Research Proposal Re-Do

Research Proposal Template

Empathic or Pathetic?

An analysis of empathy interventions on student social interactions.

By Eleanor deMuth

Purpose

This study will examine the effect of empathy interventions on student relationships in a classroom setting. Empathy interventions will be analyzed to determine the effect on student relationships; specifically, what students say to one another and how they feel about each other. The goal of this study is erase the use of offensive language and increase perspective taking. During this study data will be gathered using observations, interviews, and surveys.

Questions

The goal of this study is to determine the effect empathy interventions have on student relationships and create a model that other teachers can utilize. The analysis will hopefully reveal patterns that determine more effective methods for increasing empathic interactions among students.

What effect with empathy interventions have on student interactions?

            Specifically, how will empathy interventions change the usage of offensive language between students?

Furthermore, will increased perspective taking increase student’s positive feelings toward one another?

Conceptual Foundation

Empathy has become a common theme in society today. Companies are doing all they can to communicate to the public that they are empathic and accepting of all diversities. For instance, T-Mobile has promoted a commercial supporting all races, while Toyota’s newest commercial indorses religion equity. The companies are aware that empathy sells and is a key toward success. Empathy is not only found in marketing and media, it also appears in lists that describe the qualities of top leaders.

 Top performing professionals are known to be: honest, inspiring, accountable, creative, and empathetic. In this list the only quality that touches on social emotional competence is empathy. To be empathic, one must have the ability to understand the feelings and emotions of others they are interacting with. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that empathy has become a pillar of society today and is needed for building and navigating relationships.

Since empathy is a necessary skill for success, it should be skill taught in schools. However, throughout my teaching experiences, I have witnessed several interactions and situations that have me questioning whether my students have a developed sense of empathy. For instance, I have watched students damage school laptops with no care. I have seen students break and damage other’s belonging. Most significantly, I hear students use offensive and explicit language when speaking to one another daily.  

Therefore, this study will focus on the implementation of empathy interventions and the effect on student interactions. Specially, student language and perspective taking will be analyzed. To increase empathy, students will need to put themselves in each other shoes and try to understand the feelings of that person. This skill is not only important for the classroom and relationship building, but it is also important for preparing students for success in their post-secondary endeavors.

Scholarship

There is considerable research on empathy, especially in the field of developmental psychology which ranges from bullying, to social emotional learning and expression. Several sources have inspired my work in this area, however the work of Malt, Chaparro, Zuffiano & Colasante (2016) have helped narrow the large topic of empathy down to school-based interventions.  Malt, Chaparro, Zuffiano & Colasante (2016) are known for studying school-based interventions and the effect on empathy responses in child and adolescents. I have started to read these studies with new perspective. Instead of reading these articles to inform, I am now reading them with the intent to act, specifically using them to help me determine how I will implement empathy interventions into my own classroom.  

            Part of my journey has been to determine how I will measure empathy, therefore I turned to the literature published by Reid, Davis, Horlin, Anderson, Baughman, and Campbell (2013). These authors focused their research on determining a school appropriate scale for measuring empathy. After reviewing their work, it has become clear that along with interviewing and observing my students, I also need to survey them using an empathy scale made specifically for the classroom.

            Along with implementing empathy interventions into my classroom and measuring the effect using a school appropriate scale, I also need to gain a baseline for how my students understand empathy. I also would like to gain an understanding of what factors have caused my students to show a disregard for empathy. Do my students view empathy differently than I do? Hence, the work by Luke and Banerjee (2012) has become considerably important in inspiring my work in this area. Luke and Banerjee (2012) focus their research on how maltreated children in foster care settings understand and portray empathy. Several of my students are in foster care and therefore I could learn a lot from what Luke and Banerjee find in their research. There may be some biases I need to work through and some perspectives I need to understand about my students before I can gather and code data on empathy.

Data Collection

Throughout this study, 3 types of data sourses will be collected: observations, interviews, and surveys. Observations on what students say during empathy interventions will be kept in a teacher journal, while interview and survey raw data will be kept in an excel chart. The raw data will then be coded based on common themes and patterns found. Once the data is coded, the three sources will be triangulated to determine which themes are most significant among all sources.

References (APA style)

Luke, N., & Banerjee, B. (2012). Maltreated children’s social understanding and empathy: a preliminary exploration of foster carers’ perspective. J Child Fam Stud. England, UK. University of Sussex, 237-246.

Malti, T., Chaparro, M., Zuffiano, A., & Colasante, T. (2016). School-based interventions to promote empathy- related responding in children and adolescents: a developmental analysis. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology.  45(6), 718-731.

Reid, C., Davis, H., Horlin, C., Anderson, M., Baughman, N., & Campbell, C. (2013). The kid’s empathic development scale (KEDS): a multi-dimensional measure of empathy in primary school-aged children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 31, 231-256.

To edit this proposal, I deleted the template questions and instructions, restructured some paragraphs, and reworked my sentences.