1
The Impact of Changes in Rural Services on Community Attitudes
Research covers a broad range of issues and attempts to find answers to a multitude of
problems and questions. It has been described as a self-critical and systematic method of
inquiry grounded in empirical data. Considering that research is a self-critical and objective
way of gathering information and generating knowledge, different studies require researchers
to carefully examine methodology, analysis, interpretation and presentation utilised
(Wellington & Szczerbinski, 2007). For this paper, the task was to peruse information provided
(e.g. notes between the researcher and her adviser and statistical data) to scrutinise and make
decisions on the best way to approach a simulated research project.
The sections below provide a description of the research process and the findings of the study.
Key concepts integral to the research method are described, including the hypothesis and
research questions drawn as well as the design. It is followed by an examination of the survey
instrument. Analysis of the data was also explained. The paper concludes with a discussion of
the findings, possible ways the research design could have been improved, validity and
reliability issues, and a summary of the research carried out.
Method
In the Social Sciences, it is recognised that research contributes to bodies of knowledge
by using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods to “explain causes and effects,
correlations, or why things are the way they are” (Leavy, 2017, p. 5). Within these
methodologies, researchers select from different techniques that is governed by its purpose
(Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2011) and “the nature of the problem” (Wellington &
Szczerbinski, 2007, p. 26). The aim of this section is to describe the methodological approach
used in this study starting with a look into the research purpose.
Tricia Hopkirk Student # 10177333 Contact Information: +66625910577 thopkirk@our.ecu.edu.au
Commented [th1]: Intro- 200- 250
Body 1450
362.5
Conclusion -300-350
Data set
People within the data
Use the Alldata matrix file. Demographic info + everything
Data gathering – coz school does not actually close!
IV:
DV:
8 more demographic variables to look at!
What does high score mean? Low score?
Break up data to 8 variables and then each category within
Use a split file
Commented [th2]: Research in the Social Sciences covers
a broad range of issues and attempts to find answers to a
multitude of problems and questions. It has been described
as a self-critical and systematic method of inquiry grounded
in empirical data. Considering that research is a self-critical
and objective way of gathering information and generating
knowledge, different studies require researchers to carefully
examine methodology, analysis, interpretation and
presentation utilised (Wellington & Szczerbinski, 2007). This
study looked at the impact of a school closure on the
community. It examined the factors that affected cohesion
levels and discussed ___. The researcher was required to
scrutinize the research question and data collected in order
to make a decision on the best way to approach her
research.
Based on the readings provided, two approaches to Social
Research emerged as possible ways to answer the research
question. Qualitative and quantitative research are
traditional frameworks from which researchers can provide
systematic and objective ways to appor Both approaches
have distinctive features that lend itself particularly well to
certain types of research. As emphasised by Wellington &
Szczerbinski (2007), “the choice of the method should
always be dictated by the nature of the problem” (p. 26).
For the purpose of this study, the researcher will focus on
the quantitative method. A description of ___________
will be provided.
. For the purpose of this study, the researcher focused on
the quantitative method
1.What is the impact of the Kingston school closure on
the cimmunities perception? Neleifs? Feelings of
cohesion?
2.What factors affect the levels of cohesion
...
Commented [th3]: It is followed by an examination of
data collection procedures, including the method of sampling
and details on the survey instrument. There is a discussion of
validity and reliability issues and some of the problems
which were encountered during data collection.
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Research Purpose, Hypothesis and Question Commented [th4]: 5 pts

Describe a possible hypothesis and research

The main purpose of this study was to gain understanding on how changes to the
question(s) that might be
drawn from this data.
provision of public services in rural areas may impact community attitudes. The researcher
Conceptual understanding of the problem posed and a
clear statement of
specifically wanted to find out how a rural town (i.e. in this study, Kingston) responded towards hypothesis and research questions /5- 250

the possibility of their school closing by examining community attitudes within the construct

of alienation. Alienation in this study is defined as a subjective response (attitude) to a life

experience (changes in public services) that may result in either a sense of community

cohesion, fragmentation, powerlessness or sense of control.

The question at the centre of this study was “What is the impact of the decision-making process

to close the school on the sense of alienation of the Kingston community?” Specifically, it

asked: “Has the community’s sense of alienation changed since the decision to close Kingston

Secondary School was made?”

The following hypotheses were addressed:

H0: The community’s sense of alienation has not changed since the decision to close Kingston

Secondary School was made.

Ha: The community’s sense of alienation has changed since the decision to close the Secondary

school was made.

Measurement of community attitudes over time was required by the research question as it

aimed to investigate whether changing provisions in their town influenced the publics’ sense

of alienation. This study did not involve a manipulation of variables through experimental

research. Instead, it was mainly concerned with studying relationships between variables in

real-life contexts. A quantitative approach is then well-suited to this study as it investigated

and attempted to explain a relationship between variables through a numerical analysis of

community attitudes (Punch, 2003).

