2. A Word of Thanks
Chair: Dr. Mary Bold
2nd Committee Member: Dr. Lillian Chenoweth
URR: Dr. Tina Jaeckle
Program Director: Dr. William Barkley
3. Presentation Agenda
Introduction
Background of Study
Nature/Purpose of the
Study
Research Design
Research Question
Conceptual Framework
Assumptions
Limitations, Scope, &
Delimitations
Overview of Literature
Research Design
Instrumentation
Data Collection & Analysis
Participant Rights
Social Change
4. Introduction
Researcher
Experience with Generational Poverty (GP)
Experience with GP emergence through higher education
Background of the study
Alternatives to poverty emergence
Understanding some of the lived experiences of GP emergence without
higher education
5. Problem Statement
Children face numerous educational challenges when
experiencing GP (Blanden & Gibbons, 2006; Blanden &
Gregg, 2004; Ladd, 2012; Lee, Hill, & Hawkins, 2012;
Noguera, 2011; Wrigley, 2012).
Without formal education beyond high school or
obtaining a high school equivalency, how are individuals
able to emerge from GP?
6. Nature of the Study
Purpose
This phenomenological qualitative study will center on the
descriptions of participants’ experiences (Moustakas, 1994) as well
as the interpretations of the researcher (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin,
2009) in an attempt to understand as much as possible about GP
emergence.
Research Design
Multiple case studies
Narratological paradigm
Research Question
How do individuals born into generational poverty
that earn only a high school diploma or high
school equivalency perceive their emergence
from generational poverty?
7. Conceptual Framework &
Assumptions of the Study
Rutter’s theory of resilience
Definition
Contextual considerations
The steeling effect
Breaking negative chain reactions
Assumptions
Correctly designated GP
Participant honesty and worldview
Participant similarities
Researcher bracketing
8. Limitations & Scope/Delimitations
Limitations
Complex process to assess
Participants’ recall reliability
Impact of genetic factors
Scope/Delimitations
Small sample size
Level of description
Member checking
Peer debriefing/external audit
9. Overview of the Literature
Types of poverty
Different types of
poverty
Social aspects of
poverty types
Theoretical framework
of GP
Responses to
poverty
Government
programs
Education and GP
emergence
Resilience and GP
Emergence
Rutter’s
(1995,1999,2006,
2011, 2012) theory
of resilience
Understanding the
“lived experience”
of GP
10. Research Design & Instrumentation
This qualitative phenomenological study will be
undertaken to examine the lived experiences of
individuals who have emerged from GP without formal
education beyond high school or obtaining a high
school equivalency.
Data will be generated by researcher-created
instruments: an initial screening survey and open-ended
interview questions.
11. Data Collection and Analysis
Initial Screening
Survey Instrument
Brief questionnaire
designed to qualify
volunteers
Qualified volunteers
move on to interview
stage
Open-ended
Interview
Questions
In-depth interviews
Setting
collaboratively
chosen
Audio recording
Researcher’s
journal & field notes
Data Analysis
Interpretive
Phenomenological
Analysis (IPA)
Follow-up meetings
Member checking
Peer debriefing
12. Participant Rights & Protections
Clearly explained information about procedures and processes
Contact information
Consent form/Opt-out
NIH certification
Anonymity & confidentiality
Removal of identifying information
Secure electronic/non-electronic data storage
Password protection
Physically securing non-digital data
13. Social Change
Better understanding of the lived experience of
GP emergence
Potentially informs further research
Potentially informs policymakers and educators
15. References for Proposal Defense Presentation
Blanden, J. & Gibbons, S. (2006).The persistence of poverty across generations. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press.
Blanden J.& Gregg, P. (2004). Family income and educational attainment: a review of approaches and evidence for Britain.
Oxford Review of Economic Policy, (20)2, 245-263. doi: 10.1093/oxrep/grh014.
Ladd, H. F. (2012). Education and poverty: Confronting the evidence. Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, 31(2), 203-227.
doi:10.1002/pam.21615.
Lee, J. O., Hill, K. G., & Hawkins, J. D. (2012). The role of educational aspirations and expectations in the discontinuity of
intergenerational low-income status. Social work research, 36(2), 141-151. doi: 10.1093/swr/svs025.
Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Noguera, P. A. (2011). A broader and bolder approach uses education to break the cycle of poverty. Phi Delta Kappan, 93(3), 8-
14. Retrieved from JSTOR database, accession number: 67225136.
Rutter, M., Champion, L., Quinton, D., Maughan, B., & Pickles, A. (1995). Understanding individual differences in environmental-risk
exposure. In P. Moen, G. R. Elder, K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human
development (pp. 61-93). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/10176-002. Retrieved from
PSYCBooks.
Rutter, M. (1999). Resilience concepts and findings: implications for family therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, 21(2), 119. Retrieved
from Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
Rutter, M. (2006). Implications of resilience concepts for scientific understanding. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,
1094(1), 1-12. doi:10.1196/annals.1376.002.
Rutter, M. (2011) Resilience: Causal pathways and social ecology. In Ungar, M. (Ed.), The social ecology of resilience: A handbook
of theory and practice (pp 33-42). New York: Springer.
Rutter, M. (2012). Resilience as a dynamic concept. Development and psychopathology, 24(2), 335. doi:
10.1017/S0954579412000028.
Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. and Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Theory, Method, and Research. London,
UK: Sage.
Wrigley, T. (2012) Poverty and education in an age of hypocrisy. Education Review, 24(2), 90-98. Accession number: 87604207.