This document outlines a proposed research study that aims to examine the relationship between childhood family environment and later drug addiction. The study would use a qualitative design with 200 participants recruited from drug rehabilitation centers and correctional facilities across 10 cities. Participants would complete an open-ended interview about their upbringing, which researchers would code into categories related to family influences, social influences, family relations, and other adversities. Data analysis would include reliability testing and a chi-square test to examine correlations between childhood experiences and drug addiction. Obtaining IRB approval would ensure ethical treatment of participants.

1. Running head: FINAL PAPER 1
Final Paper: Research Proposal
Randall L. Noggle
PSY326: Research Methods
Instructor Dr. Keshia Keith
8/24/2015

2. FINAL PAPER 2
Final Paper: Research Design
I. Introduction
Substance abuse and addiction is a pervasive problem in our American social system.
According to the New Data Show Millions of Americans with Alcohol and Drug
Addiction Could Benefit from Health Care R, there are currently 23.5 million Americans
addicted to drugs (in which alcohol is included), which equates to one in every ten people
over the age of 12 (Join Together Staff Writer, 2010). This is a staggering amount of the
United States population and begs the question as to whether drug addiction is a
conscious decision or if it is a combination of variables that create an environment that is
favorable and more likely to produce drug addiction. The roots of this environment are
firmly seated in the familial setting and early familial relations. The question at hand is if
there is a strong relationship between family environment in childhood and resulting drug
addiction.
II. Literature Review
There has been a lot of research into drug addiction, but very limited research on
the effect of childhood familial relations and environment as a catalyst to later drug
addiction. In The Risk for Persistent Adult Alcohol and Nicotine Dependence: the Role of
Childhood Maltreatment (2014), nearly one-third of the U.S. population is affected by
some form of abuse or neglect in physical, sexual or emotional realms. In this study,
particularly high rates of childhood maltreatment (abuse or neglect) were seen in
admittedly alcohol-dependent (as well as nicotine-dependent) individuals. The study
concluded that maladaptive family functioning is more involved in substance abuse than
other forms of childhood adversities. While this study focuses on licit substances, it does

3. FINAL PAPER 3
a good job in representing the relationship between a troubled familial structure and the
increased chance for addiction. While it may be argued that tobacco is legal and therefore
acceptable to be addicted to, there is a hazy line with alcohol. I believe this is because of
the potential of death as an immediate consequence of usage, whereas something such as
tobacco can take a lifetime to kill you. This study could provide very interesting
information if it was administered in a U.S. State that has legalized Marijuana.
The second article relating to current knowledge about this subject area is
Predictors of Drug-Use Patterns in Maltreated Children and Matched Controls Followed
Up Into Middle Adulthood (2010). This study utilized individuals with reported cases or
abuse or neglect (experimental group) and non-abused and non-neglected (control group)
from childhood into adulthood. Interestingly, while drug use rates were higher in the
experimental group, the highest rates of addiction and abuse were related to neglect.
Latent drug use is more associated with neglect manifesting in middle adulthood and
from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods, whereas early drug use is related to
adolescence/early adulthood usage from the least disadvantaged neighborhoods. This
study presents the results in a way that makes child neglect a ‘ticking timebomb’ of sorts
regarding drug addiction whereas physical abuse has an expedited emergence rate. The
main flaw with this study is that it only included White and Black participants, and
excluded other races. While the numbers of these individuals may be small, intentionally
excluding all other races is a major limitation.

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The third and final article containing current knowledge on this subject is
Familial Risk Factors Favoring Drug Addiction Onset (2012), and is the inspiration for
this research study. In this study the familial structure and relations were considered in
conjunction with sociocultural environment as synergistic influences in early childhood
that may make a child more prone to drug addiction later in life (or as early as early
adolescence). This research study’s findings were consistent with the proposal that there
are familial characteristics and typical relation types that were dominant factors in
proneness to drug addiction. This study was also unique in that it called for better and
more development preventative programs as opposed to the responsive modality that our
society has with addicts currently.
This research study utilizes similar methods as those found in Familial Risk
Factors Favoring Drug Addiction Onset, but will be more specific regarding the
categorization of responses and will also include participants that are potentially more
representative being as they are not all from the same sociogeographic area. This
provides a more naturalistic and representative sample than previous studies.
III. Methods
a. Design
The study that is being proposed is qualitative in approach. It will be a non-
experimental and correlational in design, being as that the goal of this study will be
assessing the relationship between familial environment and drug addiction. This is
correlational because, according to Research Methods in Psychology, is when, “…the
primary goal is to understand the relationships among various thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors” (Newman, 2011, para. 9). The underlying design of this study will be based

