SINGLE-PARENTING AND ITS EFFECTS ON CHILDREN’S ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE

In Partial Fulfillment for Research I

John Carl Aparicio

Jairah Camposano
Khalil Fenol
Bennie Malinao
Vince Ramos
Emma Tuco
Kristine Padillo

March 2018
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Families have a paramount importance for the development of children and their

wellbeing in many ways. The family is the first socializing agent that the child comes into

contact with. It has a great influence on the child’s physical, mental and moral development.

The family also lays the foundation of education before the child goes to school and the

personality that the child takes to school is determined by the home and the significant others

who are found in it (Maduewesi & Emenogu, 1997).

Families are now shrunken and unstable, and the modern family is increasing

unable to provide for the well-being of its members. Modern family is increasingly unable to

provide for the well-being of its members. One of such change in the family structure is

single-parent family. Single parenting is a very important social issue that can have

significant effects on a child’s academic success. Children who are raised in a single family

home are at risk of not reaching their full potential. Students within our educational system

encounter many challenges in their family lives that they bring with them into the classroom.

The family structure, ideally, provides a sense of security and stability that is

necessary for children. When there is a breakdown in the family structure, it may have a

tremendous impact on a child and their ability to function ordinarily or achieve academically.

In most situations, the child no longer has two parents to depend on. Therefore they have to

rely on one parent to meet most, if not all their needs.

With limited finances, time and availability parents are less likely to provide the

adequate support a child needs to perform to the best of their ability. This is not to say,

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necessarily, that the parent raising them is not providing them with more than adequate love

and attention, but rather the single parent model within itself is comprised of many different

factors that can affect a child’s level of academic success.

Education is assumed to be the great equalizer in our society. There are

inspirational stories of women and men who, after a tough childhood or adulthood complete

their education become successful members of society and are held as role models.

There are many students within our school system that come from single-parent

families. Due to the many issues that stem from the single-parent families, some students are

unable to reach their full potential. As the single-parent families become the norm in society,

it is necessary to find a way to address this issue so as to provide students and parents with

solutions to help them achieve their highest ability. Thus, this study will investigate single-

parenting and its effects on children’s academic performance.

Research Questions

The research aims to answer the following questions:

1. What are the experiences of being a child of a single-parent family?

2. What are the challenges of the children and single-parent faced?

3. How do the children cope with their academic performances in school being a child of
a single-parent?
4. How do children view their single parents’ challenges and their experience of being
child of single parents?

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Theoretical Lens

The theoretical lens for this study is symbolic interactionism. Symbolic

interactionism is a perspective which relib es on the symbolic meaning that people develop

and rely in the social interaction. It is a sociological perspective on self and society based on

the ideas of George Herbert Mead (1934), Charles H. Cooley (1902), W.I Thomas (1981) and

other pragmatists.

Through social interaction, we create and maintain our definition of family. As we

do this, it affects our larger social definition of what everyone’s family should be like and

how we envision family that we create ourselves.

Symbolic interactionists emphasize on the function of education as socialization

and helping young people transition from home to the larger society. Interactionists

emphasizes on the relations and transactions in the school.

Significance of the Study

This research for instance will help us to understand the influence of family

patterns on the academic performance and behavior pattern among students and also if single-

parenting causes truancy in students.

It would be great importance to the academic community to detect how family

patterns affect children in their daily lives, the change in their behavior patterns in their

learning and the way they are socialized by their parents.

This study will add up to the existing literatures on single-parenting and its effects

on children’s academic performance. Findings from this study will help us know the types of

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family pattern in Cor Jesu College, problems faced by them, causes of failures among

students and the way to solve this problem.

Limitations and Delimitations of the Study

The research study will be limited by the following conditions. First, it was

difficult to arrange times to interview the participants according to their schedules. Second, it

could be argued that this study was limited by the research methodology. Third, some of the

issues regarding the problem may be sensitive to the subject of the study.

Definition of Terms

Family represents people living together by ties of marriage, blood, or adoption.

Nuclear Family consists of the mother, father and their children

Single Parent usually refers to a parent who has most of the day to day

responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as

the dominant caregiver who is not living with a spouse or partner, or those who are

not married.

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 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter reviews the existing literature on single-parenthood and its effect to
child’s academic performance. It begins with a discussion of on what is single-parenthood, its
current situation and proceeds with on their children. It concludes with a section that explores
the positive aspects of single parenthood.

