Domestic Violence in Mexican Culture: Qualitative Article Critique

According to Polit and Beck (2012), certain areas of inquiry are asked in order to properly assess and critique an article. The article used for this critique is by Haglund, Belknap, and Garcia (2012). Haglund et al. studied a group of women of Mexican origin in order to understand domestic violence in their culture. The questions used to guide this critique originate from Polit and Beck, and will be used as areas of inquiry as the soundness of Haglund et al.’s qualitative study is explored. In simply reading the study, Haglund et al.’s study seemed to reveal some interesting findings. However, in using an interrogation process where the focus of the questions are upon the structure and soundness of the study, it is revealed Haglund et al’s study was lacking in a few key areas, compromising the data yielded from the study.

Chapter 20

1. If identified, describe the research tradition for the qualitative study. (OPTIONAL: lf none was identified, can one be inferred? lf more than one was identified, is this justifiable or does it suggest "method slurring"?).

For Haglund et al.’s (2012) study, a research tradition was not specifically identified. The tradition that was most strongly identified was phenomenology, which according to Polit and Beck (2012) is the “experiences of individuals within their lifeworld” (p. 490). Phenomenology strives to understand a phenomenon in terms of its “essence” – its “essential invariant structure” (p. 494). The belief behind phenomenology is that one can understand other people’s reality by studying their “lived experience” (p. 490). Phenomenology is valuable when a phenomenon needs further inquiry in order to be understood. As Polit and Beck stated, the study of domestic violence often falls into phenomenological studies, which is the study Haglund et al. conducted.

Because of the interest in understanding the lifeworld view of people from another culture, the study has influences from anthropology, ethnography, which attempts to understand a “holistic view of culture”(Polit & Beck, 2012, p. 490), and from sociology, grounded theory, which strives to understand “social structure process within a social setting” (p. 490). 

Haglund et al. (2012) did not haphazardly slur the methods used for this study. Rather, principles from other methods were included because of the very nature of the study, the fact that the researchers are striving to understand domestic violence from the perspective of a specific group of people of Mexican descent. The very nature leads to the inclusiveness of borrowing from other methods aimed towards understanding the worldview of people from other cultures.

However, as this analysis will reveal, the methods for sampling were lacking in areas that will be discussed in the subsequent questions. While methods slurring is not present, neither was a definitive plan to maximize the sampling techniques to gain rich information or analyze the data in a more meaningful manner.

2. Describe the congruence between the research question and a qualitative research method, and with the specific research tradition (i.e., is the domain of inquiry for the study congruent with the domain encompassed by the tradition?).

Haglund et al. (2012) demonstrated congruence in the study with phenomenology with the area of inquiry. According to Polit and Beck (2012), the data source is often detailed conversational discourse in which researchers participate in the conversations and therefore are participants in the research process. Haglund et al.’s study reflects many phenomenological study fundamentals. The study was performed in the natural setting of the church for the group members to feel comfortable and is cross-sectional, which means the group interviews were performed on one occasion (Polit & Beck).

Polit and Beck (2012) stated that phenomenological studies strive to understand the experiences of others through a conversational discourse where they attempt to understand how particular groups of people through their experiences and how they process those experiences through thoughts, feelings, reasoning, and personal attitudes to reach an understanding of a particular phenomenon of interest or a group’s understanding of a phenomenon of interest. Haglund et al. strive to understand issues of domestic violence from the perspective Mexican women aged 11 to 21 years of age of Mexican descent, held in the natural setting of their church.  

3. Discuss the congruence of the data sources, research methods, and analytic approach with the research tradition.

The data sources, research methods, and analytic approach were stated in Haglund et al.’s study to have a narrative component to it in the analysis, but their procedures do not follow in the three narrative analysis for phenomenological studies as explained by Polit and Beck (2012). This is also where there is a departure from the phenomenological structure the study seemed to have to this point, and delves into grounded theory analysis, as will be revealed in subsequent responses. Their analysis seems to fit more within the descriptive analysis, which Polit and Beck explained it in terms of “their qualitative data (i.e., an analysis of themes and patterns that emerge in the narrative content)” (p. 505). These types of studies are often depicted for their weaknesses in data analysis. Grounded research also falls within this category. 

4. How well is the research design described? Are design decisions explained and justified? Does it appear that the researcher made all design decisions upfront, or did the design emerge during data collection, allowing researchers to capitalize on early information? Discuss.

