scholarly journals Paying Project Participants: Dilemmas in Research with Poor, Marginalized Populations

10.18060/1897 ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-225
Author(s):  
Lara Descartes ◽  
Marysol Asencio ◽  
Thomas O. Blank

This paper presents a case study about issues that can arise in research with marginalized populations. We use our experiences during a focus group conducted with low-income men to discuss how using monetary incentives can lead to ethical and methodological dilemmas, including participants’ misrepresentation of their demographic backgrounds to match study criteria. We address difficulties caused by the Institutional Review Board process’ inability to account for unanticipated circumstances during fieldwork. We note that any resolution of such dilemmas must prioritize responsible research practice and protecting participants. We also note the need for more research on the impact and ethics of monetary and other incentives in recruiting participants for studies such as ours that include populations from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The issues raised in this paper have implications for those considering research design, especially concerning incentives and screening questions.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-176
Author(s):  
Kellie Schneider ◽  
Diana Cuy Castellanos ◽  
Felix Fernando ◽  
Jeanne A. Holcomb

Food deserts, areas in which it is difficult to obtain affordable, nutritious food, are especially problematic in low-income neighbourhoods. One model for addressing food hardship and unemployment issues within low-income food deserts is a cooperative grocery store. Through the cooperative model, the grocery store can serve as a cornerstone to address socio-economic marginalisation of low-income neighbourhoods and improve the health and well-being of its residents. It is important for communities and policymakers to be able to assess the effectiveness of these types of endeavours beyond traditional economic factors such as profitability. This article uses a systems engineering approach to develop a framework for measuring the holistic impact of a cooperative grocery store on community health and well-being. This framework encompasses values that characterise the relationship between food retail, economic viability and social equality. We develop a dashboard to display the key metrics for measuring the economic, social and environmental indicators that reflect a grocery store’s social impact. We demonstrate the usefulness of the framework through a case study of a full-service cooperative grocery store that is planned within the city of Dayton, OH.


Author(s):  
Barry S. Levy

This chapter describes the adverse impact of social injustice on environmental health. Environmental pollution is a social injustice for all people, with a disproportionate impact on low- and middle-income countries and, within countries, low-income people, minority groups, and other marginalized populations. The chapter describes the evolution of the environmental justice movement and the studies that have demonstrated disproportionate exposures and the disproportionate occurrence of pollution-related diseases among low-income people, minority groups, and other marginalized populations. A separate section describes the environmental and health consequences of global climate change. Three text boxes focus on childhood lead poisoning, the impact of natural disasters on social justice, and on the new interdiscipilinary field of planetary health.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 481-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaina Riciputi ◽  
Meghan H. McDonough ◽  
Sarah Ullrich-French

Physical activity–based positive youth development (PYD) programs often aim to foster character development. This study examined youth perspectives of character development curricula and the impact these activities have on their lives within and beyond the program. This case study examined youth from low-income families in a physical activity–based summer PYD program that integrated one character concept (respect, caring, responsibility, trust) in each of 4 weeks. Participants (N = 24) included a cross section of age, gender, ethnicity, and past program experience. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis and constant comparative methods. Thirteen themes were grouped in four categories: building highquality reciprocal relationships; intrapersonal improvement; moral reasoning and understanding; and rejection, resistance, and compliance. The findings provide participant-centered guidance for understanding youth personal and social development through physical activity in ways that are meaningful to participants, which is particularly needed for youth in low-income communities with limited youth programming.


Author(s):  
Sophia Gehlhausen Anderson ◽  
Bob Blankenberger

In this program evaluation study, we analyzed the impact of interpersonal validation and participation in living-learning communities (LLC) on retention and GPA via regression and propensity score matching. The LLCs were designed to improve outcomes for underrepresented, low-income and first-generation students at a Midwestern regional public university. Employing data from the widely used Mid-Year Student Assessment™, we created a validation score. This student validation score was significantly associated with retention in semester three, and third semester and sixth semester GPA. In the matched pair analyses, we found mixed results with significantly improved retention for participants in just one LLC compared to their matched peers, and significantly improved GPA for a combined group of LLC participants.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Diaz

With COVID-19 placing a strain on its public institutions, the Dominican Republic is attempting to ensure a streamlined digital education process by extending Digital Republic, a past initiative that provides online frameworks and platforms for its students and teachers. However, already existing issues are exacerbating access to education for vulnerable communities. While past policies included special needs services, the following initiative has yet to provide information on access for disabled students. Low-income students face financial challenges to gain the resources necessary to thrive during remote learning. Likewise, migrants from Haiti and those of Haitian descent continue to be left out of the conversation. The following case study explores the country’s education system, how its policies benefit certain groups and negatively impact others. By conducting in-depth policy analysis and interviews with local officials, the study analyzes the impact of digital learning during the pandemic among vulnerable communities in the country.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-471
Author(s):  
Diane Sotak ◽  
Jane G. Scott ◽  
Tillia R. Griffin

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the design, creation and outcome of a pilot project to provide additional course reserve materials to students. The goals of the project include off-setting the rising costs of higher education and providing equitable access to materials. Design/methodology/approach This case study describes the process of library staff co-creating a workflow to efficiently identify, order and process print and electronic books for 100 and 200 level courses at a small, private university. The project was influenced by an exploration of library services in the context of library ethics. The authors evaluate the impact of the project and determine continued need after a two-year pilot. Findings This paper demonstrates the usefulness of the course reserves service in providing accessible and cost-effective resources. Increased usage of course reserve materials by students, along with a reduction in money spent over time by the library to support the service, has resulted in a program that is deemed viable to continue and potentially expand. Social implications This paper seeks to address the added challenges often placed on low-income college students in accessing, paying for and using assigned course materials. Libraries can use course reserves to enhance student success by providing them with an alternate to purchasing course materials. Originality/value The project addresses constraints of cost, staff time and cross-departmental workflows in managing a course reserves program at a small university and provides a template for other libraries to use.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6065
Author(s):  
Yina Zhang ◽  
Jiancheng Long ◽  
Wu Zhao

The Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) market is composed of a large number of low-income groups around the world and contains huge wealth that has not yet been discovered. An exploratory multi-case study was conducted to analyze the impact of relational embeddedness on dynamic capability (DC). On the basis of theoretical presuppositions, based on the intra- and inter-case analysis of six companies in the China BOP market, this paper explores how relational embeddedness affects the DC of companies through exploitative learning and exploratory learning. Twelve research propositions are presented and the theoretical framework of relational embeddedness affecting the DC of enterprises is constructed. The study found that mutual trust and reciprocity norms in the BOP cooperation network can promote the acquisition and utilization of existing knowledge and new knowledge of the enterprise, thereby enhancing the enterprise environmental sensing, environmental adaptive, and environmental shaping capabilities.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Kavanaugh ◽  
Pamela A. Robertson

To date, investigators have not demonstrated a clear relationship between a parent's history of prior perinatal losses and intensity of grief response following a subsequent perinatal loss. Examining this relationship for low-income, African-American parents is important because they are a vulnerable population due to the high incidence of perinatal mortality in Blacks and their other life stressors that can impact on grief response and caring needs. The purpose of this case study was to examine the impact of recurrent perinatal loss on a low-income African-American parent. The research design for this study was case report, using interview data collected from a mother who had recently experienced her fourth perinatal loss, which occurred at twenty-five weeks of gestation. Transcripts from two open-ended interviews were analyzed. The theoretical framework used to guide analysis of this case study was Lazarus and Folkman's stress and coping theory. Results demonstrated that the prior perinatal losses did not appear as critical components of the way the mother responded to her most recent loss. Instead, perception of the care she received from healthcare providers and how that care related to her experiences with her one living child who was born at the same gestational age was an important determinant in how she responded to her loss. The results of this case study demonstrate the importance assessing a person's perception of their experience and those factors which contribute to the way they respond.


10.1068/c05r ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Witten ◽  
Robin Kearns ◽  
Nick Lewis ◽  
Heather Coster ◽  
Tim McCreanor

Beyond their educational function, schools are frequently a focal point for community life. We argue that this latter role was compromised in New Zealand by a decade of neoliberal realignments within education policy. During the 1990s the abolition of school zones, the commodification of education, and the drive for efficiency in the allocation of educational resources undermined the place of school in community life. In this paper we explore the impacts of a school closure on an urban neighbourhood in Invercargill, New Zealand. We present and interpret narratives gathered during an interview-based study of the closure of Surrey Park Primary School. Our analysis highlights parents' perspectives on the role of the educational bureaucracy in the closure debate, the ambiguous role assigned to ‘community’ within the restructured system, the impact of the closure for low-income families, and the place of schools in contributing to the neighbourhood social cohesion. Our analysis concurs with international research suggesting that breaking links between schools and communities has potentially significant educational impacts on children.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Rosenstrom ◽  
Jessica A. Mele ◽  
Julie Ivy ◽  
Maria Mayorga ◽  
Mehul Patel ◽  
...  

Importance: Nationally stated goals for distributing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines included to reduce COVID-19 mortality, morbidity, and inequity using prioritization groups. However, the impact of these prioritization strategies is not well understood, particularly their effect on health inequity in COVID-19 burden for historically marginalized racial and ethnic populations. Objective: To assess the impact of vaccination prioritization and operational strategies on disparities in COVID-19 burden among historically marginalized populations, and on mortality and morbidity by race and ethnicity. Design: We use an agent-based simulation model of North Carolina to project SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19-associated deaths (mortality), hospitalizations (morbidity), and cases over 18 months (7/1/2020-12/31/2021) with vaccine distribution beginning 12/13/2020 to frontline medical and people 75+, assuming initial uptake similar to influenza vaccine. We study two-stage subsequent prioritization including essential workers (essential), adults 65+ (age), adults with high-risk health conditions, HMPs, or people in low income tracts, with eligibility for the general population in the third stage. For age-essential and essential-age strategies, we also simulated maximal uptake (100% for HMP or 100% for everyone), and we allowed for distribution to susceptible-only people. Results: Prioritizing Age then Essential had the largest impact on mortality (2.5% reduction from no prioritization); Essential then Age had the lowest morbidity and reduced infections (4.2% further than Age-Essential) without significantly impacting mortality. Under each prioritization scenario, the age-adjusted mortality burden for HMPs is higher (e.g., 33.3-34.1% higher for the Black population, 13.3%-17.0% for the Hispanic population) compared to the White population, and the gap grew under some prioritizations. In the Age-Essential strategy, the burden on HMPs decreases only when uptake is increased to 100% in HMPs. However, the Black population still had the highest mortality rate even with the Susceptible-Only distribution. Conclusions and Relevance: Simulation results show that prioritization strategies have differential impact on mortality, morbidity, and disparities overall and by race and ethnicity. If prioritization schemes were not paired with increased uptake in HMPs, disparities did not improve and could worsen. Although equity was one of the tenets of vaccine distribution, the vaccination strategies publicly outlined are insufficient to remove and may exacerbate disparities between racial and ethnic groups, thus targeted strategies are needed for the future.


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