Why Is It Important To Conduct Fieldwork On PND?

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Literature review is an essential part of a research. It makes an understanding about the previous research done on this topic and set a platform of current research. “In general terms, the literature review helps to provide a context for the research, justify the research, ensure the research hasn’t been done, show where the research fits into the existing body of knowledge, enable the researcher to learn from previous theory on the subject, illustrate how the subject has previously been studied, highlight flaws in previous research, outline gaps in previous research, show that the work is adding to the understanding and knowledge of the field, help refine, refocus or even change the topic.” (Wanjohi, 2012)

I select three kinds of research …show more content…

Her interest in the topic began in 1983 when a routine prenatal diagnosis revealed that the fetus she was carrying had Down syndrome. She found herself with this technology as both “grateful for and critical of technology”, this tragic “life–transforming” experience. This experience convinced Rapp of the need for a woman–centered analysis of prenatal diagnosis. Finding PND to be a highly “complex cultural object”, Rapp employed an array of field methods in multiple sites. She used open–ended approach included repeated observations of intake interviews and counseling sessions at seven hospitals offering prenatal diagnosis. Her participant observation used in a cytogenetic laboratory, as well as in–depth interviews with pregnant women who used or refused the test and their supporters, genetic counselors, geneticists, lab technicians and others involved in the provision of services. She also spent time with parents of children with disabilities and professionals who work with them. Her methodological part gives a clear concept among readers that she spent more time and use multiple sites for her research. It also shows her struggle with the …show more content…

At the heart of the book, is a deep concern with the lived experiences of women confronted with tough decisions about PND and selective abortion. These women are “moral pioneers” or “philosophers of the private” who weigh the possibility of bearing and raising a child with Down syndrome or other anomalies against the agony of establishing for themselves the criteria which permit or deny entry into the human community. The burdens and the benefits of the technology are disproportionately distributed among the women. Rapp amply demonstrates how socio–economic status, ethnic and cultural diversity are inextricably intertwined in the decisions that women make. Rapp demonstrates her position about her participants and upholds the need to respect all women’s rights to carry or refuse to carry to term a pregnancy that would result in a baby with a serious disability. The role of men in PND is more difficult to discern. Rapp encountered difficulty recruiting men to her study (she interviewed fifteen men as opposed to eighty women) and found it particularly difficult to interview men about amniocentesis in the presence of their pregnant mates. Nonetheless, she came to believe that the morally fraught nature of PND tends to disrupt gendered assumptions and defy anyone pattern of dominance and

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