The research design in Haglund et al.’s (2012) study was not thoroughly described. While the place that was chosen to conduct the study and the group design, the discussion group, and the narrative analysis were described, the research design does not explicitly follow within a phenomenological approach per se, as Polit and Beck (2012) described. Rather, once a person begins to read their data collection techniques and analysis, the study is constructed to use grounded theory techniques. It seems as if the decisions for the structure of the study were made in advance with little modification as the study advanced.

5. How well does the design lend itself to a thorough, in-depth, intensive examination of the phenomenon of interest? What design elements might have strengthened the study (e.9., a longitudinal perspective rather than a cross-sectional one; more interviews rather than fewer)?

This subject could have been researched to uncover a more in-depth understanding of the subject. While Haglund et al.’s (2012) study did uncover some useful themes, such as the view of self in a bicultural situation, and female’s perception of the problem of domestic violence, the subject matter of domestic violence was not covered with the depth it could have been. For instance, they could have included females that actually experienced a domestic violence situation. The phenomenological study approach allows for modification of sampling that could have been utilized to maximize the results of this study and was not.

Chapter 21

1. How adequately is the setting or the context described? Discuss the appropriateness of the setting for addressing the research question.

The setting was appropriately described in Haglund et al.’s (2012) study. The church had a concentrated population of Mexican females that were willing to participate in the study. The researchers were able to obtain a healthy-sized sampling of the ethic population they wanted to focus upon.

2. How well are the sample selection procedures delineated? Describe the type of sampling strategy used (give the name of the type of sampling AND describe what this is... and is it appropriate for this study?). Mention whether eligibility criteria for the study are specified, and how appropriate they are given the study purpose.

Haglund et al.’s (2012) sampling structure included convenience sampling, which is a good preliminary technique to gain willing participants in a qualitative study according to Polit and Beck (2012). Then the study expanded to include two more age groups above (age 19) and below (age 11) the original requirement because of these age groups’ willingness to participate, which Polit and Beck describe as “snowballing” (p. 517). 

Haglund et al.’s eligibility criteria also could have included older age groups. Since the focus for Mexican-American women is upon education and dating is discouraged, even if they secretly keep boyfriends, which Haglund’s study revealed they might do from time to time because of the lack of communication between parents and their children, they might not have as much experience with dating as older women who are already pursuing their higher education or are already working in a career. This might be why, as Haglund et al. stated, their sample did not have much if any direct experiences with being a victim of domestic violence.

3. Briefly describe how participants were recruited into the study. Did the recruitment strategy yield information-rich participants?

Haglund et al.’s (2012) recruitment approach fell short of maximization of recruitment strategies. Because there isn’t a clear concept of what type of study they were conducting, it seems the study follows many principles of phenomenological studies, but the sample is very large within this design, because Polit and Beck (2012) stated that studies of this sort usually have around ten participants. Grounded theory studies have a selection process whereby the sample is continuously attuned to the findings. However, Haglund et al. stopped once the younger and older age groups volunteered to join in the study. If their samples were not producing data that helped them understand the problem of domestic violence with Mexican-American women completely, they could have added more sites for inquiry, more samples of people, and further areas of inquiry to focus upon to reveal a deeper understanding of domestic violence in the Mexican-American culture. Out of the sampling procedures Polit and Beck (2012) described for the qualitative traditions, they often include procedures to seek out the most useful representative sample of a population source, and constant reevaluation is utilized as a key procedure to ensure the best sampling for the issue or phenomenon under study.

4. Given the information needs of the study and, if applicable, its qualitative tradition discuss the appropriateness of the sampling approach. For example, did the sampling allow the adequate representation of key dimensions of the phenomenon under study?

No, it did not. The sampling approach was a good start. Extending the study to include other women who were in a domestic violence situation would have been appropriate to the inquiry of the study. Polit and Beck (2012) described sampling processes for a few different qualitative study traditions whereby a larger, initial sample of Mexican-American women could have been garnered from a few different churches or other organizations. Then from that group, a smaller group of women should have been selected to represent the broad range of experiences of Mexican-American women and domestic violence, such as women in each age group that have had no experience, to women who have had many experiences, and women who self-identified as acculturated to the American culture, and women who kept their traditional values and did not identify with the American culture. Also, the sample could have included women who were dating traditional Mexican-American men, and men who held the values of cultures, as well as older age groups, and single versus married status. The researchers obtained their sample, and it snowballed a bit with the inclusion of other age groups, but then it just stopped there when it could have gone a lot further for their area of inquiry for information saturation. 

