Purpose
The purpose of this exercise was to discover how students perceive the use of alcohol, focusing on the differences between their countries of origin and Scotland. The particular theme was selected, because since I moved in Edinburgh, I noticed that alcohol consumption is one of the usual subjects of discussion among international students. I observed that this is an issue, which troubles many non-UK students. More specifically, every time I was in the company of young people from different countries, we used to discuss about the differences we notice regarding the way that Scottish people entertain themselves, the important role that alcohol holds in their lives and what differences they observe in comparison to their countries. Furthermore, alcohol consumption is a part of a county’s culture; so whether people drink or not, the way that they see alcohol and their ways of entertainment can reveal and help us to explore the culture, customs, habits and the way of thinking of different people from different countries.
Why focus group?
The reason why I chose focus group as method of my study was because I didn’t want just some information about their counties or their experiences and their beliefs about alcohol consumption in Scotland. Instead the most important and essential features of the study, that I wanted to accomplish, were the creation of data from the participants, their selves, through their interaction. It was very essential to see how they exchange their background habits and their views about a new, different country. What is more, I wanted to observe what kind of associations they will use to talk about their countries, and how they will link their culture with the others and the Scottish, with no Scotti...
... middle of paper ...
.... Focus Groups in Social Research, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications
Bryman A., (2012). Social Research Methods, New York :Oxford University Press Inc.
Greenbaum T. L., (2000), Moderating Focus Groups, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications
Kitzinger J., (1995), Qualitative Research: Introducing focus groups, BMJ , 311: 299-302
Morgan D., (1993), Successful Focus Groups: Advancing the State of the Art, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications
Morgan D., (1997). Focus Groups as qualititative research, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications
Smith M. W., (1995). Ethics in focus groups: A few concerns, Qualitative Health Research, Vol 5, No 4, pp 478-486, Sage Publications, Inc.
Stewart D. W., & Shamdasani P. N., (1990), Focus Groups: Theory and Practice, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications
The first, focus groups, interviews conducted with 8 to 10 people with a trained moderator following an interview guide, a common useful approach for acquiring health care information. Also, useful in examining a wide range of sensitive health care issues. Second, probability sampling, units selected by chance, the sample’s reliability, and does not require detailed information about the population surveyed. The third option, mail surveys, inexpensive way to contact individuals over a large geographical area, provide anonymity to the respondent, and eliminate interviewer bias.
Binge drinking and alcoholism have been a long-time concern in American society. While the government and schools have made great efforts to tackle the alcohol problems by enacting laws and providing education, the situation of dysfunctional alcohol consumption hasn’t been sufficiently improved. In the essay “Drinking Games,” author Malcolm Gladwell proves to the readers that besides the biological attributes of a drinker, the culture that the drinker lives in also influences his or her drinking behaviors. By talking about cultural impact, he focuses on cultural customs of drinking reflected in drinking places. He specifically examines how changing the drinking places changes people’s drinking behaviors by presenting the alcohol myopia theory.
Gedge, E., & Waluchow, W. (2012). Readings in health care ethics (2nd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Mantel, B. (2006, August 18). Drinking on campus. CQ Researcher, 16, 649-672. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/
Pittman, David J. and Helene Raskin White, eds. Society, Culture, and Drinking Patterns Reexamined. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies, 1991.
“80 percent of teen-agers have tried alcohol, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in the top three causes of death among teens: accidents, homicide and suicide” (Underage, CNN.com pg 3). Students may use drinking as a form of socializing, but is it really as good as it seems? The tradition of drinking has developed into a kind of “culture” fixed in every level of the college student environment. Customs handed down through generations of college drinkers reinforce students' expectation that alcohol is a necessary ingredient for social success. These perceptions of drinking are the going to ruin the lives of the students because it will lead to the development alcoholism. College students who drink a lot, while in a college environment, will damage themselves mentally, physically, and socially later in life, because alcohol adversely affects the brain, the liver, and the drinkers behavior.
College student drunkenness is far from new and neither are college and university efforts to control it. What is new, however, is the potential to make real progress on this age-old problem based on scientific research results. New research-based information about the consequences of high-risk college drinking and how to reduce it can empower colleges and universities, communities, and other interested organizations to take effective action. Hazardous drinking among college students is a widespread problem that occurs on campuses of all sizes and geographic locations. A recent survey of college students conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health reported that 44 percent of respondents had drunk more than five drinks (four for women) consecutively in the previous two weeks. About 23 percent had had three or more such episodes during that time. The causes of this problem are the fact that students are living by themselves no longer with parents or guardians; they earn their own money; students need to be a part of a group, be accepted; and they have the wrong idea that to feel drunk is “cool.”
In some cultures, there are situations that involves drinking. These include: birthday parties, New Year’s festivities, graduations, weddings receptions, Fourth of July, Christmas and Mardi Gras. In these holidays, people usually drink in excess to have a good time and celebrate. Different countries specialize in different types of alcohol, such as: the Italian have really good wine, Mexico is known for beer and tequila, Ireland is famous for beer and whiskey, Japan has their own beverage called Sake, and the United States is known for beer, wine, and whiskey. In these cultures, drinking alcohol is an acceptable type of celebration that teenagers even participate in. Not all alcohol consumed is in celebration. Therefore, “the top 20 percent of drinkers consume approximately 30 percent of all alcohol drunk over a 12-month period” (Grant 290).
Then, K.L., Rankin, J.A. & Ali, E. (2014). Focus group research: What is it and how can it be used? Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, 24(1), 16–22.
This research paper will help enable sociologists to determine what the ongoing effects have on an alcoholic and further provides information on the long-term effects that society has to deal with. The significance of alcoholism and sociology is the ability of sociologists to research and discover how human behaviour is affected on many aspects of its effects on a person. An alcoholic can be described as someone who is addicted to drinking alcoholic beverages in excess. What starts out as social drinking can lead to excessive drinking and the many problems associated with alcohol abuse and i...
Tarzian, A. J., & Force, A. C. C. U. T. (2013). Health care ethics consultation: An update on core competencies and emerging standards from the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities’ Core Competencies Update Task Force. The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(2),
This same culture also advertizes alcohol as fun and pleasurable through movies and commercials. This kind of culture clash between the negative effects of addiction, and the implied positive effects of alcohol through marketing, can cause both adolescents and adults to misinterpret society’s stance on addiction. It is no wonder that our society has behavioral problems with young adults when the culture that we live in sends mixed messages about its stance on addiction (Zastrow, 2010). To study this effect on our culture we need to look at all approaches to the problem.
Marshall, C, Rossman, Gretchen B, (2006). Designing qualitative research, 4th edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Methods, which provide this type of data, include; interviews, observations as well as focus groups. The advantages of using Qualitative methods such as those listed previously is that they can produce “an extensive base of knowledge” to complex areas of research (Ulin et el. 2005, p.9) such as children’s behavior in school. Another advantage is it will often take place in a natural environment, thus making participants more likely to be more truthful and ther...
...ipants were the students with Shanghai background, who studied abroad. Group study room in the Leicester’s library was a good choice for focus group. It was a competitive formal focus group.