I’ve been thinking a lot about who I want my participants to be and I have decided that I want to focus most of my research on teenagers, but I also want to talk to some parents as well. Obviously I want to speak with the teens because I want to get some insight as to what they are thinking about what they are or aren’t being taught about sex, where they feel they have learned the most about sex and its consequences if not done safely, as well as what they think should be improved to better suit their needs. I am wanting to talk to parents to get their opinion on what they like or don’t like about what is being taught in their child’s school, how they feel they communicate with their child, and what they think their child should know at this point in their lives when it comes to sex- I want to use this part to see how closely they match up with the knowledge their child actually has. I have spoken to some adult students in my classes that have teenage children and have gotten some participants- I am hoping they will lead me to more at this point, but I think around 10-15 teens and their parents would be good, but I’m not sure if I will be able to obtain that many. I am thinking at this point I want to hold interviews- both separate and group with both teens and parents separately… this will give me good information to compare. I am also thinking that one on one interviews might be the best way to go to compare teen and parent more closely, but I’m still ironing this out 
As for the protection and privacy of my subjects, I am planning on creating a consent form that outlines the purpose of my research and why I have chosen them. I will also be making up a form that each individual will take home that thanks them for their time as well as assurance that they will not be directly mentioned in my paper- each subject can rest assure that no other party, unless agreed to by them, will ever know who said what in confidence.
I am also considering using surveys that will give me a broader range of information. These will be passed out to freshman students around campus in order to see if what they were taught in their schools helped them, or if they felt they would have liked to learn more or had another source to turn to if they had questions. This research will mainly either back up my research or could prove that sex education in schools is sufficient. I am also going to include in this survey a question that asks how many students these freshman know or knew that ended up pregnant before graduation.
I’m still far from where I am wanting to be before I start gathering my information, but I think I am off to a pretty good start, but tell me what you think!!!
