Printer-friendly versionResearch Designs and Methods:
This will be a structured Descriptive research design, preferably in a single high school initially, then spreading to additional high schools during the second through fourth years of the project. The Research Method will consist of the use of both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, using T Tests, ANOVA, and correlation coefficients. Data collection and analysis will begin during two 2 hour Workshops over two consecutive days with data collection at the beginning and end of the Workshop. Tools established during those two days will be used by the teacher as an integral part of the subjects they teach. The SR™ model has already undergone 25 years of research, development, refinement and proven results with regard to virtually all emotional and behavioral issues of adolescents, youth, and adults.
Control Condition:
So as to not interrupt the synergistic functioning of a given high school, a smaller control group at a sister school will provide the control group data during the school year. A less desirable option will be to designate an appropriate sized control group in the same high school, and not provide the teachers, students and parents with any SR® materials and exposure. As the school administration, other teachers, counselors, coaches, and staff will have received SR® certification and interventive procedures, this will create an undesired bias, and should be avoided.
Key Measures:
The key measure will be a combination of enhanced emotional maturity, subconscious control, and relationship skills of administrators, teachers, counselors, coaches, parents, and students from SR® instruments; and the enhanced academic achievement and social/behavioral functioning of the high school students. Secondary key measures will be the comparison of student data to available high school data specific to ethnicity, gender, age, and socioeconomic background. When available, other data about specific disorders such as obesity, anorexia, bulimia, ADD, ADHD and PTSD will be included. Last, data correlating to student school and community behavioral problems, truancy, and other such measures, will be assessed.
Data Analytic Strategy:
The research team will use data collection instruments that measure the student’s Emotional State, a Behavior Control Checklist to measure whether or not the student understood the SR® process, and a Relationship Satisfaction Scale that allows the students to grade their relationship with their teachers and parents, and their ability to communicate with them effectively in this relationship. This data will be compared with all demographic, academic achievement and behavioral data available within the school with regard to each student.
Analysis of this data will be accomplished by data basing in Excel spreadsheets, with both descriptive and inferential statistical analyses performed. Changes in the emotional state and behavior of students, teachers and parents will proceed from the initial SR® baselining data through a weekly data collection. Paralleling this SR® data analysis will be the collection, analysis, and correlation of all available high school academic performance and social/behavioral data. Complementing this data analysis will be a series of formative and summative subjective questionnaires administered to all study participants at agreed upon intervals. The numerical data analysis of these survey instruments will also be correlated, participant by participant, with both the SR® data and school-specific academic and social/behavioral data.