Reading this excerpt describes how it followed and articulated the ethical standards. Use an IRB Checklist to structure the analysis and evaluate how the student followed the required steps Using an IRB Checklist.

Role of theResearcher

My role as the researcher was an essential part of the qualitative process because the clergy-parishionersearcher's interaction with the participants was important. element of this study. The researcher/participant interaction created a dialogue to transform the data from verbatim participant knowledge to themes that connected anxiety and clergy-parishionerexperiences.Astheinterviewer, IfoundthatElementhad aneedforprofessional balance as I considered my personal biases, such as those related to being a layperson Catholic woman whowasinterviewingordained leaders ofa male-dominatedclergy. there were ordained leaders subsequent subsections further define my role as the researcher. In these subsections, I address the following in-depth to help describe this role (a) personal relationships and qualitativesemistructuredinterviews,(b)researcherbias,(c)power,and(d)ethical considerations.

PersonalRelationshipsandQualitative in-depth semi-structuredInterviews

In the qualitative interviewing process, including a dance of communication that took place. Within this study, my role was that of the researcher, and my biases and the ratio of power between the researcher and participants were acknowledged. Catholic clergy leaders have historically been male andare viewed ashaving power and statuswithin the packet also system. I was aware of these dynamics from the outset as an ordinary laypersonandfemaleresearcher.Carefullyobservingparticipants'behaviorandchecking nonverbal expressions of feelings before, during, and after the semistructured interviews provided a means to keep the balance of professional power in mind during the interviews. This observation allowed me some capacity to understand how the participants communicated and viewed my role as an interviewer by observing such things as pauses, eye contact, and verbal and nonverbal cues. These observations also allowed pastoral, as the researcher to check pastoral, me, and my role as an interviewer and assisted me in keeping individual power as balanced as possible. I maintained awareness of my own personal bias. For instance, the tendency toward my interviewee and elevated status in conversation required me to exercise vigilanceknownroleasaresearcher.IamaCatholic woman who was taught to obey and respect all figures of the Catholic Church. I managed potential bias from this background by being mindful of my role as an interviewer.Iaccomplishedandhighlightedthisresearcherrolebyfocusing on capturing my interviewees' experiences fully and accurately. Upholding this focusprovidedaroadmapforinfluencethatthere making suretoomuchtimespent onany interview question based on the participant's countenance (Kawulich, 2005; Schmuck, 1997). The interview goal was data collection, and observations were an was not spent on the part tied to the participants' observational cues managing crucial the collected data. Careful observation assisted in addressing power imbalances and generated a complete understanding of the words and phrases tied to the participants' observational cues.

The observer/participant relationship was important in equipping me to encourage accurate and fulsome communication of participant perceptions and reflectionsregardinghowthe clergyleadersfelt abouttheircompetencywhensupporting a parishioner with anxiety in the church setting. In addition, observation and relational interaction backup to witness and accurately report how the participants related to anxiety in the Church today. Of crucial importance in phenomenologicaldesign wastheparticipant/observer verbalandnonverbal relationship was of key importance in phenomenological observer's crucial. Thismethodof the collection comprisedallowed me significant managing directresponsesasthey occurrednaturally during the interview process. The Phenomenological research has a limited range of data collection sources, so it wasimperativewhenarticulatingthedatathattheallowed dataandresponses were recorded directly, in the voice and words of each participant (Vagle, 2014). Semistructuredinterviewsshared experiences responsively took place withparticipantsanswering questionsposedby back allowed me to theresearcher.Thistookplace verbally,overthephone,where the participant was in his natural church setting for the clergy leader and within a scheduledhourbetweenmyself astheinterviewerandtheparticipantorclergyleader as the interviewee.

Anadditionalbenefit tothisdatacollectionstyle wasthattheinterviewquestions were based on a specific topic. In this study, competency of recognition and counseling for anxious parishioners in the Catholic church setting was the topic, with room to ask follow-up questionsshould they become necessary for added depthto my understanding of the meaning of each participant's response. , Another means benefit to My comfort with my study topic supported my interview style which is my comfort in the Catholic church setting and with the clergy leader participant population. I was prepared before talking with the participants andinteracted withthem in aprofessional and businesslike manner, quickly getting to the heart of the questioning as I understood that clergy have little time and value the spare time that they do have.