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Design

Within quantitative research, a pre-test/post-test survey design was selected. Survey

designs have key features that make it suitable for this study. It is used to gather subjective

(e.g. attitudes and beliefs) and objective data (e.g. demographics) that can be statistically Commented [th5]: Describe the research method used
and describe two possible ways to improve
the research design
analysed for generalizability (Leavy, 2017; Vogt, Gardner & Haeffelle, 2012). It has options

to measure changes in variables over time through panel, cohort or cross-sectional approaches

(Vogt et al., 2012). Adhering to this design, a random sample of 185 residents from Kingston

were invited to take part in the study. Of the 185 surveys posted, a panel of 104 respondents

agreed to participate. Data was collected from the same panel over a spaced period through

questionnaires sent by post. The instrument had two sections for demographic information as

well as a scale to measure respondents’ sense of alienation.

The survey panel design is well-suited to the study as the researcher wanted to record changes

to a subjective internal state (i.e. feelings of alienation) at different points in time as well as to

collect demographic details.

Measure

A self-administered questionnaire designed purposely for this study was selected to be the main

method of data collection. In survey research, questionnaires or survey instruments are the

primary methods of data collection (Cohen, et al., 2011; Leavy, 2017). They are well-suited to

survey research because they allow researchers to collect, analyse numerical data and answer

research questions (Leavy, 2017).

The questionnaire was developed by the researcher to provide a thorough exploration of two

separate dimensions of alienation. As mentioned above, it has two parts. The first part asked

for demographic details such as occupation, home location and whether the respondent is a

parent of a child in Kingston School. The second part sought to measure community attitudes,

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specifically alienation. Participants were asked to rate their response to ten closed-type

questions on a five-point Likert scale. A lower total score on the scale indicates a less

favourable response while a higher score indicates a more favourable response. It was

administered as a pre-test prior to the intended closure and as a post-test following the closure

of the Secondary department of Kingston School.

A draft of the survey instrument was trialled on fourteen university students prior to

dissemination to determine its reliability and validity. According to Babbie (2013, as cited in

Leavy, 2017, p. 113), instruments need to be evaluated so that researchers can ensure that they

are valid or “measure what it’s supposed to measure” and reliable (i.e. results are consistent

and dependable). There are several ways to ensure validity and reliability, however the

questionnaire in this study was primarily evaluated using the following:

Face Validity. It is recommended that for survey instruments to have face validity,

researchers need to select items that are “logically related to the overall concept being

measured” (Gray, Williamson & Karp, 2007, p. 378). Based on the definition of alienation, it

appears that the items are indicators of two dimensions in the construct at face value. Items

such as, “You can’t trust anybody any more” and “The wealthy members of the community

don’t care what happens”, for example, seem to be indicative of the sense of fragmentation,

one of the constructs of alienation.

Reliability. One way to assess reliability of survey instruments is by computing alpha

coefficients to increase consistency between items. This allows researchers to omit items with

the lowest alpha, signifying that the item itself “is not a good measure of what the scale itself

measures”. Higher alpha scores indicate satisfactory reliability (Howitt & Cramer, 2014, p.

296). During the trial study for the Alienation Scale, the researcher completed an analysis using

PSPP software’s Cronbach’s Alpha function. Howitt & Cramer (2014) suggest that 0.7 is an

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accepted alpha coefficient however, for this study, a value of 0.8 was utilised. The initial

analysis showed an alpha of .86 with items four and eight as the weakest. These items were

removed to get a higher alpha reliability. Thus, the final questionnaire used for the study is a

very reliable measure of alienation with an alpha coefficient of 0.92.

Results Commented [th6]: Correct interpretation of results

and justification with evidence to answer
questions /8 450
This study examined the Kingston community’s attitudes toward the decision-making process

to close the school within the construct of alienation. Demographic information was collected

along with a scale used to measure alienation. This section presents the results of the descriptive

statistics and paired sample t-test from the scale. It then discusses the response to the research

question and hypothesis.

Descriptive Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics used to analyse demographic data in this study included the mean, mode,

frequency and standard deviation. These are presented on Table 1 below.

Main Analysis

A paired sample t-test was undertaken for the researchers’ pre and post-total data to examine

whether attitudes had changed between the administration of the pre-test and post-test

questionnaires. According to Cohen et al., (2011), t-tests fall under inferential statistics. They

are typically more valued by researchers for their ability to infer or predict outcomes from

measures used. Results show a value of P< 0.00 with the level of significance set at 0.05. The

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null hypothesis is therefore rejected and the alternative accepted. There is a significant

difference between pre-total and post-total data sets.

