Research and Evaluation

Research and evaluation

Abstract
The aim of this study was to outline demographic information of participants and how to choose
participants in a study, validity and reliability of instrumentation, the procedure followed in
engaging the participants in a study, design and analysis of data collected. Beckon depression
inventory was used for self-assessment on the level of depression among the married couples.
Questionnaire as a data collection tool was found to have acceptable internal consistency due to
the measure of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.707) thus reliable. Correlational design will
preferred by the researcher and the data will be analyzed using the quantitative data approaches
including descriptive and frequency tables. The statistical tools that will be used by the
researcher in analysis of data include STATA, R, RStudio, and SPSS among others.

Participants’ description
Demographic information of the participants included age, gender, ethnicity, marital status and
education level. Male participants were represented by 43.3% against female 567%. Age of the
participants were divided into age brackets where 20-29 years represented by 23.3%, 30-39
represented by 46.7%, 40-49 represented by 20% and fifty and over represented by 6.7%. For the
levels of education, elementary level was represented by 20%, secondary level 23.3% and
tertiary level 56.7%. Participants who were single were represented by 10%, divorced 10%,
married 73.3% and separated 6.7%. Furthermore, the ethnicity of the participants included black
43.3% and white 56.7%.
The participants were chosen depending on the age such that the range was twenty years and
over to research on the level of depression on married couples. The maturity age was opted for
because they were expected to have been married and it was a matter of concern to consider. The
choice of participants to involve in the study depends on the subject matter under investigation,
objectives to meet, plans and approaches to be used in the study (Rand, Newman, &
Wurzbacher, 2015).
Instrumentation
Questionnaire was used as a tool of data collection. The questions contained in the questionnaire
were both open ended and closed ended for demographic information part and closed ended
questions for the level of depression part. Beck depression inventory was used with each item
containing four Likert scale. Examples of the questions used in the questionnaire included “what
is your age?” state in a scale by cycling on how you feel towards guilt. The research instrument
used had the Cronbach’s alpha of (α =0.707). This means that the internal consistency of the