In forming my plan to hold the semistructured responsive interviews, I accepted that there were two personalities at the interview, myself and the participant, and before the talk. I interacted. I interacted, and that conversational partnership underlaid the interview process. I believed that the conversationalpartnershipwascomfortablefortheCatholic clergyleadersandconveyed that each interviewee was an individual who had a unique experience, knowledge, and perspective that were not interchangeable with those of any other individual for the phenomenon being discussed. In this dance of communication, I gently led with each question and then allowed ample time and patience for the participants to communicate their thoughts and feelings regarding that question. This conversational flow back and forth resembled an orchestrated dance through discussion and data collection.

ResearcherBias

To avoid researcher bias, there were key areas to be aware of. According to Dawidowicz (2016), those include (a) paying careful attention to responses during data that thetruthofcalling them essentially tied the wasnotmistaken,(b)notpushing theparticipant toanswer helpinawaythatwould be usedtodeliberatelybenefit mystudy,(c)not requesting or demanding that a question be answered if the participant was reluctant or chose not to answer the question, and (d) not oversharing personal experiences or the privateexperiencesofpreviousparticipants. Theseconcernswereespeciallypertinent for my study responses to the answer questions would, in which empathy and perspective are the keys to success in interviewing and data collection.

Thepersonalexaminationofselfasadevout RomanCatholic woman wasmade throughout this entire research process so as not to cloud perspective or invite personal bias during the data collection and thematic analysis. In the research interview, I acknowledged myinterest deriving from the perspective of an investedand devotedRomanCatholic.Ialsoremainedmindful andmaintainedcurious andobjective inquiries that were not influenced by perceptions of power differences between myself and those who were the clergy leaders in the faith community with which I could identify.

Methodology

ParticipantSelection

Theparticipantpopulationselectedtohelpanswertheresearchquestionsincluded clergy leaders who identified as devout Romanor deacons in the current printed Diocesan

.deaconsDirectory. Although there were as many. Pushing researching standpoint mindful and identified job roles in the Church through canonlawmentionedinchapter 2,thejobcurious andhadthemostone-on-onetimespent withparishionerswerepriestsanddeacons.Therefore,thosetwojobtitleslocated inthe Diocesan Directory were included in its random drawing for the participant pool.

SamplingJustification

The justification for using this population was based on the notion that data collection from the participant or clergy leader interviewees brought depth and understanding toward answering this study's research questions. The directory also providedappropriateandconvenientpublicaccesstoclergyredundant words or phrases that158cities ina Midwestern US state. In addition, all individual and parish contact information was published by the in leaders across cities in,, which Using, by participants, and that provided uncomplicated researcher access. The use of this directory was convenient and advantageous when identifying the participants to interview and beneficial for conducting the study.

SelectionCriteria

To be eligible for participation in this study two criteria were met a) the participant's job role must be identified in the directory as priest or deacon, and b) the participantmustcurrentlyworkintheRomanCatholic Churchsettinginthecapacityto which there was continuous face-to-face contact with parishioners. In addition, the participantswere knownandidentified tohavemetbothcriteriabased onthepublished directory and established from the church or parish setting.

PopulationandSamplingStrategy

Theparticipantpopulationwasidentifiedasclergytheir based on leaders of theRomanCatholic church that was found in the published Diocesan Directory and had thejob titleas priest or deacon. The most recent copy of the directory included the Catholic clergy name and their official appointment order and was used as the participant pool resource point for each participant. This participant sample pool was used to directly answer the interview questions that got to the heart and depth of the lived experience that clergy leaders felt of leaders with parishioners with anxiety in the church setting today.

NumberofParticipantsandRecruitment

The goal of this study was to reach a sample size of 6 participants, the number that waslikely toachieve saturation of thedata set. e potential participantswere sent a letter in the mail explaining the study and asked if that participant would be willing and opento includedinthestudy. Itwasevident thattheparticipantmetthebeingthe participant pool because of their professional ordination publication in the Diocesan Directory as well as the publication of their current vocation site for the Church. In addition, there were 2 sets of consent forms sent to the participant. This included one copyfortheparticipanttokeepfortheircriteria forof andonecopysignedandsentbackto me agreeing to volunteer for this study. Of those that said yes and returned the consent form in the mail, there was computerized random drawing process that designated the final participants chosen. Once the names were drawn, I contacted each of the participants via phone or email to let them know they were selected to participate and thensetuptheinterviewtime.collectionsthe8interviewquestions sothateachparticipanthadsometimeto lookoverthequestionswere twotheinterview.A one-hour block was set up for the semistructured interview phone call.

