| Date | November 2017 | Marks available | 10 | Reference code | 17N.Paper 3.HL.TZ0.03 |
| Level | HL only | Paper | Paper 3 | Time zone | TZ0 |
| Command term | Explain | Question number | 03 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
The stimulus material below is based on a research article that addresses the psychosocial consequences of female infertility and treatment in a country in the Middle East.
In some countries, giving birth is often the only way for married women to enhance their status in the community. Women are often blamed for infertility, regardless of the actual cause, leading to stress.
The aim of this study was to investigate the psychosocial consequences for females being treated for infertility in a country in the Middle East. Since staff in this fertility centre did not address psychological or social issues related to infertility, the female researcher wanted to investigate which psychosocial needs could be addressed in the future.
The study took place in a public fertility centre in a country in the Middle East. A purposive sample of 25 women aged between 21 and 48 years was selected for the study. An ethics committee approved the study. All women signed consent forms after first being informed about the aim of the study and their ethical rights.
The researcher carried out the individual semi-structured interviews herself and the participants gave her permission to audio-record the interviews.
The inductive content analysis of the transcripts revealed two higher-order themes with related lower-order themes:
• Social: Concerns that the husband would find another wife, worries that people might find out about the infertility, or worries about being able to pay for continued treatment.
• Psychological: Feelings of guilt, loneliness and anxiety as well as fear of taking a pregnancy test or telling the husband about the negative results.
The researcher asked participants to confirm the accuracy of their statements. Additionally, the researcher asked other researchers to verify the results. As a control, several infertile women who did not participate in the study agreed to compare the findings of the study with their own experiences.
The conclusion was that because of the social pressure in the Middle East for married women to give birth, infertility and its treatment can be a major source of psychological suffering. As a result of the findings the researcher suggested that having professionally trained social workers could be a valuable addition to medical interventions in the clinics in order to help the women manage the psychosocial consequences of infertility and its treatment.
Explain the importance of establishing credibility in qualitative research and how this was done in this study.
Markscheme
Refer to the paper 3 markbands when awarding marks.
The command term “explain” requires candidates to give a detailed account of the importance of credibility in qualitative research and how this was dealt with in the study in the stimulus material and give reasons by referring to details of the study.
The overall aim in qualitative research is to present a true picture of the participants' own subjective world as they see it, that is, to give a credible or trustworthy description. Credibility in qualitative research is based on an evaluation of whether or not research findings represent a “credible” interpretation of the data drawn from participants' original data. In this study, a credible/trustworthy account of experiencing infertility and its treatment could be a first step towards establishing help to meet the psychosocial needs of these women who experience the stigma of infertility. This could be seen as the first important step to try to find means to help the affected women in a culture that tends to see women first and foremost as mothers.
Explanations related to establishing credibility in this study could include but are not limited to:
• This study used researcher triangulation as other researchers were asked to verify the results. This means that one or more other researchers could check data collection, analysis and interpretation to prevent various sorts of bias.
• The researcher asked participants to verify the results when she had finished analysis (credibility check).
• The data were also made available to several infertile women who did not participate in the study, asking them to compare the results with their own experiences.
Candidates may suggest other approaches to establish credibility (for example, method or data triangulation or reflexivity) and this is acceptable so long as the focus of the response is on how these other approaches would establish credibility in this qualitative study.
Responses that describe how credibility can be established in qualitative research but do not refer to specific examples from the study should be awarded a maximum of [5].
