Evaluation of the Research Problem
The research problem in this article is: Is there a relationship between discrimination in the workplace and health outcomes (Bauermeister, & Meanley, & Hickok, & Pingel, & VanHemert, & Loveluck, 2013). This article seeks to find if there is a relationship between health and discrimination.
Evaluating the Significance of the Problem
This article does address a counseling issue because we are likely to work with the LGBT population, and it is important to be able to help clients process and work through the discrimination that they face. Discrimination is a societal issue that impacts clients’ socioeconomic status and could contribute to their mental health. The authors did provide evidence that this is important by describing how discrimination could be linked to an individual’s health. Bauermeister (2013) states that there is evidence about health differences between sexual minorities and heterosexuals (Bauermeister, 2013). They sought to find out if the discrimination accounts for the health differential. The learner views this as an important issue because discrimination can lead to stereotyping the LGBT population, and it is important to understand the unique issues this population faces if we are going to be able to help them.
Evaluation of the Literature Review
The authors incorporated other sources to back up the statistics they provided and the points that they made. She noticed that they provided appropriate citations when they were making comparisons. She also noticed that there are comments throughout the article instead of having a separate section.
Bauermeister (2013) did an excellent job of describing why there could be a possible correlation with health and discrimination. (Bauermeister, 2013). They are very descriptive in showing how discrimination is an issue and how it affects the LGBT population. They presented the point of view of how discrimination can impact a sexual minority’s employment situation. On the other hand, they discussed laws about workplace discrimination in the state of Michigan and shows both perspectives of individuals having legal protection in some cities. They cautioned that the state of Michigan does not offer legal protection for workplace discrimination which indicates a willingness to provide a complete picture around the issue of workplace discrimination. The learner was impressed by the amount of information that was presented.
Evaluation of Research Design, Purpose Statement, Questions and Hypotheses
Research Design
This study appears to be a correlational study. Sheperis, & Young, & Daniels (2017) says that correlational studies try to establish a relationship between variables (Sheperis, & Young, & Daniels, 2017). This article seeks to find out if there is a relationship between work discrimination experienced by sexual minorities and health. This is a quantitative design because it focuses on collecting numerical data. They utilized a survey to collect information, and used a multivariate regression model to analyze both variables (health and discrimination). The trigger in the word multivariate was multi because it indicates more than one.
Research Purpose Statement
The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of discrimination and how it impacts the health of sexual minorities (Bauermeister, 2013). The authors presented their purpose statement concise and to the point. In their discussion before presenting the purpose statement, they provided a lengthy explanation on this topic.
Research Questions
What relationship exists between workplace discrimination and health outcomes from individuals living in Detroit? The learner thought that the research question was developed because it wasn’t too hard to find it and recognize it. Another possible question was: What role does discrimination play with young adults or adolescents in the sexual minority population?
Hypotheses
Bauermeister states that their hypothesis is “We hypothesized that YMSM reporting sexuality-related discrimination would be more likely to report poorer health status and worse health-related quality of life” (p.2). This would make sense to the learner because it is likely that discrimination contributes to negative outcomes in other aspects of a sexual minority’s life.
Evaluation of Data Collection Plan
Selection of Participants
They utilized a sample from those who lived in Detroit, so that limited the sample size. They tried to recruit a random sample by utilizing different methods such as recruiting on social media and in person (Bauermeister, 2013). They offered gift cards as an incentive to get people to participate. They had 1,183 entries that broke down to 842 after screening. Out of the 842 that is left, 381 of those entries did not meet the criteria for the study. The selection could be improved if they opened the study to more than just Detroit. It is hard for the results to be generalizable if only 1 area is included. It would be better if they included the state of Michigan in their sample.
Gaining Permission
The authors created their own survey on a survey that was designed to ensure participants privacy. Once the participants were screened, they were given informed consent forms. The learner thought they did an excellent job of making sure confidentiality is maintained and informed consent was explained in detail. She felt they went above and beyond to stay within ethical guidelines.
Determining the Data to Collect
They collected information through an online survey. They collected questionnaires but some had to be ruled out because some were incomplete. The data appeared to be appropriate, but Bauermeister (2013) states that the sample size was too small to infer anything about gender and discrimination (Bauermeister, 2013).
Data Collection Instruments
They utilized health indicates from the Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System to measure for health (Bauermeister, 2013). This appeared to be a standard and commonly used measure and appropriate for what it was used for. Reliability and validity appeared to be good. They measured discrimination using Herek’s discrimination scale, and it appeared to be solid as it asked people to answer if they experienced discrimination in the workplace and then used a scale for them to pick the number of incidents they reported.
Administering Data Collection
The authors did describe the protocols and made sure to keep a strict process on how they handled the surveys. They made sure to toss incomplete surveys and checked to make sure the process and collection was legitimate. They monitored the time it took clients to complete as well as email and IP addresses. This is smart because anyone can pretend to be anyone on the internet.
Evaluation of Data Analysis and Interpretation Plan
Preparing Data for Analysis
They used a multivariate regression model to compare work relationship and health. According to Sheperis, & Young, & Daniels, (2017) multivariate models analyzes data from more than 1 variable (Sheperis, & Young, & Daniels, 2017). They did a good job at attempting to compare more than 1 variable.
Analysis of the Data
In the article, they described some of the results with the multivariate model. For example, Bauermeister (2013) states that there was a negative correlation with health and discrimination and being HIV positive (Bauermeister, 2013). This makes sense to the learner especially with the stigma associated with HIV.
Reporting the Results
One of the biggest strengths of this study is how descriptive the authors was about establishing a possible correlation. The theme she noticed was the emphasis on workplace discrimination in the LGBT community.
They reported their findings using tables and narrative. They described the average age of participants as 23 years old (Bauermeister, 2013). They presented the findings, but she felt more of a breakdown with the statistics is needed.
Interpreting the Results
The study is meaningful as far as providing information showing a possible correlation with discrimination and health in the LGBT community. On the other hand, the results cannot be generalized due to the sample size. Another limitation is that some of the work experiences could have been impacted by the participants’ education level, and could be extraneous variables.
Evaluation of Ethical and Culturally Relevant Strategies
They did an excellent job addressing ethical issues. The authors were vigilant about protecting participant confidentiality. Another thing she noticed was they focused on different races participating in the survey.
Conclusion
Overall, the quality of the report was very good. It is hard to generalize the results due to the sample size, but this study provided useful information. This information could help the learner be sensitive to and aware of the issues the LGBT community faces.
References
Bauermeister, J., & Meanley, S., & Hickok, A., & Pingel, E., & VanHement, W., & Loveluck, J. (2013). Sexuality-related work discrimination and its association with the health of sexual minority emerging and young adult men in the Detroit Metro Area. Retrieved from: Capella
Sheperis, C.J., Young, J.S., & Daniels, M. H. (2017). Counseling research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson