Spirit

Chapter Three

Methodology

Methodology Selected. The purpose of this study is to examine, in detail, the difficulties and challenges facing mentally ill ex-offenders upon their return to society.This chapter begins with a brief overview of the research questions for the qualitative study.It continues with a discussion of the methods selected, the rationale for this selection, the sample selection criterion, and concludes with an in-depth analysis of the data. The focus of this case study research is the experiences, post release from confinement, of twenty-five men who were identified with the help of the administration of Easter Seals, a large, national organizationthat has an active client pool of several hundred people at any one time. These men are ex-offenders with non-violent criminal histories, and diagnoses that are recognized and defined within the DSM-IV. The participation of these individuals is based in part on the assessment and work interest evaluation form utilized by Easter Seals in determining suitability for participation in their programs for mentally ill ex-offenders, as well as a more in-depth and open-ended questionnaire developed to elicit details concerning the issues of employment, social services and support, housing, transportation, and quality of life.

Methodology Selected. The case study approach will be used in this study primarily because the focus of the study was to answer “how” and “why” questions. These questions are targeted to a limited number of events or conditions and their inter-relationships, such as the participant’s perceptions of why they had the experiences they had post release from confinement.This study isphenomenological in nature because it is intended to explore specifically post release issues for the mentally ill, and to allow interpretation of the experiences of the participants as perceived by them. The case study is exploratory, explanatory,and intrinsic in nature. The purpose of the exploratory...