Psychology

Research Problem and Question
The proposed study seeks to determine the effect of parents marital status on their childrens confidence. To attain this goal the following research question will guide the study Does parents marital status affect their childrens confidence

Study Design
The research is correlational since it seeks to determine the existence of a relationship between two variables (Allen, Titsworth,  Hunt, 2008 Creswell, 2003). Parents marital status and childrens confidence are the two variables that will be analyzed to determine if there is any relationship between them.

Variables
Childrens confidence as per the research question is the variable that is probably being impacted on by parental marital status. This implies that parental marital status is the independent variable whereas childrens confidence is the dependent variable (Punch, 2005). Childrens confidence will be operationalised in the study by ratings provided by their teachers. Parental marital status will on the other hand be operationalised by the known the known legal status which include single, married, separated and divorced.

Hypothesis
The null and alternative hypotheses in the study are
H0 Childrens confidence is not significantly affected by their parents marital status.
H1 Childrens confidence is significantly affected by their parents marital status.

Developmental Design
A cross-sectional developmental design will be used in the study. A number of children will be sampled in the study and the results generalized for the entire population which in this case is all children between the age of five and ten years.

Population
The population in this study is defined as all children between the ages of five and ten years. It is however noteworthy that due to practical reasons only children whose parents grant permission for their involvement in the study will be considered. The study will have no control group though a stratified sampling approach will be adopted to divide the children into strata identifiable by their parents marital status.

Data Gathering
Primary data will be used in the study. After identifying at least forty children that are willing to participate in the study with each stratum having at least ten children data collection will ensue. Interviewing the child and their teachers will help determine the marital status of their parents and their confidence ratings respectively. The teacher (preferably the class teacher) will be required to rate the students confidence on a scale of one to five where five means very confident and one means very low confidence.

Research Procedure
After contacting parents and teachers to seek their approval via calls that involve explaining the aim of the study and the procedures that will be used, data gathering will be carried out within the school premises. Analysis of the data gathered will be done using ANOVA analysis in which the strata will be considered as treatments.

Possible Results
I think that childrens confidence is affected by their parents marital status. This is mainly because parenting has been cited by a number of sources as having an effect on early childhood development and in general human growth (Golombok, 2000). Furthermore, without effective parenting due to absence of a single parent it is highly likely that children will fail to develop some social skills that are necessary to develop confidence (Trapolini, McMahon,  Ungerer, 2007). Moreover, the insecurity associated with the absence of one parent may significantly affect a childs confidence (Harold, Aitken,  Shelton, 2007).

Bias
To minimize bias in the study the four strata are made equal with each having ten participants. This ensures uniformity of the random errors that may have resulted in biased results. Moreover, the study collects data from teachers who interact on a near daily basis with the children which minimize the risk of using erroneous data. Furthermore, the use of statistical analysis minimizes the input of the researcher in analysis and eliminates the risk of subjective or biased findings.