5. FINAL PAPER 5
on grounded theory because its nature is to constantly gather and compare data obtained
until no new themes are presented (Fassinger, 2005).
This research design I have chosen is appropriate for the topic because it relies on
information gathered from lived experiences, which is an essential component of
grounded theory. The basis of this study is on lived experiences, especially those
throughout childhood which ‘set the stage’ for drug abuse and eventual addiction through
a combination of influences. The research question will be answered through the open-
ended format of the interview. An open-ended format allows the participants to answer as
much or as little as they wish, and can often lead to more in-depth answers. This will
incorporate the elements of variation in voice, thematic constructs, social context, and
trust and rapport with the interviewer from The Listening Guide Method of
Psychological Inquiry (2015),but will not be as guided as that method typical is.
b. Participants
The sampling method that I would use would be seeking out participants by posting
fliers in rehabilitation facilities, contacting substance abuse counselors, and contacting
correctional facilities. I would like to have 20 participants from 10 different cities for a
total of 200 participants. This sampling method is appropriate because it eliminates
geographically-specific trends and instead utilizes numerous geographical locations that
are culturally unique, thereby avoiding an unrepresentative sample of drug addicts. The
gathering of participants from various locations affords the greatest variation in sample
which in turn, will produce results that may be easier to generalize.
c. Procedures/Measure

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The first step of my study would be to acquire the appropriate amount of volunteers
that would be available during my stay in each location. The method of data gathering
used in this study would be through a linear, recorded interview utilizing nominal scales.
The open-ended format of the interview would have to be interpreted by the researchers
in order to properly put each answer into one of the assigned categories of familial
influence, social influence, familial relations, social relations, and other adversities.
Reliability will be established through interitem reliability. Questions will be asked three
times in different ways throughout the survey. The validity of this study will be in the
questions of the interview. Every question will be related to the upbringing of the
individual being interviewed and as such, would allow their answer to fall into one of the
categories used for measurement.
d. Data Analysis
The first analysis will be Cronbach’s alpha, which will aide in demonstrating
interitem reliability. The second, and ‘meat’ of the analysis will be the goodness-of-fit
chi-square test. I chose this analysis because, according to Statistics for the Behavioral
and Social Sciences, a goodness-of-fit chi-square test handles only one variable, but it
can be in grouped into any number of categories and, “The measurement involved in each
case is a matter of sorting those in the sample groups into their groups and then
comparing the frequencies or counts in the various groups” (Tanner, 2011, para. 6). With
the primary design of this study being rooted in grounded theory and incorporating and
open-ended survey needing coded and categorized, a chi-square analysis will be the most
effective way to measure correlation. Utilizing grounded theory and chi-square analysis,
the category of “other adversity”, if answered a disproportional amount, could lead way

7. FINAL PAPER 7
to alteration of survey questions and introduce possible new directions of research
(fassinger, 2005).
e. Ethical Issues
The first step regarding ethics in this research study would be to have the study
viewed by an institutional review board. This research study, because of the personal
nature of the survey questions, would be subject to expedited review because under
research category seven of the Categories of Research That May Be Reviewed by the
Institutional Review Board (IRB) through an Expedited Review Procedure, I would be
collecting data that falls within, “Research on individual or group characteristics or
behavior (including, but not limited to, research on perception, cognition, motivation,
identity, language, communication, cultural beliefs or practices, and social behavior) or
research employing survey, interview, oral history, focus group, program evaluation,
human factors evaluation, or quality assurance methodologies” (U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, 1998, para. 11). The area of confidentiality would be a
something that needs to be considered very carefully because the interviews would be
recorded and could reveal personal information that is both sensitive and incriminating.
Likewise, delving into the subject of familial relations, social relations, and
possible abuse/neglect could potentially cause under stress or harm to a participant if the
administrator of the interview did not handle the questioning appropriately or did not
afford the participant the opportunity to stop the interview or skip the question. The
primary ethical issue that I can imagine would be researcher bias being that I am, in fact,
an addict. As a researcher, that would require me to be very cautious as to the wording of

