General life satisfaction and aging have been a special area of interest for researchers in the recent past. Research on aging has predominantly featured questions relating to physical wellbeing, social wellbeing, economic and psychological status of the concerned individuals. It's from these researches that modern strategies have been designed to ensure human being maximize their potential during their aging periods.
Background
Adult education has also been a topic of great concern to researchers in the recent decades. Readiness to adopt adult education has been of key concern and has been measured on a scale to check for the applicability. A Self Initiated Learning and Research (SILR) have been found to have a strong positive relationship with the age.(Creswell, J. W. 2014).
In this article, we shall analyze and make a comparison on the relationship between SILR and general life satisfaction.
Problem Statement
From the introduction above, we easily point out two subsections of our problem that will be our main points of the investigation. It is noted that a larger percentage of adults usually experience a lot of challenges that eventually affect their state of wellbeing. Some of the adults can overcome these challenges through the process of self-initiated learning while find it very hard to adapt and tackle the same.
The other problem seeks to inquire why part of these adults depend on learning as a way of meeting their personal needs and satisfaction while others don't. General life satisfaction varies from one adult to another. If we can establish a link between SILR and general life satisfaction, we can use it to strategize on how to attain quality life among people in their elderly ages.
Purpose of study
The purpose of this study is to closely scrutinize the several ways in the level of general life satisfaction compare with the attitudes towards self-initiated learning and research (SILR) for older adults. The study is designed in such a way that it will focus on tree major objectives:
1. To determine the relationship between responses to self-initiated learning and research and general life satisfaction.
2. To determine the level by which the various aspects of general life satisfaction relate to the response to self-initiated learning.
3. To explore various substantive considerations and methodologies in self-initiated learning and research.
Hypotheses
We shall have two major hypotheses to base our arguments on as we analyze data. The first will be the claim that general life satisfaction is related to response to the self-directed learning and research among different groups of old adults. That is, we want to check if it is possible to predict a person's level of readiness to self-initiated learning based on the degree of general life satisfaction.
The second hypothesis to test will be that which claims that individuals from a community setting will demonstrate a quicker response than those from institutionalized residential settings..
Methodology
Target Population
For a better coverage, this study is purposed to the include population of all those aged above 65 years (older adults) in the United States. This population consists of a wide variety of individuals with varied social and economic status. Following this, we, therefore, do not need to limit our sampling setting frame.
The proposed setting for the study is that containing individuals residing within two areas of Texas state. The first setting will be those in the residential homes at Texas while the second will include those living at the senior citizen's facility located at the downtown of Texas. Most residents in this facility are retired, are living on their means and aren't interested in external support. The choice of these two settings would enable us make comparisons putting different geographical locations in mind.
Research Design
This study plan is expected to involve the collecting of information relating to general life satisfaction and readiness to self-initiated learning and research among older adults above (above 65 years) who live in two different areas of resident. The variables shall not by any means be manipulated by the researcher. However, the differences shall be accounted for by the difference in the scales of measurement used.(Vogt, W. P. 2007).
Sampling Plan
This adult home is a place of a resident for independent adults that have been found to contain 302 people above 65years old. 403 people have been found to live in 240 apartments in the senior citizen's apartments. We shall draw a random sample from both settings for our research and analysis. We shall use a table of a random number in selecting until a minimum of 130 people is obtained for each setting. It is hoped that at least 110 people will complete the forms in both cases. Variation among general life satisfaction and SILR for at least 210 people is expected to allow for constructive statistical comparisons.
Data Collection Procedures
Two data on variables are required for the study. That is:
Independent Variable - the general life satisfaction. It will be measured by the Salamon-Conte Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale (SCLSES). The scale focuses on three aspects of living; taking pleasure in daily activities; regarding life as meaningful and self-concept.
Dependent Variable - Readiness to self-initiated learning and research. It is measured by use of Self-Initiated Learning Research Scale (SILRS).
A pilot testing procedure is conducted after which, the administrators distribute forms for filling within one month.(Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. R. 2010).
Data Analysis
We shall conduct three types of analysis. The first will be descriptive analysis describing age, gender, and residential setting. Second
will be the use of Pearson product moment correlation coefficients to determine the relationship between SILRS and SCLSES scores.
Third would be to determine any differences in SDLRS and SCLSES. This would be done by use of t-test, chi-square, and ANOVA test