To adapt to the current Pandemic and COVID-19 social distancing, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines were used to accommodate each participant's comfort level for the interview. The participants were given 3 choices for records and a via phone prior to whichincluded a)goingtotheparish andinterviewingattheparish site, b) video conferencing through a Zoom call, or c) telephone interview.

SaturationandSampleSize

The sample size of 6 participants were interviewed. According to Saunders and colleagues (2018) saturation is rooted in grounded philosophy and commonly defined asa standard used in qualitative methodology to indicate when to stop collecting data. The morefocusedviewpointofsaturationthreethisstudy and wasthatofan"individual-oriented perspective" where saturation was achieved from each separate interview and exploredtounderstandtheparticipant wasessentialtoaccuratelyandfullyunderstandthe data (Saunders et al., p. 1894). Furthermore, this angle of saturation remained important within the data collection process.

The interview guide can be found in Appendix A. It was created by me and directlyresultedfromtheresearch questionsafterundergoingarigorousdevelopment process with several university faculty appointments and numerous drafts.

Instrumentation

Two instruments were used for the interview while one of the device's data was importedtosoftware witha purposetoaudiorecording theinterview transcriptverbatim.The other device was a recording tablet. In addition, basic office-type supplies that I used were clipboard, paper, and pens for each interview. The specific sources of use for data collection were the Zoom conference meeting application installed on this researcher's personal computer,cellular phone for a telephone interview, and guidance for the software applicationthrough theuniversitysystem, interviewquestionguidedevelopedbyme,and the secondary means of recording as back-up was my computer.

Researcher-Developedinterview questions

The deep rigor of an intensive writing workshop and numerous drafts from various university professors were used to develop interview questions driven by the research questions carefully. In addition, I sought guidance from the university writing centerandotherprofessionalsinthefieldtorevieweachinterview questionandascertain that each one was designed to answer the research questions directly.

ProceduresforRecruitment

A letter was mailed to 100 randomly selected clergy leaders currently published in the Diocesan Directory through the postal service. The participant had the job assignment as either priest or deacon. This procedure was specifically completed by entering all published clergy leader names from the directory to an online random calculator by which means 20 name sets were drawn for each of the 5 mailing rounds. Each of the first 6 participants drawn were contacted and then assigned an interview number (1 through 6) to keeptheircontact information confidential. Aftermailing went out over thecourse of a 5-month period oftime, this researchercalled the participant to setupthe interviewtime oncetheconsentform wasreturned hroughthepostalmail.In other words, if the participant declined participation, this indicated that they did not return the consent form and therefore, chose not to volunteer for the study and were not includedinthestudy. Iftheparticipantreplied thattheywerewillingtoparticipate,then I received the signed consent form in the mail and this allowed me to move forward with contacting and setting up the interview. Before the recording was turned on at each interview, I went through what to expect from me as the researcher, and what I would need from them as a participant. I verified their names and job roles; any assured each participantthatany identifying information would be kept strictlyconfidential by the use of an assigned interview number.

DataCollection

Data collection occurred using my developed interview questions. The data was collected and recorded verbatim by me from the participants during each interview. The participants were allowed to see the interview questions before the scheduledinterview tookplace.Datacollection occurredfrom6participantsinterviewed. Each of the 6 participants opted to use a telephone interview. However, there were 3 options available to each participant per comfortability with the current Pandemic and COVID-19 protocols that was explained in the invitation to participate mailing and a second time when I contacted the participant to set up each interview time. The application on the tablet was the primary recording resource alongside my audio computer recording system as the secondary essentialtied to the participants' observational cues recording resource. The final participant total was 6 used for the data collection. The follow up plan was to go back to theoriginalcasualblockCatholic clergy100participantsandreachouttoadditionalparticipantsbycalling them individually if there needed to be more than 6 interviews to collect more data. The interviewquestionsweregiventoeachparticipantthroughthemailpriortotheinterview andallparticipantswereinvitedtoanswereachinterviewquestion. Afterthe8questions were answered, I communicated to the participant that they were free to exit the interview. I ended the interview by thanking each participant for their time and willingness to share their knowledge, expertise, and experiences with me for the purpose of my study. There were notany requirementsto return for follow up interviews. To satisfy member checking and address issues of trustworthiness for this study, I emailed the first interview to my university chairto authenticate that the interview format was accurate and representative of the qualitative design and process.

