Can you help with my research?

[meghan_hardman]

Dear parents,

 

My name is Meghan Hardman and I am currently in the third year of my

degree in Experimental Psychology at Oxford University. I am carrying

out a research project, looking at temperament in individual children with Autistic

Spectrum Disorder and how this relates to parental personality and

parental coping.

 

My aim is to identify the different personality types of children with

Autism, which exist independently of the disorder, therefore seeing

each child as an individual, rather than a member of a subgroup of

children with Autism. I want to then look at whether this behavioural

style of the child is influenced by the parent's personality and

parenting style. In typically developing children, personality is

expected to be influenced by the parents, therefore I predict that

this also occurs in children affected by Autism.

 

With this project I hope to increase our knowledge about those with

Autism. Having had some experience with autistic children, I feel

strongly about helping those affected by the disorder and am really

hoping to benefit both parents and children, by finding positive

results, which could eventually lead to further and broader research.

 

I am writing to you to ask for your help. I have set up a questionnaire

on the internet, including questions about your child’s autistic

symptoms, your child’s temperament, your own personality and stress

related to caring for an autistic child. The questionnaire is made up

of 227 questions, which looks incredibly long and time consuming,

however each question is quick to answer and should not take up too

much of your time.

 

I realise that you will have many competing demands on your time,

however I would be incredibly grateful if you could help with my

research by completing the questionnaire before 5th

October 2009. Please only complete the questionnaire if your child is

between the ages of 3 and 10 years old. My research is approved by

the Oxford University Experimental Psychology Department and will

follow strict ethical guidelines, particularly emphasising

confidentiality of you and your child.

 

The link for website with the survey on is

 

 

 

http://bit.ly/1v9mC2

 

(to prevent confusion thats a letter 'l' before the 'y' and a number 1 before the 'v'.)

 

 

 

 

 

I would be grateful to hear about your thoughts on this and whether you are willing to cooperate with my research. I have a document with instructions for the survey if required. PM me your email address and I will email it to you. Thank you.

 

Best Wishes

 

Meghan Hardman

Edited October 1, 2009 by Tally

[baddad]

Hi Meghan - welcome to the forum

Hope you don't mind me asking, but did you ask the mods/admin before making your post? I, and I'm sure many other members, always feel a bit miffed when first time posters jump straight in with these kinds of requests, and a post from mods/admin explaining that they were asked always helps. Also, I think there might be some 'netiquette' (I just nicked that term from another thread!) in the forum rules about e-mail addresses etc the mods/admin may need to advise you on(?)

Anyhoo -

Interesting research project . I think personal psychology, nature/nurture, environmental factors etc and their influences on autism are hugely under researched, and their importance hugely under-estimated. The inherent problems of 'medical models' and generalised thinking have long been acknowledged among most disabled groups and their advocates, but with autism the replacement of those models with something equally generic seems to be endorsed even by the most respected researchers.

 

One 'problem' that immediately springs to mind though: you are touching on an area that many parents feel very, very sensitive about, and for that reason you may find an inherent 'bias' within the parents/children who do volunteer that undermine the results. Rightly or wrongly, parents are often accused by professionals of 'enabling' their children's disability. Whether those accusatiuons are justified or not, both 'types' of parent will be stung by such criticism and naturally inclined to shy away from any research which might add weight to the accusations. On the other hand, parents who feel confident about their parenting are much more likely to volunteer, tipping the scales even further in one direction...

 

Unfortunately my son is a bit too old for the research, but I do wish you the very best with it, and would be very interested to see the results when published.

 

L&P

 

BD

[Tally]

Just to confirm that the moderating team have looked at this post and approved the request for research participants

 

I do need to post the usual disclaimer and remind people that anyone participating in this research does so at their own risk.

[Mum of 3]

Hi.

 

I've just completed your survey, as I find this subject very interesting. One thing has really concerned me, though. My child has two parents, and they both have an equal influence, so how can your research, which only asks questions about the parent who answers, have any relevance?

 

Sorry to be so down on this, but my DH and I are almost polar opposites on most of the questions that were asked...I'm a risk-taker, he'd panic if he had to change the colour of his socks...I love parties and socialising, he'd rather stay at home with a good book...I like to plan everything in advance, and can see all possible implications to decisions made, he can't plan as far a tea-time, and has no imagination when it comes to thinking about the consequences of his decisions. These are just a small selection of the things that the survey touched on where we differ in our approaches to life. Our approaches to parenting are similarly opposed. Not to mention the fact that my mum is involved with his upbringing on a daily basis, and is just as big an influence (if not more!) as either me or my husband.