Single Parenthood Status

A single parent is one who has the day to day duty in the raising of his or her
children alone without the wife or husband. Single parenthood did not start today; rather it is
a long time issue that was caused by slavery or having given birth outside wedlock,
separation, divorced, or death of spouse. Single parents have been reported to have the
highest level of family challenges, work and conflicts compared to partner and/or couple-
parent individuals. Bellavia and Frone, (2005), indicated that single parents struggle with
most family demands. Single parents are not more likely to report spending insufficient time
with their children, but they do suffer from the highest rates of time-strain based conflicts
(Milkie, Mattingly, Nomaguchi, Bianchi, 2004).

A previous research comparing single parents and couple parents found that single
parents tend to report higher degrees of work and family conflicts (Bellavia and Frone, 2005).
The single-parent family is a social phenomenon which has become more common over the
past few decades (Gucciardi, Celasun and Stewart, 2004).

According to Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2007,
released by the U.S. Census Bureau in November, 2009, there are about 13.7 million single
parents in the United States today, who are responsible for bringing up their 21.8 million
children (approximately 26% of children under 21 in the U.S. today). Stereotypical thinking
about single-parent families considers them as mothers solely involved in child training

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(Kalman, 2003), but there are also single fathers. In other words, single parent fathers could
be of lesser number compared to the single parent mothers particularly in the recent times.

Klaush and Own (2009) showed from their study that reports of depression and
low sensitivity towards children were more common among stably cohabiting mothers than
were married mothers. Dickson, (1995) studied and interviewed six African American
professional women for a documentary on single parenting. Among them, two were divorced,
two made the decision to become single parents, one decided to adopt a child and one was a
widow. Dickerson found the six women shared some same commonalities and problems as
most other single professional mothers as two parent households. The common issues and
problems according to the study include finances, commitment, personal sacrifices, child
care, lifestyle, stress, challenges of parental involvement and so on.

Consequences of Single Parenthood

Compared to intact families, single parenthood is associated with a number of

negative effects. In discussing consequences of single parents, however, it should be
recognized that single parenthood refers to a diverse category. They can be never married,
widowed or divorced. They may live alone or may live with others. For instance, although,
research has generally showed that single mothers are disproportionally among the poor;
research also showed that single parents living with relatives have better socio-economic
status than single parent heading a household (Amato & Keith, 1991).

Nevertheless, there are common challenges associated with it. McLanahan and
Sandefur (1994) found that “single mothers seemed to suffer more following a divorce,
perhaps because they typically experienced a severe loss of income since due to a lack of
husband’s support (McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994). The loss of a husband's income (and the
psychological effect on the custodial parent) was one of the most important factors in
determining a child’s well-being. Carlson (1997) agreed noting that in single parent families,
parenting abilities are affected by the family's financial status. Carlson also stressed that
single mothers suffer higher stress rates due to a loss of economic status, possibly leading to
maternal depression, predicting negative maternal attitudes and ineffective parenting. Besides
having to adjust to a lower standard of living, single mothers also experienced less access to
occupational training and less access to the higher education needed to pull themselves and
their children out of poverty (White, 2004).

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 Financial challenges can also affect the possibility of single parents in developing
social network. The low income status of single parents also means that they have to move
frequently in search of (better) jobs and or smaller homes that are more affordable. In
addition, they also tend to disengage from family and friends, not taking the time to maintain
old relationships or to build new supportive ones. McLanahan and Sandefur (1994) asserted
that single they tend to be so depressed at their lack of status and income following their
divorces; they had no energy to maintain relationships. The authors asserted that this lack of
family and friendship connections can have a detrimental effect on children’s well-being, as
they see their old, well-known world fall away (White, 2004).

Economic Hardships

Beyond the pressure and stress that single parents have to deal with, they are also
very much concerned with providing finances to their respective family. Some single parents,
specifically mothers who never worked in their entire life, would be forced to work in a full-
time basis. This does not only adds pressure to single parenthood but more importantly, it
limits the time that the mother has to spend with her children (Walsh, 2003). Financial crises
are a standing situation with most of the single parent families. It becomes difficult in
meeting the basic needs of children such as food, clothing, school fees, maintaining the
previous standard of living and meet personal expense (Nidhi and Bharti, 2009).