DataAnalysis Plan

The data analysis plan had a connection that had been carefully designed with interview questions derived directly from the research questions. The transcription of each interview was carefully recorded using two methods, and then imported to the qualitative software NVivo. NVivo has been vigorously designed for qualitative methodology. This software was used for analysis because it allowed the data to be stored, arranged, categorized, and analyzed in first node categories and then more specificallytothemes.Inaddition,itguidedthediscoveryofusingtheproceduralcoding by finding repetition of phrases in transcription, categorizing nodes, and then synthesizing themes that arose from the interview data. The use of any cases that were discrepant would have still been added in the study's discussion. I addressed this as my role as researcher with the insight to give meaning to the data and ability to distinguish what was pertinent and what was not. In addition, I used techniques that helped me to makesenseofthedata.Thiswasbedonebyscanning thedataandreturningtoanyofthe words or phrases that were redundant and seemed significant. I then saw patterns that emerged such as frequency of words or ideas and phrases and used phenomenology to validate some of those ideas by identifying a link back to my research questions. Two codingmethodsused were(a)axial nine roles that located ina ,ororganizingthedataintopatterns,and(b)open,or scanning for redundancy andthen returning back to the data (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2019; Terrell, 2016).

IssuesofTrustworthiness

Introduction

Dawidowicz (2016) explained that there are issues of trustworthiness in a phenomenological study that include things such as (a) viewing the participants experiences on a surface level instead of giving the shared experience the depth to which would honor the data, (b) using bias to interpret the data could negatively impact the integrityofdatacollection,and(c)nottruthfullyacknowledgingwhattheactual datasays to benefit a result. Furthermore, trustworthiness issues were managed by audio-recording the interview, collecting enough data, and consenting to ample time to code the data rather than rush through its analysis. Key criteria that addressed issues of trustworthiness were (a) credibility, (b) transferability, (c) dependability, and (d) confirmability and reflexivity. The next section discusses each of these briefly as they directly impacted this study. In addition, parish and ethical considerations will be communicated.

Credibility

Credibility is the alignment between what the participant states and the precision withwhichtheresearcherreports theconversationalinterview duringdatacollection.Itis a truthful and accurate account of the experiences shared by the participant and taken directly from their words. Strategies to accommodate credibility included things like member checking or triangulation (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2019).

Member checking occurs once the data has been transcribed from the recorded interview and shown to the participant giving them the opportunity to read the interview contentandverify thattheyhavebeencorrectlyrepresented(Terrell,2016).Inthisstudy, a member check occurred once the interview was transcribed. There were multiple reviews sessions and edits for each transcript. This ensured it had full accuracy and checked for correctness prior to my data analysis.

Triangulation is used for vetting information and requires the researcher to look from both an "emic" and "etic" mindset (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2019; Terrell, 2016, p. 167). For this study, I accomplished triangulation by looking at my data from two perspectives.Forexample,Ivieweddatafrombothinsiderandoutsiderviewpoints.The insider view permitted empathetic depth and understanding, while the outsider view granted the ability to make a connection from potential other sources. For instance, outsider relatedness wasmade fromconnecting a need foradditionaltraining if founded that there was a lack of training in mental health for clergy leaders.

Transferability

Transferability is the connection made from the data of the study to describe context applicable findings. This transfer of information is done more generally, but the researcher is still asked to demonstrate the important features that include thick and descriptive richness and relevancy of the data and findings (Terrell, 2016). According to Nowellet al.(2017)" generalizabilityofinquiry"meansthatitisnotknownwhomayuse this study's findings in future research, but the relevancy of transferability to otherareas is important to show (p. 3).

For this study, depth and vividness in the results were managed by not cutting backonthedetailedwordsandaddingdifferentangles basedonwhatthedatasaid.Inso doing, the interview provided the detail from the interview exploration, where participants were intentionally chosen and encouraged "transferability of the inquiry" (Anney, 2014, p. 278).

Variationinparticipantselection isimportantfortransferability.Eventhoughthe number of participants were small,intentionally with selected participants brought forth their experiences. These experiences represented various regions and degrees of clergy knowledge that helped build thisstudy. In addition,each participant conveyed their unique parish culture, and the cultural awareness added dimension of depth to the angles of data.