Chapter 22

1. How appropriate was the collection of unstructured data for meeting the study aims?

The data collection structure was appropriate for this setting and at first glance seemed to yield appropriate raw data for the study. Using the grounded theory of data collection, the researchers used a group setting to initiate a group discussion (Polit & Beck, 2012) and help the focus group feel more at ease with the researchers, helping to facilitate and generate ideas and information within the process. However, this did not do much to address where the sampling technique sequence created a lack of data in the study. 

2. Given the research question and the characteristics of study participants, discuss the quality of the method used for capturing study phenomena (i.e., self-reports, observation)?

The researchers used grounded theory to capture the study phenomenon. In that, they took the raw data from the group discussions and categorized the information to align information and themes together, which is the procedure Polit and Beck (2012) described.  

3. lf self-report methods were used, discuss whether the researcher made good decisions about the specific method used to solicit information (e.9., focus group interviews, critical incident interviews, and/or other methods).

The decisions made for self-report methods were well described in Haglund et al.’s (2012) study. The group setting seemed to address the researcher’s shortcomings that were implied in the study structure. Polit and Beck (2012) stated that the researcher’s skills lend to the structure of the study. It is not plainly stated, but the study’s shortcomings could have been present because of the lack of resources or interviewing skill level of the researchers.

A group discussion within the participants’ natural setting did make up for these implied shortcomings. The women were in a familiar social setting and had some familiarity with each other, which helped the dynamics of the discussion and led to reveal facts that might not have been achieved in a one-on-one interview.

4. lf possible, suggest other data collection methods that could have been used to enrich the data available for analysis. The researchers could have used a self-report at the beginning of their process to define more clearly what experiences the participants had with domestic violence, the study might have yielded a richer sampling and information garnered from the group discussions.

5. lf a topic guide (define this term in your paper) was used, evaluate the appropriateness and comprehensiveness of specific questions? How well did the wording minimize the risk of biases encourage full and rich responses? In Haglund et al.’s (2012) research, the area of research was shared, but the semi-structured interview questions were not. 

Conclusions

A structured analysis of Haglund et al.’s (2012) study revealed several interesting findings. Upon reading the results for the study in an unstructured manner, the study did initially appear to reveal important revelations about the Mexican culture and domestic violence. However, upon a structured analysis depicting the research design of the study, it was revealed the study could have gone further in their analysis of the problem. 

There were areas of weakness that could have been addressed had a formalized structure been chosen as well as adhering to a school of thought with analysis of the data. At first, the study seemed to be strongly phenomenological, but when arriving upon the data collection segment in the inquiry, it was revealed that the study used a data collection approach from the grounded theory school of thought, making the techniques in this research more of an eclectic approach rather than from one method. 

However, in eclectic approaches, choosing methods from different traditions should be clarified explicitly, showing a detailed plan to address every area within the study. Haglund et al.’s (2012) data fell short of information saturation. In doing this, the researchers could have focused more upon their intended area of study, the experience of domestic violence in Mexican-American women within their cultural perspective. Rather, the results of their study did not directly reflect the area of inquiry at all times. This was due to the shortcomings in the sampling techniques, which created a shortcoming in the data they were able to garner. 

Moreover, there was not a straight line drawn for the necessity of the study. For example, it would have been defined a bit clearer if they were able to provide data on past studies that showed that the rates of domestic violence were higher for Mexican Americans than the rest of the population or a further establishment that there is a hole in the literature in understanding domestic violence from a female Mexican-American standpoint. All in all, it was not a terrible study because it revealed some important findings, but it failed to maximize the understanding of the phenomenon, an intrinsic part of qualitative studies. However, the researchers’ resources to conduct the study could have been limited, as well as access to more Mexican-American females that were available to sit for a group discussion. Perhaps these factors could have been the limiting factors in the study, but they were not discussed at length.

References

Haglund, K., Belknap, R. A., & Garcia, J.T. (2012). Mexican American female adolescents' perceptions of relationships and dating violence. Journal of Nursing Scholarship,44, 21-5-222. Doi:10.1111fi .L547-5069.2012.01452.x

Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2012). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (9th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.