Assessing Social Change Essay Example

stigma enshrined in the community would require a concerted effort where each of the stakeholders agrees to a social change process that would require commitment to the change process.

On the same note, there was consensus in the group that stigma and the bigotry related to mental illness was presented a major social justice issue that required intervention at whatever cost.

Usefulness of the Mock Interview

The information obtained from the mock interview will form a critical part during the action research process.

For instance, by understanding that the level of stigma and shame related to mental illness is significantly enshrined in the community. The process of engaging with the community will be handled with caution to avoid an instance where the research questions or research approaches appear to be in direct conflict with the community.

Ideally, the mock interview may be useful especially where the action is undertaken by an outsider researcher (Craig, 2009). The assertion means that through the mock interview it is possible to develop a broader picture of the community in question and the expectations with regards to attitudes and perceptions that may impact the research process positively or negatively.

A worthy example is where a research question would have asked to a question that tends to implicate the society for the current stigma, however based on the mock interview it is possible to restructure the question so that is appears more objective as opposed to being subjective.

Similarly, the themes obtained from the mock interview may be used to develop research questions that touch fundamentally on the mentioned issues.

An instance where the themes will also be useful is when deciding how questions will be designed. Ideally, a

projection of the research action process reveals that closed questions may not be the most plausible when researching on mental illness related issues. As opposed, the responses reveal that the entire research action process should adopt an open-ended approach where the respondents may provide detailed responses.

Changes to the Final Project

Based on the results of the mock interview, there will be two changes made on the final research project.

One of the changes will involve the aspect of the entry point, as noted mental illness as a topic may not be approached well by many of the community members. In this regard, the final action research projected will require a level of caution with regard to the point of entry (Ary et al., 2009). For this reason, as opposed to the direct approach, the action research process will start with trusted individuals in the community such as health medical officials and community social workers.

The second change with regard to the final projected may be that there may be a need to use the interviews as a plausible substitute to questionnaires.

The reasoning behind this aspect is that given the depth of the issue and the need to obtain as much in-depth information as possible it will be more plausible to utilize an engaging approach where the interviewer can ask questions with special regard to the environment and the extent to which the respondent is willing to cooperate. The change may be prompted by the fact that when a touchy issue such as mental illness is handled exclusively using questionnaires it may be impossible to expect maximum cooperation and responses.

Impact of the Mock Interview on Future Action Research

The mock

interview may impact future research in two broad ways.

Firstly, through the mock interview action researchers may realize that when face to face as the most convenient interview approach is not possible, then one can utilize technology such as video conferencing to ensure that the process is complete. The argument in this case is that an action researcher may need to conduct random interviews on individuals who are spreads across a broad geographical landscape. However, accessibility may pose a challenge and therefore render the process almost impossible.

Conversely, the mock interview affirms that the use of technology such as video conferencing may prove overly useful in the end. Secondly, the aspect of coordination and facilitation when handling action research emerges as a very critical aspect. The assertion implies that at the end of the day the success of action research in the future may depend significantly on the ability by the lead action researcher to develop strong synergies during the entire action research process (Whitehead & McNiff, 2006).

Social change issues due to Mock Interview

The completion of the mock interview yielded some notable results. Indeed, from the discourse group it was clear that there had been massive exchange of information and knowledge. The fact that each of the individuals making up the group were in agreement that the stigma associated with mental health care was a social justice issue meant that there was a possibility of individual reflection on the extent to which this social justice issue was a result of individual actions Vis-à-vis the community (Carter, 2002).

Essentially, arguing in light of this assertion means that the mock interview can be used to lay the ground work for

a broad discussion on the issues such as a change in social perspectives on mental illness an end to the presumed shame associated being a mentally person or being associated with a mentally ill individual.

References

1. Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., Razavieh, A., & Ary, D. (2009). Introduction to research in education. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
2. Carter, P. (2002). Building purposeful action: action methods and action research.Educational Action Research, 10(2), 207-232.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09650790200200180Bottom of Form
3. Craig, D. V. (2009). Action research essentials. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
4. Stringer, E. T. (2007). Action research (Laureate Education, Inc., custom Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
5. Whitehead, J., & McNiff, J. (2006). Action research: Living theory. London: SAGE Publications.

.