Introduction
Millions of people worldwide are impacted by the human rights violations of human trafficking. During their ED visit, victims could not be acknowledged, losing the chance to address their complicated needs (Tiller & Reynolds, 2020). We explain the establishment of an ED response strategy using a published toolkit based on already-existing standards, advice from experts, and examples from other institutions. Following the guidelines in the toolkit, we started by trying to thoroughly comprehend the local human trafficking issue before networking with others engaged in anti-trafficking initiatives (Tiller & Reynolds, 2020). This procedure’s crucial component of collaboration with different disciplines is stressed. They were able to create a clear policy to direct members of our department to provide better care for known or suspected victims of human trafficking by building on the knowledge gathered through these processes.
Discussion
Children and teens in the United States are commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking. The more inclusive of the two categories, commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), encompasses all ways in which juveniles are sexually involved in illicit economies (Franchino-Olsen, 2021, p. 99). The UN defines sexual exploitation as “any real or attempted misuse of a position of vulnerability, differential authority, or trust for sexual objectives, including but not limited to benefitting economically, socially, or politically.” (Franchino-Olsen, 2021, p. 105). The Office of Adolescent Justice and Delinquency defines CSEC specifically as “crimes of a sexual character perpetrated against juvenile victims for financial or other economic purposes,” which can include sex trafficking, pornography, prostitution, stripping, and other sexual acts for profit (Franchino-Olsen, 2021, p. 105). Consequently, the scale of the problem is seen through the data and is recognized by the governments which makes it a suitable research topic.
Research methods
This research requires collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to understand the causes and consequences of the issue. The research will mainly focus on secondary data from papers written about human and sexual trafficking to later analyze the data and evaluate the research hypotheses. It will be challenging to collect primary data from the sources because the research topic requires interviewing and conducting a survey with people who experienced the issue discussed in the research. It is also possible to gather primary data that will enable the researcher to evaluate acknowledgment of the problem in society. However, this method needs discussion with the research advisor to set targets for the data. In this case, the advantage of secondary data is that it has a lower risk of not reaching the target number of records, but the best option would be using both types of data. The most feasible method for collecting primary data is a survey, whereas the secondary data type is best gathered through a literature review. Considering the research question and hypothesis on such a sensitive topic, the chosen research methods would combine primary and secondary data collection methods.
Schedule
The rough timescale for the project is going to be as follows:
- Mid-February: preparing data collection methods such as doing surveys and interview questionnaires, to be precise. This research step should be ready by the end of the month to gather the data. In addition, for the secondary data, during this period, multiple physical and electronic libraries and archives will be researched for studies on the topic. Links will be saved in one document and each resource will be reviewed in the next step.
- Beginning of March: start spreading survey links and scheduling interviews to collect records. The whole process of data gathering will probably take a long time thus, I think a whole month should be prescribed to gather all necessary data gradually and effectively for the research. In addition, the secondary data links should be ready by this research step. Hence, for time-saving purposes, the researcher will read every paper’s abstract and eliminate irrelevant studies from the list. Additional reading of the introduction might be required; hence, the process should be done within a month.
- Beginning of April: once all data is accumulated, it is wise to start analyzing, coding, and transcribing data gathered via surveys and interviews and from the literature sources. Drafting the research is planned to take two weeks, meaning that in mid-April, there will be conducted editing session and a review of the first draft with the advising professor.
Conclusion
This research project will impact the local community by raising awareness about the problems behind human and sexual trafficking. Moreover, the research has the potential to grow into a more extensive scale project with more significance in the academic field. The influence of the research process on the researcher is gaining essential skills such as data analysis and hands-on research practice. All necessary regulations will also make the ethical statement for the research for research participants. This experience will be helpful to the researcher since it is critical to understand global issues when studying social sciences. The framework for the analysis will additionally consider the correlation between other issues, such as drug trafficking and historical data on slavery. Consequently, the project will successfully answer research questions and prove or disprove the hypotheses.
References
Tiller, J., & Reynolds, S. (2020). Human trafficking in the emergency department: improving our response to a vulnerable population. Western journal of emergency medicine, 21(3), 549-554. Web.
Franchino-Olsen, H. (2021). Vulnerabilities relevant for commercial sexual exploitation of children/domestic minor sex trafficking: A systematic review of risk factors. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 22(1), pp. 99-111. Web.