Single mothers’ unemployment has been stated to be more than twice as much as
married women’s, and the reason suggested is that single mothers have particular difficulty in
finding jobs that are consistent with their family care responsibilities. It has been noted that
this high unemployment rate is troubling for families since one fifth of all families with
children are headed by working single mothers, and families of single mothers (considering
both those who work and those who do not together) have a high poverty rate, 28.3 percent
( Susan, n.d.).

Father’s historical role in the family has been breadwinner. So the single mothers
are plunged into poverty. The economic position of women who live alone with their children
remains precarious and single motherhood is a major reason for poverty among women and
thus their over-representation among the poor (Problem of Single Mothers ,2012).

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 Single women with children experience much higher levels of poverty than any
other family type. In part, this is due to the prevalence of low paying, female dominated
occupations – which typically pay in minimum wage or only slightly higher. Single mothers
also face challenges arranging and paying for child-care, which can comprise about 1/3 of the
household budget depending upon the age of the child (Christen, n.d.).

Mother-only families are more likely to be poor because of the lower earning
capacity of single mothers, the insufficient benefits provided by the state, and the lack of
child support provided from the nonresidential father (Garfinkel & McLanahan, 1986).

A large body of research has documented the disadvantages of children raised in

single parent homes relative to children raised in two-parent homes. Lower high school
graduation rates, lower GPAs, and greater risk for drug abuse are only some of the negative
outcomes associated with growing up.

Nelson (1990), cited in Waruesporn, (2011) argues that family income has effects
on a single-mother’s life tensions, which may diminish the emotional well-being of parents
and have negative effects on children’s self-esteem and children’s behavior in school. Single-
mother families are at a high risk of poverty and a poor psychological health due to the
pressure the single-mother has to put up with in working to earn an income to meet the
family’s needs, leading to fatigue and emotional imbalance, which results in a lack of time
spent with children.

Parents under economic stress and single-parents often poorly supervise their
children and may let them gain autonomy too early. Unsupervised adolescents are more likely
to be involved in risky behaviors such as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, drug use, early
sexual activity resulting in adolescent pregnancy (Richardson et al., 1993; Blum et al., 2000,
as cited in Waruesporn, 2011).

Researchers who have compared single-parent mothers to married mothers have

documented the lower economic status, higher stress levels, and lack of time for sleep and
leisure among single mothers (McLanahan and Booth, 1989; Sanik and Mauldin, 1986). in a
single-parent home.

Consequences of Single Parenthoodhood on Children’s Wellbeing

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 Theoretical explanations about the impact of single motherhood on wellbeing of
dependent children have changed over years. In 970s, the dominant model researches on
single motherhood followed was the Family Deficit Model. The Family Deficit model views
“the nuclear or two-parent family (otherwise known as intact family) as the ideal family
structure. According to this model, single-parent families have a negative impact on children
simply because they do not have a nuclear family structure. It is therefore considered an
aberration, which lacks the capacity to produce a psychologically balanced offspring”
(Azuka-Obieke, 2013). However since 1990s the notion of viewing single parents as
inherently deficit is increasingly rejected to be replaced by the Risk and Protective Factor
model, which “does not regard single-parent families as irregular.” Risk factors are
background characteristics and life events that may have negative impact on child
development. Whereas, protective factors are characteristics and events that positively
influence children and help limit the impact of risk factors. Essentially, risk factors are the
weaknesses while protective factors are the strengths of any given family” (Azuka-Obieke,
2013). Rather than viewing single parenting as the cause of negative outcomes for children,
the Risk and Protective Factor model views family structure as one of the many risk factors.
For instance, Rodgers and Pryor (2001) undertaking a comprehensive review of the research
evidence on the impact of divorce and separation on outcomes for children and concluded
from the evidence that children of separated parents compared with children whose parents
remain together are at increased risk of: Growing up in households with lower incomes and
poorer housing; experiencing behavioral problems; performing less well in school and
gaining fewer educational qualifications; needing more medical treatment; leaving school and
home when young; becoming sexually active, pregnant or a parent at an early age; reporting
more depressive symptoms and higher levels of smoking, drinking and other drug use during
adolescence and adulthood (Mooney, Chris and Marjorie, 2009, p. 7). Given these obstacles,
single mothers tended to feel more overwhelmed in their parenting role, experiencing high
stress levels and depression (Carlson, 1997, McLanahan & Sandefur, 1994). The authors
posited that a combination of these factors could lead to ineffective parenting, with the single
mother unable to provide the firm, loving discipline that children need to develop a strong
sense of security and well-being (White, 2004, p.7).

