Fathers’ qualitative and quantitative involvement Research Paper

Introduction

Raising a child can prove to be challenging since majority of parents adopt parenting styles that suit their beliefs and tastes. The diverse parenting styles used by parents help to explain why children exhibit different levels of cognitive and social development. A child’s development depends on both the mother as well as the father. Despite the little time the fathers spend with their children, many manage to contribute positively to their children in social and cognitive development.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to analyze a research study based on fathers’ parenting styles, and then find a suitable avenue that can help to improve this research study. One of the factors that can be used to address the issue is putting into account the life span development.

This is of paramount importance since lifespan development states that acquiring the knowledge of engaging children in social activities, such as playing, helps them to acquire positive learning outcomes due to cognitive development as well as social acceptance (Hetherington et al., 2001). These aspects are exhibited by children through expressing their emotions in a socially appropriate manner and engaging them in communication with their peers.

Summary of the topics

In his article, Kazura (2000) has presented several topics in a bid to evaluate the role of fathers in parenting. In providing the readers with knowledge of the information or content of his article, Kazura defines how he carried his research study, as it is outlined below

1. The problem statement: defines comprehensively the causes of low levels of time allocation for father-child relationship as social responsibilities, children’s protection from their mothers, and lack of point of reference for father while taking care of a child.
2. Research question: prompts the question on whether a father-child relationship can be enhanced through play interaction rather than engaging in social interactions and providing care to the child
3. The purpose of the study: the study attempts to evaluate the qualitative effect of the time fathers spend with their children.
4. Hypothesis: Tries to find out whether there is a significant difference between mothers and fathers involvement with the child; there is a significant difference or similarity between mother and fathers with regard to how they interact with their children on attachment, social, and playful point of view.
5. Sampling: consists of families from diverse backgrounds, including the adopted children. It also includes the criteria for selecting parents.
6. Constructs: includes children’s age, gender, status, rank in the family, cognitive development, and social development, the parents’ age, education level, and ethnicity.
7. Procedure: started by interviewing the parents and observing the children as they play. The playing session assessed the child cognitive and social abilities in the presence of their parents as well as in their absence.
8. Data analysis: ANCOVAs and t –tests were used to compare variables in relation to mothers and father involvement with their child.
9. Results: The study has addressed the hypothesis by proving that, despite the fact that that mothers spend more time than fathers while handling their children, a child’s social aspects does not discriminate between fathers and mothers. In addition, fathers scored higher than mothers did in the cognitive development of the child.

Critical analysis of the framework presented

The framework presented in the article focuses on assessing the ways that enhance cognitive and social growth of a child. Even though the research study could have been done better, the author uses good organizational skills in his article, organizes it a progressive manner, and presents the methodology, the results, as well as the interpretation of the results by taking into account a number of factors which are analyzed below in turn

Sampling

The author identified a sample size relevant for carrying out this research study, and selected the sample size on non-probability based sampling. The author depicts this as he states that he selected only 2 African- American families as compared to 24 white families. To make the matters worse, only one family from Eastern Indian family was considered eligible for the study.

This portrays the fact that the inclusion criteria comprises of biased sampling since diverse American families were not fully represented. This plays the role of lowering the internal validity because the research study was faced with limitation in critical analysis of data based on fathers from diverse background (Smith & Davis, 2010).

This sampling, however, increased the internal validity through a sample size that eliminated unattached parents as well as parents who had signs of pregnancy complications (Creswell, 2003). More so, the research study consisted of first-born and the later-born since this helps in eradicating the parents’ biased attitudes, as some parents’ attitudes towards a child depends heavily on its rank within the family.

Ethical Consideration

Even though the sample size proved to be biased, the researcher obtained consent of the participants through advert in newspapers, as this helped to reach a vast majority of diverse families. More so, the researcher considered it viable to advertise the research study through local care-child centers (Kazura, 2000). Advertising the research study to any willing participant helped the researcher to ascertain the point of the participants’ interest.

This was also enhanced through offering a token to the participants. Hence, the study was characterized with content validity. Content validity is defined as the extent to which a device used in research represents the content of interest for the respondents (Creswell, 2003). Though there was no approval process by an Institutional Review Board or similar ethics review committee, there were no compulsions used in recruiting participants.

Methodology

Interviews as a data collection method helped the researcher to carry out the study in a manner that provided access to some sort of natural support, as the researcher was able to delve more into the answers provided by the parents, and this helped the parents to feel more in control of their emotions by being treated fairly.

In a bid to treat the parents fairly, the procedure used in carrying out a research attempted to balance both the mothers and the fathers, as fathers participated first during the first half of the intervention, and the mother participated first during the other half of the intervention.

This helped to increase the internal validity since human behavior is highly influenced by external motivation (Smith & Davis, 2010). The researcher managed successfully to motivate both fathers and mothers by striking a balance of precedence while they participated in the research study.

In addition to this, the researcher used observation as a data collection method, as this facilitated access to information of the children’s behavior in the presence as well as in the absence of both mothers and fathers. During infancy, the development of a sense of self occurs in the first stage of infancy, which is usually around 15 months to a period of two years (Hetherington et al., 2001). At this stage, children become aware of their surroundings, and especially on how their caregivers treat them.

However, observations as a data collection method for infants seemed to be challenging since interpreting some behaviors depicted by children seemed cumbersome; hence, this affected the program in a negative way. The hypotheses of the study are communicated clearly and concisely, as they give us the knowledge of the information or content of the article in a broader context. These hypotheses serve the role of helping us know how the study worked and how it was laid down in order to approve purpose of the study.

