major influence of the primary caregiver’s partners or ex-partners (the child’s biological father). The child’s father did not only have a direct influence on their child’s diet but also on the primary caregiver’s behavior (Norton 2011). Majority of the caregivers reported that their child’s diet was worse when their father (role models) were present. Other criticisms towards fathers related to i) the requirement to prepare meals to meet their tastes; ii) the child’s father lack of support for having family meals; and iii) frequent use of take-away meals. Though it was reported that fathers influenced caregivers towards having less healthy diets, it was more likely that their presence made the caregivers diets to be more healthier and diverse (Brown 14).
In the second phase, the researchers examined the modelling role of child’s father through a projective technique consisting of a drawing of a child depicting desire for a canned beverage held by a man. Majority of the primary caregivers indicated that they don’t drink beer or soft drink infront of their children instead they give them water. However, the fathers were said to allow the children to take a sip or provide them with their own beverage (Norton 8). The negative role modeling of the fathers was tolerated by majority of the primary caregivers though.
PART 2
In my considered opinion, I believe the researchers did a great job and used the right techniques in exploring the subject matter. However, I think it would have been better for the researchers to seek the direct insight of the children’s fathers on the eating habits and issue of childhood obesity. This would have addressed the risk of bias against the fathers evident in the response of the primary caregivers. In addition, greater reliable results would have been reached had the researchers incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods in the study.
Strength and Weakness of Research Approach
Strengths
The major advantage of the structured interview method is that it greatly reduces the risk of interrogator while increasing reliability. The interviewer is able to benefit from the strengths of the structured instrument by asking only fixed alternative questions (Minichiello et al 78). In this respect, the researcher uses a standard list of questions on interviewees and in turn reduces the danger of interviewer bias. In addition, the use of the fixed-alternative questions enables the researcher to get easily interpretable responses from the interviewees (Mitchell & Jolley 45). In essence, the structured questions and standardized wording of the questionnaire hold a greater reliability in the information.
Limitations
The major weakness of the“A Social Marketing Study of the Influence of Fathers on Children’s Dietary Habits” case study relate to generalization of the results themselves. The qualitative study had limitations linked with cross-sectional design, self-determining sample and the apparent insufficient representation of low socio-economic families. Given that qualitative studies that compare and contrast the primary caregiver’s attitudes and the child’s father relating to perceived roles in children’s food consumption is given initially, it would have been appropriate to follow it with a thorough quantitative component consisting both the primary caregiver and the fathers of the children.
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In terms of the interview approach used in the study, it has a major disadvantage of being time consuming. This stems from the aspect that it often requires a great length of time to question the scores of individuals. This starts with researchers having to enlist and train a number of assistants to assist in the interviewing so as to get a sufficient sample size of interviewees. As such, much time is spent on the important task of training the interviewers so that they able to administer the survey in a uniform manner in line with the structured instrument. If much time is not spent to align the interviewers, there is the risk of having differences among interviewers as a result of their varied values, beliefs and biases (Whiston 77). This has the danger of resulting in distortions in the manner in which the interviewers both interpret and record the responses of the subjects.
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