The role of the father in traditional Filipino settings was considered vital in the
upbringing of a child. One of the characteristics of the existing literature on single mothers is
its focus on the impact of single motherhood on children’s wellbeing. Besides, there is no

10
single cause for the declining well-being of children in single parent families, but rather
many. No single explanation accounts for the differences, and some scientific support exists
for each of the five perspectives: economic hardship, loss of parental support and supervision,
lack of community resources, parental conflict, and life stress and instability (White, 2004).

Hilton and Desrochers (2002, p.31) cited the “parental adjustment perspective,”
which posits that the parent’s psychological state after a divorce has a direct effect on
children’s wellbeing. Clarke-Stewart and Hayward (1996) found that children had stronger
relationships with both parents and a greater sense of psychological well-being when the
custodial parent had made a successful emotional adjustment to the divorce -- especially
those children in mother custody (White, 2004).

Family disruptions often entail a number of changes which, taken together, can be
more stressful than any one considered alone (i.e., moving, changing schools, loss of contact
with the noncustodial parent, and a decline in one’s standard of living). (White, 2004)

Family Structure and Child’s Academic Performance

A single parent family as stated by Tenijbanije (2009) and Eweniyi (2005) has
only father or mother and the children resulting from divorce, loss of one parent, never
married, separation or dissertation, while a two parent family is the direct opposite. The home
that is being managed by only a father or a mother due to one of these reasons is a single
family. It follows that children brought up under this family structure are likely to have
challenges because it is not the ideal family in accordance with the family deficit model,
hence such children may be lacking in one way or the other.

According to Usher et al (2012), respondents in their studies with excellent and

brilliant performances revealed that 2.6% and 7.9% came from single parent and two parent
families respectively. Such finding shows the evidence of low achievement of single parent
children. It has also shown how they are not able to achieve as much as children of two-
parent families for not getting complete support from both parents. Uwaifo (2008) states that
children from intact families show less anxiety about their academic activities because they
are emotionally more stable with less emotional problems.

Klein Knitzer (2007) explained in his study that early literacy skills form part of
the important predictive fators about the academic achievement of children. One can infer

11
from this information that it is better to create awareness of reading, writing and drawing in a
child before the child’s preschool or kindergarten age because such will help his development
and academic achievements in the future. Tenibiaje (2009) and Eweniyi (2005), claim that
family structures have been widely found from various studies and documents to be of
significant influence on learners` overall performance including cognitive attainment level.

Schultz (2006) is of the view that higher levels of emotional, social and academic
problems are recorded among children from unstable households than from intact households.
Jeynes (2002) stressed the ease of displaying high level of involvement in children`s up-
bringing by intact parents than by the broken home parents. According to Johnson (2005),
higher levels of emotional risks and failures are commonly observed among learners from
separated families and all forms of single parenthood. However, there could be some
exceptions to such a claim considering some learners from different broken homes. There are
still some learners that are gifted that no matter the conditions surrounding their home
background, they struggle hard and become successful.

Fadeiye (1985) and Uwaifo (2008) found that differences in academic

performance of children exist in terms of those from single parent and those from two parent
families. Fadeiye (1985) in particular found that in two parent homes, both parents have
roles lo play in child education. The father is to give the necessary tools for the educational
advancement, while the mother is to supplement the father's efforts in this regard. Where the
father is absent and the mother is not privileged enough to cater for all the basic needs as well
as supervised the academic performance of the child, the child will have poor academic
performance. Uwaifo’s (2008) study examined the effects of family structure and parenthood
on the academic performance of Nigerian university students. The sample for the study
consisted of 240 students drawn from the six randomly selected faculties in Ambrose Alli
University, Ekpoma, Edo State. The analysis involved using t-test statistical method. The
level of significance for the null hypothesis is 0.05. The results showed that significant
differences existed between the academic performance of students from single parent family
and those from two-parent family structures which supports the findings of Center for
Marriage and Families (2005). The results also indicated significant differences in academic
performance of male and female students compared on two types of family structures.
Contrary to the above findings, Ushie, Emeka, Ononga and Owolabi (2012) shows that there
is no significant difference in the academic performance of students from single parent
families and those from two parent families. This might have been so because differences

12
exist despite the single parent’s inability to give the child all the necessary care. Also, with
time the child is able to adjust in the environment as such the performance if it was poor
might now improve.