 

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how you can draw any sensible conclusions about how my child's personality and behaviour are influenced by his parents if you only look at one of his parents!

 

I would be interested to read your response, and also what other people think of this, as I've often thought that although our NT sons seem to be able to take the difference in approaches in their stride, it really seems to have a big effect on our son with ASD, and he really struggles when Dad is at home during the day, because the rules and the energy in the house are so different.

[meghan_hardman]

Dear all,

 

Thank you so much for your responses. I am really pleased that you have told me your exact thoughts on my research, as, obviously, you understand the topic much more than I do. Firstly, the comment in relation to bias by different parents is a criticism of any research like this. It is so hard to control for this bias, therefore it is always taken into account when analysing the data. Hopefully, the personality questions will identify the type of person answering.

 

Secondly, I completely agree with the comment about the two parents having very different personalities and parenting techniques. This is a major weakness in the research and will also be taken into account in the analysis. I am an undergraduate and this is my first major piece of research, therefore I am limited in the scale of the research. There is a very low response rate in surveys like this and it would be much harder to obtain data from both parents in every family. If I had a longer time scale, of course it would be much better and much more reliable to ask both parents. If my research leads to interesting findings, this is the type of thing I hope my research leads to. I do think, if the research works out, that it will be possible to draw some good conclusions. Obviously, the child's own thoughts are not a part of the research, therefore we rely on your perception of the child. Therefore, this interpretation also becomes part of the research and may be dependent on that parent's personality and their parenting style. Do you understand this?

 

Please tell me what you think. I welcome any comments about my research and would like to thank you again for responding to this.

 

Best,

 

Meghan

[baddad]

Dear all,

 

Firstly, the comment in relation to bias by different parents is a criticism of any research like this.

Meghan

 

Hi meghan - Sorry if it came across that way, but I wasn't criticising - I was just pointing out a potential problem.

 

Mumof3 - certainly not a 'judgement' about the dynamics of your family personally, but in your reply I do see an example of the kind of bias that could arise in this paragraph:

 

I would be interested to read your response, and also what other people think of this, as I've often thought that although our NT sons seem to be able to take the difference in approaches in their stride, it really seems to have a big effect on our son with ASD, and he really struggles when Dad is at home during the day, because the rules and the energy in the house are so different

 

'He struggles when dad is at home' could equally mean 'mum has lowered expectations of him and he kicks back against the more stringent rules/increased expectations when his father is at home'. (Again, I reiterate I'm not saying that is what happens, just that it is equally likely and that either parent's 'take' on the situation will be subjective...)

Additionally, the very fact that you do have different approaches and that this effects your son is a model of how parenting can effect behaviour as the study investigates. That is, of course, equally true of dynamics where the parents input is 'balanced' (i.e. they do, largely, work the same way) and again the effects could go either way, depending on whether parents were over-accommodating or too 'pushy'.

 

Again, very best with the research, Meghan, and sorry if the problem I highlighted was badly phrased.

 

L&P

 

BD

[emma in wiltshire]

Hello Meghan,

 

It goes without saying that other factors are relevant to an autistic child's behaviour, including the personality and parenting style of parents. Most autstic children are not totally unaware and unaffected by the world around them therefore any factors to do with the child's lifestyle, parental separation, etc. etc all come into play. We are talking about human beings, real children who are learning and understanding and making judgements even if they need explanations and help along the way.

 

Good luck with the research although from my experience those parents who choose to answer the survey will be a specific group and you will not hear from struggling parents who are not seeking to help their children.

[Daisydot]

Hi Megan, sorry I cant help with your research as both my children are now above your age category (11 and 12). We took part in another research project by Dr Andrew Whitehouse of The Deparment of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University into children which was to do with ASD and language. It was certainly facinating and the researchers came to our house and we learned a lot too.

 

I agree with the previous poster that you will only get replies from a certain segment parents. I notice the deadline for your research has now passed. However, if you need more replies still, I suggest you contact the Parent Partnership officers in local authories, as they were the ones who originally passed us the details of Dr Whitehouse's research.

 

Good luck with your research.