8. FINAL PAPER 8
the questions and making sure that there was no leading the participants towards answers
that fit into my own personal beliefs about eh subject material and attempting to get the
results I want. In order to avoid this highly unethical practice, I would always have my
work looked over by a fellow researcher of colleague to verify that there was no
intentional manipulation of data or during the data gathering process.
IV. Conclusion
This study builds upon the few studies that have already been performed
regarding correlations to certain factors found in the childhood of adolescent and adult
drug addicts. While the primary purpose of this study is to gain qualitative knowledge on
correlations between familial environment and relations, it also serves to reformulate the
thought process of addiction utilizing grounded theory as a means of data collection and
interpretation. The dynamic and fluid nature of grounded theory not only affords, but
requires, the constant influx of new data in the reshaping of understanding. Addiction is
more than just using drugs on a daily basis, it is more similar to how The Action-Project
Method in Counseling suggests that actions, thoughts, explanations and causal events are
more of an expression of the context in which they are found as opposed to as a result of
the context (Young, Valach, & Domene, 2005). If the correlations presented are similar
to previous studies than the expression of a distressed familial structure can be viewed in
as greater likelihood of adolescent/latent drug addiction and the cracked foundation in
which it becomes unsafe to build upon.

9. FINAL PAPER 9
This study will interview addicts from across the country and attempt to
categorize specific influences in early childhood that have a strong correlation to later
addiction.

10. FINAL PAPER 10
References
Elliott, J. C., Stohl, M., Wall, M. M., Keyes, K. M., Goodwin, R. D., Skodol, A. E., Krueger, R.
F., Grant, B. F., Hasin, D. S. (2014). The risk for persistent adult alcohol and nicotine
dependence: the role of childhood maltreatment. Addiction, 109(5), 842-850.
doi:10.1111/add.12477.
Fassinger, R. E. (2005). Paradigms, praxis, problems, and promise: Grounded theory in
counseling psychology research. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 156-166.
doi:10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.156.
Gilligan, C. (2015). The Listening Guide method of psychological inquiry. Qualitative
Psychology, 2(1), 69-77. doi:10.1037/qup0000023.
Join Together Staff Writer (2010, September 28). New data show millions of Americans with
alcohol and drug addiction could benefit from Health Care R. Partnership for Drug-Free
Kids. Retrieved from http://www.drugfree.org/new-data-show-millions-of-americans-
with-alcohol-and-drug-addiction-could-benefit-from-health-care-r/.
Newman, M. (2011). Research methods in psychology: San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education,
Inc.
Tannerm D. (2011). Statistics for the behavioral and social sciences: San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint
Education, Inc.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Service, (1998, November). Categories of research that
may be reviewed by the institutional review board (IRB) through an expedited review

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procedure. Federal Register Online 63(219). Retrieved from
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/63fr60364.html.
Wilson, W. H., Widom, C. S., (2010, November). Predictors of Drug-Use Patterns in Maltreated
Children and Matched Controls Followed Up Into Middle Adulthood. Journal of Studies
on Alcohol and Drugs, 71(6): 801–809. Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2965478/.
Young, R. A., Valach, L., & Domene, J. F. (2005). The action-project method in counseling
psychology. Journal Of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 215-223. doi:10.1037/0022-
0167.52.2.215.
Zimić, J. I., & Jukić, V. (2012). Familial Risk Factors Favoring Drug Addiction Onset. Journal
Of Psychoactive Drugs, 44(2), 173-185. doi:10.1080/02791072.2012.685408.