Pong, Dronkers and Hampden-Thompson (2003) investigates the gap in Math and
Science achievement of third and fourth-graders who live with a single parent versus those
who live with two parents in 11 countries. They found that the United States and New
Zealand ranked the least among the countries they compared in terms of equality of
achievement between children from single-parent families and those from two-parent homes.
The multilevel analysis showed that single parenthood was less harmful when family policies
equalize resources between single and two-parent families. In addition, the single- and two-
parent achievement gap is greater in countries where single-parent families are more
prevalent. These findings suggest that belonging to a single parent family does not mean the
person is academically condemned since certain policy implemented could turn fortunes. This
discovery supports that of Uwaifo (2008).

Pong, Dronkers and Hampden-Thompson (2003) investigates the gap in Math and
Science achievement of third and fourth-graders who live with a single parent versus those
who live with two parents in 11 countries. They found that the United States and New
Zealand ranked the least among the countries they compared in terms of equality of
achievement between children from single-parent families and those from two-parent homes.
The multilevel analysis showed that single parenthood was less harmful when family policies
equalize resources between single and two-parent families. In addition, the single- and two-
parent achievement gap is greater in countries where single-parent families are more
prevalent. These findings suggest that belonging to a single parent family does not mean the
person is academically condemned since certain policy implemented could turn fortunes. This
discovery supports that of Uwaifo (2008).

The researcher agreed that is: mother and father, to support to the educational
achievement of children but also quite agrees that without good environment the learner may
not achievement well academically. A two-parent family appears to be more favored than the
single parent due to the fact that sometimes one of the two takes care of the children in the
absence of the other by agreement.

The review for this study started with a thorough explanation on what is single-
parenting and its current status on our society nowadays. The review further looked into its

13
consequences and its economic hardships. Furthermore, its discusses on its consequences on
children wellbeing and also on the family structure and educational achievement of learners;
parental involvements. Findings of the review show that the single-parent’s child education is
facing challenges in different ways including family background which entails types of
family, dimension, socio-economic

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 CHAPTER III

METHOD

This chapter presents the processes and procedures in conducting the study. It

contains the research design, study participants in the Key Informant Interviews (KII), data

sampling, data collection, data analysis, roles of the research team and ethical considerations.

Research Design

This study will use a qualitative research design which according to Pope and Mays

(2000) seeks to understand a problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it

involves. The research team specifically will utilize qualitative phenomenological approach

which according to Creswell (2007) searches for the essential, invariant structure or essence

or the central underlying meaning of the experience and emphasize the intentionally of the

consciousness where experiences contain both the outward appearance and inward

consciousness based on memory, image and meaning.

This study will use interviews as sources of data which is one the three common

sources of data in qualitative studies (Creswel, 2009). The person-to-person interview will be

utilize using the semi structured format. Semi-structured interviews consisted several key

questions that helped to define the areas to be explored and allowed both interviewer and

interviewee to diverge in order to pursue an idea or response in more detail. The flexibility of

this approach allowed for the discovery or elaboration of information that is important to

participants but might not have previously been thought of as pertinent by the research team.

15
The questions for all the participants were the same, but the order of the questions, the exact

wording, and the type of follow-up questions varied considerably.

Role of the Researchers

In this qualitative study, the roles of the researchers were the following: investigators,

interviewers, transcribers, translators and data analyst. As investigators, they will investigate

the issues that need to be given focus. The researcher is the instrument in a qualitative

research (Patton, 2002). This important issue of the study is the effect of single-parenthood to

the child’s academic performance. To fulfil the role as interviewers, they will conduct a key

informant interview to the participants who were appropriate participants of the study. As

transcribers and translators, they will transcribe the verbatim answers of the participants and

will be translated to the universal language which is English for the understanding of many.

Lastly, as data analysts, they will analyze the data gathered from the interview to come up

with the results that would verify the issue being investigated and can suggest solutions or

coping mechanisms to the children who are product of single-parenthood and its effect on

their academic performance.

Research Participants

This study will involve ten (10) students which is a product of a single-parent family.

