Illicit Drug Use Among Young People in Australia

Running head: USE OF ILLICIT DRUGS
ILLICIT DRUG USE AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN AUSTRALIA
Name of Student:
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Author’s Note:

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USE OF ILLICIT DRUGS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Research question............................................................................................................................2
Study design.....................................................................................................................................2
Sampling and recruitment................................................................................................................3
Inclusion and exclusion criteria...................................................................................................3
Sampling method.........................................................................................................................3
Sample size..................................................................................................................................3
Recruitment strategy....................................................................................................................4
Data collection.................................................................................................................................4
Data analysis....................................................................................................................................5
Rigour..............................................................................................................................................6
Ethics...............................................................................................................................................6
Informed consent.........................................................................................................................7
Principle of confidentiality..........................................................................................................7
Reflection.........................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference.........................................................................................................................................9
Appendix 1.....................................................................................................................................11

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USE OF ILLICIT DRUGS
Introduction
The issue of the use of illicit drugs by the young population of Australia is the common
area of concern as it is reported that more than 3.1 million of Australian are involved in drug
addiction. The use of illicit drugs has been widespread, with 27% of young people reported to be
addicted with illicit drugs in Australia. The young people of age 12 to 17 years are involved in
the use of Cannabis with a total percent accounting to 3%. According to the national drug
strategy household survey (2016), 15% of the Australian has been reported to use illicit drugs in
which 10.7% used cocaine, 2% used amphetamine, and 1.6% uses ecstasy. Therefore, the main
aim of the research proposal is to address the issue of the use of the illicit drug among the young
population of Australia. The study will make use of qualitative research to resolve the issue.
Research question
What is the reason behind the extensive use of illicit drugs in the young population of Australia?
Study design
The proposed study design of Ethnography has been used in order to address the research
question. As the aim of the study is to explore the reason for the extensive use of the illicit drug
among the young population of Australia, there is the need to interact with the population in
there real-life environment. The study design of ethnography is the qualitative method, in which
the researcher communicate with the participant and interact with them (Morse et al., 2016). The
study design is useful in exploring the culture and belief of the target population. The selected
study design is justified to search on the research aim because it attempts to understand the view
of the people which is needed to know the reason for the usage of illicit drugs in the young

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USE OF ILLICIT DRUGS
population of Australia. As it is crucial to outline the culture of the people using illegal drugs, the
study design of ethnographic is reasonable for including in the research (Baskerville & Myers,
2015).
Sampling and recruitment
Inclusion and exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria Inclusion criteria
The people of age beyond 25 years. The young people of 15 to 25 years who have
used drugs in the past 90 days.
The people who take the drug for medical
purpose.
The adult who consumes drugs without any
prescription or have no history of the
treatment of substance-related order.
The participant must be native of Australia The participant must be native of Australia
Sampling method
The sampling method of the snowball technique will be employed for recruiting the
participants. The technique of snowball sampling approach is the most justified way of creating a
large sample from the unknown sample where there is unavailability of the formal sampling
frame (Valerio et al., 2016). As it is difficult to identify the people who are involved in the use of
illicit drugs, hence snowball approach will be sufficient to gather information from the hidden
population of drugs using adults.