Methodology concepts and applications

¶ … eradicating alcohol and drug addiction from a woman offender's life is seen in the research results of Baylor Correctional Institution women inmates. The research questions pertaining to increasing their knowledge of what constitutes unlawful behaviors, identifying the triggers associated with drug use, and increase their knowledge of and identification of coping skills to remain drug-free are the basis of this methodology section. Methodologies pertaining to drug treatment programs often concentrate on the externalities and easily tracked causes, neglecting the internal, attitudinal and situational factors that trigger relapse (McCusker, Vikers-Lahti, Stoddard, et.al.1995). The outcome of the initial research validates this point, showing how women offenders from Baylor Correctional Institution can successfully define and identify unlawful behaviors, and can also increase their coping skills through programs. This finding is consistent with empirical studies that illustrate how residential drug treatment programs are successful in teaching drug offenders for what specific external factors to evaluate in their own behaviors and shows how useful these programs are in managing the externally-driven stimuli to relapse (McCusker, Vikers-Lahti, Stoddard, et.al.1995). The majority of research however does not address the most difficult treatment program to solve, which is getting repeat offenders to identify triggers that lead to relapse and taken action to avert their effect. The influence of significant opposite-sex relationships as a catalyst for relapse is seen in the initial research results. Unknown is the effects of a women offender's cumulative experiences in a residential treatment program on the members of the opposite sex they have significant relationships with. The intent of this methodology section is to compare and contrast different qualitative and quantitative approaches to capture data relevant to the issue of triggers that lead to relapse. The research questions have also been modified to reflect a more focused emphasis on internalized triggers of women offenders and what leads them to relapse into drug use after residential treatment programs. Support for each methodology is also provided that ties back to the research questions and relevant theory.

Assessment of Research Questions and Research Methodologies

The three questions used to this point in the analysis seek to capture the effectiveness of workshop sessions in assisting women offenders:

1. Did 50% of participants who attended workshop sessions, increase their knowledge of what constitutes unlawful behaviors?

2. Did 50% of participants who attended all workshop sessions, increase their knowledge in identifying the triggers associated with drug usage?

3. Did 50% of participants who attended all workshop sessions, increase their knowledge by identifying coping skills needed to remain drug free

The first and third questions are effective in measuring traditional training and treatment programs often found in residential drug treatment programs (McCusker, Vikers-Lahti, Stoddard, et.al.1995). They are not however not effective in determining if women offenders perceive a trigger event or the causality of specific situations or series of decisions with members of the opposite sex they have significant relationships with (Chan, Guydish, Prem., et.al. 2005). Previous empirically derived studies using quantitative, statistically robust methodologies have been very effective in capturing the externally-driven stimuli and conditions that lead to drug abuse and relapse on the part of women offenders, yet in these analysis there is no mention of the attitudinal and perception factors that also lead to relapse (Guydish, Chan, Bostrom, Jessup, Davis, Marsh, 2011). The research questions therefore need to be modified to capture the perceptions of risk and the attitudinal reactions of offenders to gain a more balanced view of how trade-offs are made to relapse. The following three questions need to be modified to reflect this as follows:

1. Did 50% of participants who attended workshop sessions, increase their ability to discern the series of decisions that lead to unlawful behaviors?

2. Did 50% of participants who attended all workshop sessions, increase their awareness of what how triggers that lead to relapse begin within and outside relationships?

3. Did 50% of participants who attended all workshop sessions, increase their assertiveness in using coping skills to take control of their environment and remain drug free?

Modifying The Methodology

The current approach of using a combined qualitative and quantitative research methodology is not capturing the most elusive aspects of offender's motivations, their own attitudes. Previous studies indicate that female offenders choose to relapse for associative and belongingness needs while men continually seek to assert dominance and defiance through drug abuse (Pelissier, Jones, 2005). The methodology needs to include an attitudinal scaling component that captures how the women offenders perceive the trigger events and conditions that lead to relapse. Creating a series of attitudinal questions and defining a five-point Likert scale for each will force the issue of which specific situations, conditions or emotions lead to the need for associative and belongingness that lead to a relapse. The first phase of this methodology is to complete initial qualitative analysis and interviews with offenders to determine which social situations and needs they felt when they relapsed. Using this qualitative data to define attitudinal scaling, the second phase of the methodology needs to center on creating framework for determining which factors lead to relapse in situational and social situations.