For phenomenological studies, Creswell (1998) recommends 5 to 25 participants are enough

to obtain feedback for most or all perceptions. The researchers will make sure that the

participants will be from the Senior Highschool level of Cor Jesu College. They will be

chosen and qualified for this study by the help of their teachers and classmates. They will

also made sure that there was an approval and permission to the parents and teacher/s of the

learner with a corresponding letter of consent.

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 In selecting the participants, they will employ the purposive sampling procedure. This

will allow them to identify and determine the students who are product of the single-

parenthood as the participants in the study. The participants will be the source of information

on the understanding of the research problem (Creswell, 2009). This sampling tool is said to

be the most appropriate since the intention of the researchers is to purposely select eleven

(11) extremely shy learners. Also, Patton (1900) suggested that the researchers can construct

information from the qualitative investigation and analyses of information by the use of

purposive sampling procedure.

Data Collection

There are factors that are needed to be considered to have appropriate methods of data

collection and instrumentation. The researchers will decide to utilize the Key Informant

Interview (KII), which is an approach that is low on cost and it is a fast technique in

collecting data (Kumar 1989). In this study, students of single-parent family are the key

informants for the reason that the research problem has the urgency to be solved. In

conversing with the participants, Key Informant Interview (KII) will depends on the four

categories about the participants. These are the knowledge-ability, credibility, impartiality

and the willingness to respond (Kumar, 1989; Creswell & Miller, 2000)

The study started in the making of five research title with established problem on it

which was presented to their research adviser. From the five research titles, only one of them

was accepted, and then they searched for experts who can fully support their claim in their

study. In choosing their participants, the researchers will ask permission to the principal’s

office in order for them to conduct a research, to have a possible source of participants and

the teacher will support them on identifying and picking the student of single-parents. They

will be provided with information sheets and documents to the participant and to their parents

17
to sign the letter of consent will be sought through their signatures that reflect their eagerness

to participate in the research study. The interview will be conducted in places comfortable for

the participant to be interviewed, home or school could be the place, once they agreed and

read the letter of consent.

Data Analysis

This study will use a qualitative research design. To analyze the gathered data, the

researchers will use thematic analysis. During the ten (10) Key Informant Interview (KII)

conducted, the participants will describe and elaborate their experiences about being product

of a single-parent family. They will narrate their past experiences being a child of a single-

parent family and on how it affects their academic performances. Thematic analysis is a

process of encoding qualitative information which develops themes to be explained by the

researchers in the latter part (Boyatzis, 1998). Berg (2004) suggested that researchers should

condense the data to be accessible and comprehensible. There will be matrices to be use in

arranging the gathered themes that will lead the researchers in understanding the problem

situation. As the examples given by Andersen and Spencer (2002), the researchers will use a

matrix which includes significant statements and the formulated meaning. The significant

statements that were similar was selected and grouped afterwards. The researchers will

assemble the participants’ descriptions of their experiences into statements and then the

researchers will look for the significant themes and assemble it again into the most common

and extreme of themes or meanings of experiences. The researchers will finally pile the

common and extreme themes together to create a generic description of their experiences.

The themes that will be identified using the matrix that will help the researchers in the

interpretation and the drawing of conclusions. To ensure rigor of this qualitative study, the

researchers will utilize the experiential – theoretic transition model suggested by Piantanida

18
and Garman (2009). The researchers will start it by narrating the real experiences and

perspectives of a single-parent child and with due respect in their context. There will be a

challenging part in the researchers for they need to avoid bias in terms in their own thoughts

and feelings. As the researchers will interpret the perspectives of a single-parent child, they

will formulate their own interpretation based on the given responses. With this, the

researchers will simply put themselves in the shoes of the participants that they will be

interview. The researchers will use studies and experts’ statements to support the

interpretations.

Trustworthiness

To ensure the trustworthiness of this study, the researchers will subject their interview

with guide questions to be validated by experts in their school before conducting the

interview. A research definition of trustworthiness according to LaBanca (2010) “is a

demonstration that the evidence for the results reported is sound and when the argument

made based on the results is strong.”In this study the researchers will make sure that they will

have the skills of listening, understanding and the trait of acceptance. They will also made

sure that they will not be bias and their statements will be kept privately.

Credibility. The researchers will make sure that they understood the phenomena and

the interests of the participants. The researchers will made sure that the results of the research

are believable. This criterion involves the establishment of results that are credible based on

the perspectives of the participants in the research (Williams, 2006). To ensure the credibility

of this study, they will submit their interview guide questions to be validated by experts in

their school before conducting the said interview. The validated letters will be given to the

participants of the study which stated whether they agree or disagree to the data that will be

transcribe. The participants will also be encouraged to give comments to improve the

19
transcribed data. In the conduct of their interview, the researchers will make sure that the

results will be the exact narration of the participants’ lived experiences.

