Problem
Read the following scenario and then answer the questions associated with it.
Same sex couple adoptions
The website of New Family Social, a charity which seeks to help LGBT+ people considering adoption, ran a story in December 2020 in which it cited adoption figures published by the Department for Education (England). These official UK government figures showed that the proportion of adoptions to same-sex couples increased for the third year in a row in 2020, to the highest number of adoptions by same-sex couples to date. In 2019/20, 16.6% of all adoptions were by same-sex couples, which is 1 in 6. The figures also revealed that more male, married/civil partnership same-sex couples adopted children in 2019/20 than female, married/civil partnership same-sex couples. In November 2021, the website updated the story to add that while overall adoption figures fell in 2021, the proportion of same-sex couple adoptions remained 1 in 6. (New Family Social, 2021)
With this information in mind, imagine you are a researcher who has been asked to explore the topic of same-sex adoptions in England. You have decided to approach this topic using a phenomenological methodology and a critical discourse psychology methodology.
• Briefly describe the approach a phenomenological researcher might take when researching this topic and state a suitable research question for a phenomenological inquiry into the topic. To answer this, describe some key aspects of the methodology that would be needed to research this topic (for example, the data source, the method of capturing this data and the analysis that would need to be used to satisfy the research question you have stated). 500 words.