Research Design
To achieve the research goals, a variety of methodological approaches are used. Periodic reports will be prepared and posted on this web site. The purpose of using multiple approaches is to gain a more complete understanding of this complex issue. These approaches include a literature review, individual interviews, focus groups, telephone polling, key informant interviews, expert interviews and on-line data collection. The processes will be conducted in a formative manner, whereby insights gathered from one methodology will inform subsequent methodologies, and whereby some of the methods are repeated over the project.
Specific activities are to be conducted under the leadership of the project co-directors. Professional research faculty at George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Public Health (GMU’s CAPH) provide leadership and expertise with the implementation of the research. Mason’s Center for Social Science Research will conduct the telephone polling.
Anticipated outcomes at both the individual and group level are sought. From the perspective of the individual, the research seeks to assess the psychological and sociological ecosystems that affect adolescents as they make decisions and engage in behaviors associated with alcohol. Attention is focused on understanding adolescent alcohol use and non-use, including influences upon decision-making, what they drink, patterns and types of consumption, source of alcohol, settings of alcohol use, motivations for drinking and not drinking, the context and reasons associated with early alcohol experiences, and an understanding of the continuum of alcohol-use behavior (from non-use, to use, to “getting wasted”).
From the group level perspective, the research seeks to understand the role of various groups (parents, adults, peers and friends) in adolescent alcohol use, the nature of acceptance/non-acceptance by others, the level of knowledge by various groups of individuals, factors associated with adolescents’ “permission” to drink alcohol, and potential influences favoring future decisions to abstain.
Mason’s Human Subjects Review Board will review and provide approval for any protocol and questions used with this research. This includes preparation of questions, consent and assent forms, and approaches to be used for sampling, implementation, coding and reporting.
All research is conducted with high academic standards for scientific inquiry. Reports will document methodology and findings. All material produced remains intellectual property of George Mason University and the university faculty who prepared it, with copyright and editorial control maintained by the university.
