A Report to Show Dffering Attitudes to Euthanasia
question and to meet each objective (Cooper & Schindler, 1998). When considering the main aim of the project the following questions must be asked:
1) Under what circumstances do you think Euthanasia is acceptable?
2) Do you think it is moral for doctors to perform Euthanasia?
3) Should the family have the right to choose?
Research Strategy
The main objectives, which are derived from this research project, are to obtain what views people in Scarborough have on Euthanasia and whether they are for or against it. These results would then be passed onto the client, which in this case is Scarborough NHS Trust. These results could then be distributed nationally, in order for other Trusts to benefit from the findings.
The main limitations on the study as defined by Graziano, 1993 are time, money, access to data and location. The study has a budget, which in turn will cause a restriction to time and access to data. All the restrictions will have to be controlled and carefully monitored as they can cause biases on the report.
The benefits from the data will be that the client may use the data in corroboration with other sources and to show that attitudes towards euthanasia are changing with the public either moving more in favour or against the idea.
The research approach that will be used will be empirical, in that the data will be specifically collected for the research, and also a positivist approach shall be used which, through the use of questionnaires will allow the researcher to gain a large amount of respondents as suggested by Saunders, Thornhill, Lewis 1993.
The empirical primary research will show quanative results (Reason, 1988), this approach as been selected for its ability to discover unbiased data.
Simple random sampling is ideal for the use of Euthanasia, as it’s accurate and easily implemented. Random sampling is also best suited to face to face interviews and is relatively cost free as no complex computer systems are needed to interpret the data (Saunders et al., 2000). But one downside of random sampling is that its relatively difficult to explain to people who have no experience with it. Which in the case of Euthanasia could cause a subject error or bias.
The Quantitative research deals in numbers, logic and the objective, while qualitative research deals in words, images and the subjective. The research proposal shows that both quantitive and qualitive research methods would be useful when looking at the data on the subject of Euthanasia. Although the data that is collected will mainly by quantitive.
Quantitive data will give the client a highly specific and precise set of data to interpret while being highly reliable due to it’s statistical nature. But in using some qualitive data the client will find more rich and subjective data. In this proposal I have chosen to combine the two as it gives the client a broader perspective on the subject and the data found.
Methods
Data Requirements
An introductory passage at the beginning of the questionnaire [next page]