Women And Gender Studies Research Proposals Example

Transgender Service Providers and Their Attitudes towards Those in Which They Service

Background and Rationale for Study
Transgender individuals have always existed in the societies, although they have had varying social statuses at varying times in various cultures. In the cultures and societies today, the transgender individuals have become prominent in the eyes of the public, for example, in entertainment and politics. These people have also had the capacity to come out openly about being gender non-conforming or transgender. Therefore, this study is important because possibly because of the increased visibility and the cultural shift, the transgender individuals are subject to high levels of violence and discrimination (Grossman & D'Augelli, 2006). As such, this study is significant because it provides insights on the certainty of the victim service providers to work with the transgender survivors.
Various contributions led to the choosing of this topic and the formulation of research questions. First, in many societies, most individuals have the belief that humans are either female or male. Most societies also believe that gender and sex are unchangeable and determined from birth. Therefore, with the transgender individuals in the societies, it is likely that people will develop various attitudes towards these individuals. As such, transgender service providers are the groups of individuals with close contact with these people, hence their attitudes towards them is likely to determine the attitudes of other people in the society (Dunlap, 2011). Second, with questionable attitudes towards transgender individuals, it is likely that these people are somewhat vulnerable in the society. As such, a study on the attitudes towards these people is important because the findings will enable the social workers as well as the society to develop favorable mechanisms of relating with these people.

Who Is Studied?

The individuals studied in the will be approximately 100 to 150 transgender service providers in 15 to 20 service centers. The number of participants for the study and the number of centers to consider for the study will be dependent on various factors. First, the time needed for the research will determine the number of participants. Since the projected timeline for the sample selection for the study is approximately five months, that is, from month 7 o 12, the time will be sufficient to select that given number of participants from all those centers. The reason for choosing different centers is to widen the scope of reason and findings by diversifying the responses.
Second, the number of participants will be dependent on the schedules and availability of the participants during the study. Selecting 100 participants, each with different schedules will be challenging. Therefore, participants with similar schedules will be grouped to increase efficiency of the process and save on time. The sample will be chosen from the service providers from the district agencies of Simcoe County participating in the funded health agency and community capacity building project (Karls & O'Keefe, 2009). This sample is chosen because the study is on the service providers of transgender individuals in the Simcoe County. Therefore, focusing on the service providers from that region will add validity to the research (Csiernik, Birnbaum & Decker Pierce, 2010). Moreover, the sample is chosen from those service providers related to the health agency and community capacity-building project, which promotes the reliability of the study. The eligibility criteria will base on the aspect that the participants will have to be employees or volunteers of a social service agency in Simcoe County engaged in a capacity-building project. However, choosing will be random regardless of age, gender, socio-economic status, race or ethnicity.

Budget

The budget for the study will cover majority costs associated with the capacity-building project. The costs will cover the incidentals relating to the supplies required in the study as printing costs, pre and post measurements, research information, consents and the dissemination of the finished study. Funds for the research will be sought from various organizations, including trust funds and loans from banks, borrowing from government and grants from government. The funds will be allocated to each incidental and utilized as follows:
For the research information, the funds will be used in looking for research materials, buying literary, and research information. The funds will also be utilized in the research materials used during the study such as internet connectivity and transport. For the consents, the funds will be utilized in the transport and paying for consents where applicable. The participants will also have to be given some amount as appreciation for accepting to participate in the exercise (Bazron, Denis & Isacs, 1989). For the printing, the funds will be utilized in printing of information, especially the research findings and results and the entire research as well. The dissemination of the finalized research will involve the transportation of materials to various places such as libraries. As such, the funds will cater for all the costs of disseminating the finalized research.

References

Cross, T., Bazron, B., Denis, K., & Isacs, M. (1989). Towards A Cultrally Competent System of Care A Monographon Effective Services for Minority Children Who Are Severely Emotionaly Disturbed. Georgetown University Child Development Center, Washington.
Csiernik, R., Birnbaum, R., & Decker Pierce, B. (2010). Problem Solving ; Brief Case Studies. In R. Csiernik, R. Birnbaum, & B. Decker Pierce, Practising Social Work Research Case for Learning (pp. 17-214). Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc.
Dunlap, K. (2011). Functional Theory and Social Work Practice. In F. Turner (Ed.), Social Work treatment Interlocking Theoretical Approaches (5th Edition ed., pp. 225-241). New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Grossman, A. H., & D'Augelli, A. R. (2006). Transgender Youth: Invisible and Vulnerable. Journal of Homosexuality, 51 (1), 111-128.
Karls, J., & O'Keefe, M. (2009). Person-in-environment system. In A. Roberts (Ed.), Social workers' desk reference (pp. 371-380). New York: Oxford University Press.