Transferability. This study will establish by providing readers with evidence that the

research study’s findings could be applicable to other contexts, situations, times and

populations. In this section, they will establish a practical working definition of

transferability. Different context and situations are made sure to be possible with other

findings. According to Williams (2006), it is the degree to which the results of qualitative

research can be transferred or generalized to other situation. Transferability in

qualitative research is synonymous with generalizability, or external validity, in

quantitative research. The researchers will made sure that the appropriate procedure in

conducting a qualitative research is followed. They will made sure that the descriptions of the

participants’ experiences and feelings were clear and understandable, to ensure the findings

of this research and so that people with parallel condition or experience would understand

and reflect with the experiences of the participants of the study.

Dependability. The researchers will develop positive regards to the individual they

will interview. In this research, they will gave their full confidence and trust in the sincerity

of the research participants as they will narrate their situations, feelings and experiences. This

study will rely on the evaluation of the quality of the integrated processes of data collection,

data analysis, and theory generation. Dependability could be looked at as the researcher’s

account of the changes built into any setting in addition to changes to the research design as

learning unfolded and how these changes affect the study (Williams, 2006). The researchers

will use of the Key Informant Interview (KII) to obtain the reliability of the participants’

response.

Conformability. The researchers will describe the results of the ideas and experiences

of the participants rather than the characteristics and preferences of the researchers based on

20
Lincoln and Guba (1985) who described it as a degree of neutrality or the extent to which the

findings of a study are shaped by the respondents and not researcher bias, motivation, and

interest. Further, according to Given (2008), the actions and perceptions of participants are

analyzed for their expressions of meaning within a given context.

Ethical Considerations

There are different guidelines and principles for ethical considerations by which all

researchers should follow and take responsibility in conducting the research (Bryman & Bell,

2007).

In conducting the research, the researchers will ask for permission to allow them in

conducting the study. In asking permission, the researchers will send a letter to the said

participants. After the approval of the letter, the researchers will ask full consent to the

identified participants to participate in the study by letting them sign the letter of consent. We

will assure to them that their answers will remain confidential to respect their personal right.

The researchers will ensure that in choosing participants, it was not subjective and they

prioritized the confidentiality of their responses (Trochim, 2006). Moreover, the researchers

will avoid exaggeration about the aims and objectives of the study (Blakstad, 2008).

Informed Consent. To attain formality and assurance in the part of the study

participants, it is outmost necessary to ask consent and permission from them and from the

possible people who can be a help in the study. Before we will go to the place with the

identified participants, the researchers will prepare a signed letter addressed to the children of

single-parent family about the purpose of their study. After that, it is really their

responsibility to educate the participants about risks and benefits, obtain their consent before

involving them in their research and keep them informed. Consent forms will be written in

plain language that research subjects can be understood. In addition to, the informed consent

included their right to withdraw the study if ever they wish to in anytime they want. The

21
participants who will sign the participant information sheet that were given by the researchers

will be the only people included as the participants of the study.

Based on the ideas of Shahnazarian (2014), informed consent involves free will and

one’s own choice to involve or to take part in research. It is not just a form which is signed

but a process on which the participant of the study has a knowledge and ability to understand

what is going on the research and its risks. It also emphasizes the ethical codes and regulation

for human subject research. The objective of the informed consent process is to give adequate

knowledge and information to the participant so that they can truly have a firm decision about

whether to enroll or not in the study or to continue being part of it.

Privacy and Confidentiality. As researchers it will be their main responsibility to

bring out information especially the outcomes of our study to the people. However, there are

still lots of considerations and limitations. They will need to consider its privacy and

confidentiality. In the context of research protocol, confidentiality refers to the understanding

between the participant and investigator as to how participant information would be handled,

managed and disseminated as part of the research. Privacy and confidentiality are one of the

necessary things to consider not just in research but even in all aspects of being a human.

Since the researchers will try to discover the perspectives of children of the single-

parent family, personal experiences and the insights of the study participants, they will make

it sure that privacy and confidentiality of the data and information that will be shared and

narrated by the participants will be kept by the researchers.

22
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