The federal and state governments are keen to strengthen the institution of marriage and relationships that lead to marriages. One such effort is through the healthy marriages and relationships initiatives (HMRIs) which serve to support and educated youths and the married alike. It is in this line that New Harbor Community Center stepped in to offer marriages and education programs. However, uptake of this program is still low, and the community center has decided to study students at New Harbor High School on the issues affecting the attendance. The school records show that it has 1000 student out of which 50 take English language program, 100 are students with disability and, 250 are in poverty.
Population of study
This study will use purposive sampling to select students to join the study population. Purposive sampling is a non-probabilistic technique which ensures the researcher only decides members of interest to form part of the study population (Palys, 2008). In this case, the chosen population of the study comprises of all the 250 students from poverty-stricken families in New Harbor High School. The 250 students in poverty are suitable for this type of program evaluation exercise because of two main reasons. First, scholarly research holds that low-income families are more vulnerable to enticed or enforced marriages and relationships. Poverty makes significant contributions to family and relationship breakages that cause suffering among the single parents and affected children (Kimport, 2013). Also, the number of students in poverty (250) makes them the most significant disadvantaged group in the school. Choosing the largest population among the underprivileged groups of the student population increases the probability that the study findings are a valid and reliable representation of the study. The poor students account for 25 percent of the school population as compared to 5 percent and 10 percent for English students and those with disability respectively.
Increasing participation in marriage and relationship classes
Any initiative to improve the attendance of poor students in marriage and relationship classes must be based on the idea of lessening their sufferings (Hawkins, 2013). Needy families are frail and their children less likely to benefit from processes that require stability such as marriage and relationship training. This study proposes two ways of promoting their uptake of the marriage and relationship program. One way is to create a temporary fund for the needy families to help alleviate some of the stress they go through. In return, needy students will not be so much involved in helping their families to obtain the basics of living. They will have more free time to attend the marriage and relationship classes. The government should consider a pay-off program aimed to increase stability among married couples. Students from stable families are more likely to attend and benefit from such a program conducted by the community center (Hawkins, 2013).
Qualitative and quantitative methods for program evaluation
It is crucial to administer questionnaires on the target sample to evaluate the education program on marriages and relationships. Marriage and relationship issues are mostly regarded secret within the population; the respondents may find some of the problems such as wife battering and unfaithfulness too sensitive to discuss publicly. In such cases, surveys do help in maintaining confidentiality. The surveys will enable the researcher to find honest answers from the respondents for review. Interviews are also useful in cases where the researcher may be dealing with a family that has profited from the program and are willing to share their thoughts freely (Babbie, 2016).
A quantitative approach is also necessary for conducting program evaluation. The research may involve picking two groups form the society and assigning one group as a control sample (Babbie, 2016). The control sample is placed on the marriage and relationship program as a control experiment while the other is not. After the elapse of a specified period, the researcher conducts a comparison of the family and relationship stability of the two groups. The findings from this process will inform the verdict as to whether the marriage and relationship education program is effective in achieving its set minimum targets.
References
Babbie, E. (2016). The basics of social research (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage.
Hawkins, A. J. (2013). The Forever Initiative: A Feasible Public Policy Agenda to Help Couples Form and Sustain Healthy Marriages and Relationships.
Kimport, K. (2013), Marrying for the Kids: Gender, Sexual Identity, and Family in Same-sex Marriage, in Marla H. Kohlman, Dana B. Krieg, Bette J. Dickerson (ed.) Notions of Family: Intersectional Perspectives (Advances in Gender Research, Volume 17). Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.67 – 88.
Palys, T. (2008). Purposive sampling. In L. M. Given (Ed.) The Sage Encyclopedia of. Qualitative Research Methods. (Vol.2). Sage: Los Angeles, pp. 697-698.