Dependability

Dependabilityisthesystemthe interview, parish and Awas,is applied to study individual-oriented reliabilitythe device's data depictsthefindingscanholdoutagainst time. It can be managed by peer examination and triangulation. Additionally, dependability means that the data that is being collected actually answers the research questions (Bloomber& Volpe, 2019). In this sense, dependability was managed because therewereinterviewquestionsthatdirectlyrelated toeachofthe3researchquestionsset that aligned the semistructured interview.

According to Bloomberg and Volpe (2019) there are waysin which datacan be tracked(a)documentation,(b)logic,and(c)traceability.Documentationmeansthatall notes were clear and maintained verbatim.Logic insinuates that there was a science of thought that followedthe point and need for thisresearch study.Traceability explained that the notes,transcripts,and data were all well-preserved andcanbe followed clearly and replicated by other researchers in the future.

ConfirmabilityandReflexivity

Confirmability indicates that there is a secure line of establishment that can be easilytracedfromthefindings thatisdirectly movedfromthedata.Thiskeyelement can be managed by triangulation, bracketing, and audit trailing.

Another highlighted element important in a qualitative phenomenological design is reflexivity or an inquiry approach. This is viewed as the continual examination and clarification of how myself as the researcher influenced the overall project from design all the way through to the interpretation of the findings. Transparency made the processclearwhiletheconstantcheckofrationalefordecisionsmadeit continually important.

Triangulation,Bracketing,andAuditTrails

Triangulation, bracketing, and audit trails supported and managed issues with trustworthiness. Bracketing was used to code biases and my own experiences without influencing the participant or the data. This was especially important in phenomenology becauseitsecured awaythatthecontext ofanxietyremained attheheart of the data collection process. Triangulation meant using multiple sources like peer debriefingto cross check my data analysisand coding. Italso added other perspectivesto authenticate the entirety and complexity of the phenomenon of anxiety and clergy leadership counseling. Peer debriefing secured an additional professional perspective throughout the entire process. An audit trail allowed my notes and transcripts to beclearly protected and available should future researchers wish to duplicate this study.

ParishConsideration

It was important to consider there are different degrees to which each Catholic parish would handle counseling roles. For instance, there might have been a process already in place for anxiety-related referral services out of the Church for some of the participants.However, forotherclergy leaderparticipantsthecounselingrolemighthave been solely left up to that leader and kept inside the Church. To address this issue, the strategy was to categorize these degrees into levels of clergy contact with parishioners and discuss each degree alongside the pattern theme that arose from the data. To answer thisconsideration,there was aresearchquestion thatdirectlyrelated tothedegreeofhow the participant handles their counseling role in their congregation.

EthicalProcedures

Gaining access to potential participants was via the public directory. Once 100 participants were randomly selected, each was sent a letter briefly describing my study purpose as a doctoral student researcher and a written agreement form was included inthelettertoreturn tomewithapostage-paidenvelope. Aftertheconsent formwassigned and returned allowed our researcher/participant relationship to proceed.

Ethical concerns regarding recruitment that arose in association with potential participants was the refusal by over 80 participants to participate in the study. Also, a participant stopping the interview at any point before its completion or any negative reaction from the participant toward the study. Full respect for the person was a priority and to handle this I accepted the refusal to participate because all participants have the right to participate or stop at any time during the interview. There were not any adverse reactions with any of the 6 interviewed participants. No interviews were declined after consent nor stopped before or during the interview or before data collection completion. However, if there would have been a disagreeable response that would have been noteworthy and added to the analysis anddiscussion portions of this study. Theadversity mightshedlightonthecurrent gaporanyotheroppositionthatexistswiththe churchand state alliance, and that would have been an important element to highlight.

Thenotesandinterviewguidewerecarefullyprotectedandmaintainedintriple-locked storage and will be destroyed after the recommended seven years. Data and transcription were on a locked and protected flash drive with limited access by me. To allowfullconfidentialityprotection,eachoftheparticipantswereassignedanumberso as to provide extra protection of individual identification.

Permission included an approved proposal before recruiting any participants from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB commanded adherence to standards ofrespectingparticipantsasmyroleasresearchertothe participantandembraced(a)privacy and confidentiality protection, (b) the right to leave my study at any time, (c) voluntary consent to participate, and a (d) written agreement from the participant to participate.

The final ethical consideration was my position as both researcher and devout Catholic. With this identification, I was aware of and acknowledged the tendency for personalbiastoinfluencedatacollectionandanalysis.Mystrategy wastokeeppersonal bias in check by maintaining notes of personal reactions in the research process and discussion of all personal discomfort openly with university committeemembers onthis study team.