Bullying Military Youth

In the previous chapters I have discussed the stressors related to being the child of military personnel, the related risk factors associated with becoming a the target of peer victimization, and the assets that the bioecological model can provide as a lens for further exploring this issue. In this chapter I will discuss the specific methods that I will employ to generate research on the topic at hand and express the possible benefits in addressing the issue of identifying and assisting military student’s who are experiencing bullying issues.

This study used a qualitative, longitudinal approach in researching the risk factors and effects of possibly bullying for military youth. Triangulation was achieved through the use of three methods of collecting data from participants. The three methods include interviews, observation, and focus groups. In the following section each of these methods will briefly be described and the use of each method in the present study will be explained.

Interviews

Interviews may be one of the most commonly used forms of qualitative research (Perakyla, 2005). This may be due to the capabilities of interviews to reach areas of individuals’ reality and subjective experiences that would otherwise remain unattainable. Interviews allow researchers to overcome distances in both space and time by conveniently utilizing interviews. An interview can be defined as a process that takes place between two or more individuals, during which their interaction leads to the creation of a collaborative effort (Fontana & Frey, 2005). One key aspect of interviewing is the active nature of the process, which leads to a “contextually bound and mutually created story – the interview” (Fontana & Frey, 2005, p.696). I...

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... Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 659-727). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

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Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 659-727). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

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Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed., pp. 659-727). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.