Discussion

The concluding section of this paper provides a summary of the study and the

conclusion. It contains a brief overview of the study, findings derived from the data analysis in

the previous section, limitations encountered and conclusion.

The purpose of this simulated quantitative pre-test/post-test survey panel study was to examine

the impact of changes in provisions of rural services. It specifically looked at the decision-

making process that went about regarding a possible school closure and how this affected

community attitudes. It addressed the questions: 1) What is the impact of the decision-making

process to close the school on the sense of alienation of the Kingston community? and 2) Has

the community’s sense of alienation changed since the decision to close Kingston Secondary

School was made? Descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests were used to analyse data

sets.

Findings

Results produced by the pre-test and post-test Alienation questionnaire support the alternative

hypothesis, which is: The community’s sense of alienation has changed since the decision to

close the Secondary school was made. The study has illustrated that community attitudes were

modified after the announced closure of part of Kingston school. The demographic profile

showed , however, showed that this sample of children sat within average scores for receptive

vocabulary. Returning to the research question on the efficacy of such an intervention for 4

year olds with limited emergent literacy knowledge, the findings suggest that an

Limitations

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The findings of this study could have the potential to add to a dearth in recent literature

with regards to alienation and how this could adversely affect rural communities. However,

there are limitations that need to be considered, particularly with instrumentation, sampling

and population and the research design, which may influence the generalisability of the study.

Instrumentation. The study was primarily limited by the questionnaire used to

measure alienation. Although it was a researcher-created instrument, validity and reliability

were strengthened because it was piloted prior to administration. This allowed the research to

adjust her instrument using statistical software. Two items were eliminated to increase the

alpha coefficient to 0.92. In addition to the pilot test, the researcher also used further readings

on the construct and interviewed three stakeholders to refine the items. However, there are

some threats to the soundness of the instrument.

Validity could have been improved if the researcher had correlated her instrument with a well-

established questionnaire measuring alienation (concurrent validity) instead of an informal

assessment (face validity) (Cohen, et al., 2011). Another technique to enhance her instruments’
validity would have been to conduct the trial on a group of individuals with similar
characteristics to the population she is studying rather than her university friends.
Research design. Self-administered pre-test/post-test survey panel designs have
limitations to do with the time interval between testing and the participants’ response when
self-reporting. Repeated testing could have caused ‘time-in sample bias’; participants may have
become sensitized to the instrument and that could account for the changes in the pre or post
survey data. They might have also over-reported or under-reported to give socially acceptable
Commented [th7]: The use of Likert scales to is a
technique that has bee
inally, saving the most widely used format for survey
questions for last, we come to the Likert scale, named after
its creator. It employs the familiar pattern of a statement
followed by a series of options, such as strongly agree,
agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree. Likert scales
are especially good for assessing degree of agreement with
or support for a belief, policy, or practice. In terms of
measurement, 17 they are popular because it is easy to
sum responses to individual items to make scales. Vogt et al
A limitation when using Likert scales is the inability for
respondents to express any further comments about the issue
under investigation and the information received tends to
offer description rather than any deep explanation and
insight around the respondents chosen emotion (Munn &
Drever, 1996). Another limitation is the researcher’s
incapability to assess whether respondents are truthful in
their responses, or deliberately falsifying their answers.

answers. In between testing, statistical regression could have occurred due to questionnaire

unreliability and extraneous variables (e.g. participant maturation).

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 8

In conclusion, it has been found that the pre-test/ post-test survey panel design is an

appropriate framework to guide the study as it allowed the researcher to collect data at different

points of . The survey instrument is a valid and reliable measure of the construct being studied

but its validity could be strengthened further by evaluating concurrently. Descriptive statistics

and the paired sample t- test enabled the researcher to illustrate how a community’s attitude

may be modified because of changes in rural services. As a result, it

References

Cohen, L., Manion, L., & Morrison, K. (2011). Research methods in education. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. (2014). Introduction to research methods in psychology. Retrieved

from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Gray, P. S., Williamson, J. B., & Karp, D. A. (2007). The research imagination: an introduction

to qualitative and quantitative methods. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Leavy, P. (2017). Research design: quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and

community-based participatory research approaches. Retrieved from

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Punch, K. F. (2003). Essential Resource Books for Social Research: Survey research London,

: SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781849209984

Tricia Hopkirk Student # 10177333 Contact Information: +66625910577 thopkirk@our.ecu.edu.au

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Vogt, W. P., Gardner, D. C., & Haeffele, L. M. (2012). When to use what research design.

Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Wellington, J., & Szczerbinski, M. (2007). Research methods for the social sciences. Retrieved

from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Tricia Hopkirk Student # 10177333 Contact Information: +66625910577 thopkirk@our.ecu.edu.au