Research Design

The study used qualitative and quantitative designs, and the population was between subjects, as it involved comparison between fathers and mothers in relation to their children. Reliability was ascertained by the fact that the research study used more than one laboratory visit, which had different independent coders. More so, it was affirmed that a child’s attachment to its parents determines the child’s behavior in the next 6 months (Kazura, 2000).

Despite the fact that the researcher attempted to reduce the possible threats in reliability as well as validity, his method of interventions is lacking. This is attributed to adopting the cross-sectional study, instead of the longitudinal study. The longitudinal study plays a critical role in observing behavioral change after a particular period (Smith & Davis, 2010).

Hence, the author’s statement, which alleges that a child’s behaviors depends on the level of attachment with its parents for a period of six months, hangs in a balance because this research study cannot verify the reliability of this allegation.

Interpretation of Results in Addressing All Objectives, Questions, and Hypotheses

The results of the statistical tests were significant since the interpretations were consistent with the results. This is supported by the fact that the research question responded whether father-child relationship could be enhanced through play interaction rather than engaging in social interactions and providing care to the child; the results interpreted the purpose of the study on qualitative effect of the time fathers spend with their children.

In addition to this, the research study addressed the non- directional hypotheses of the study by assessing the significant differences between the mothers and fathers interaction with their children on attachment, social, and playful point of view (Kazura, 2000).

The researcher offers implications of the research for practical purposes through his interpretation of the results from the research study, as it helps the readers to understand the effects of different parenting styles practiced by fathers and mothers, which include authoritarian parenting, involved parenting, and permissive parenting. The parents who practice authoritarian parenting are insecure parents.

These parents portray a character of insecurity by controlling their children through giving directions that are not accompanied with deep concern. If the children fail to follow these rules, they are neglected (Wolfe, 1999). The main aim of these rules is to keep order, and the parents, in most cases, do this without showing affection. The parents who use this mode of parenting style usually set high standards and are not responsive to their children.

They are usually very serious, and this is detrimental because it leads to children who rank very low socially. More so, these children fall short of their expectation in terms of cognitive abilities (Kazura, 2000), and they lack the understanding of why they should embrace or refrain from certain habits. In this research study, Kazura (2000) alleges that this parenting style is not only evident in fathers but also in mothers.

In the involved parenting, the parents closely watch their children in a bid to make sure that rules are adhered to while the children participate in a number of activities. The parents depict a character of attentiveness while involving themselves with their children’s behavior, and they let them know that they are studying them closely (Hoghughi & Long, 2004). Consequently, the parents get to know the deep details concerning their children’s freedoms and opportunities to explore as they set reasonable rules for them.

In this research study, Kazura (2000) alleges that when fathers practice this parenting style, they create an avenue for their children’s cognitive ability since they set challenging goals that call for creativity; while the mothers create an avenue for social development for their children since they accept their children the way they are. The rules of this parenting styles is usually flexible, consistent, and fair since the parents engage themselves in their children’s behavior through watching and setting achievable goals for them.

The permissive parenting, which is demonstrated by mothers, usually has very limited demands for the children. Mothers generally nurture and communicate frequently with their children, and often act as a friend rather than a challenger (Benson & Haith, 2009). They rarely provide children with risks; thus, making the children to have a low expectation of challenges.

This is attributed to the fact that mothers’ desire for their children is to make them feel free socially, as they accept them in a warm and loving way, and the way they are. In the research study, Kazura (2000) asserts that even though social acceptance is of paramount importance, mothers fail to give their children diverse choices that, in turn, lead to cognitive development. Hence, the children tend to engage more in playing with their fathers as compared to their mothers despite their age, rank, or gender.

Limitation and recommendation

Kazura (2000) presents his article in a manner that acknowledges limitation as he depicts that despite the research study focuses on the social context and nuclear family, there are also other aspects that affect the amount of time the fathers spend with their children. In addition to this, the author admits that his results cannot be generalized because it is based on very small sample size.

However, the author presents the research study in a manner that depicts that he has made a good judgment in ascertaining the fact that fathers contribute qualitatively to their children. In a bid to enhance reliability and validity of his research study, the author recommends for a further research study that does not only concentrate with plays but also other areas of children’s life.

Conclusion

Kazura (2000) has presented facts that emphasize on the qualitative benefit that children receive from their fathers. His research study is based on the social aspects that affect the parenting styles of a nuclear family. He emphasizes on the need of the paternal role in a family setting since it facilitates social and cognitive development. This research study portrays that many fathers contribute positively to their children in social and cognitive development despite the little time they spend with their children.

References

Benson, J. B., & Haith, M. M. (2009). Social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood. Amsterdam: Academic.

Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Hetherington, E. M., Lerner, R. M., Perlmutter, M., & Social Science Research Council (U.S.). (2001). Child development in life-span perspective (8^th ed.). Hillsdale, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hoghughi, M., & Long, N. (2004). Handbook of parenting: Theory and research for practice. London: Sage Publications.

Kazura, K. (2000). Fathers’ qualitative and quantitative involvement: an investigation of attachment, play, and social interactions. Journal of Men’s Studies, 9, 1, 41.

Smith, R. A., & Davis, S. F. (2010). The psychologist as detective: An introduction to conducting research in psychology (5^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Wolfe, D. A. (1999). Child abuse: Implications for child development and psychopathology. Newbury Park, Calif: Sage Publications.