Understanding and using research

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Unit 10

Understanding and using research

Introduction

For this assignment I will research in different fields of health and social care to come up with my hypothesis. I will base my research on factors affecting individual’s health. I will then find out which health condition seems to be most popular in affecting individual’s health. After doing some primary and secondary research on the different factors, I will then look more into depth in the condition that seems to be affecting pupils in large amounts. So I will base my hypothesis on the condition which is most popular in the world today.

Research is mainly used in health and social care fields to investigate new aspects of care related situations by carrying out surveys and collecting qualitative data of some kind. It is also used to test and review existing knowledge from different sources such as internet books and is also used to test and review treatments and practices. It helps to explain the relationship between factors affecting health and well-being and helps to evaluate service interventions and policies and helps to make new policies and plans.

There are different types of research methods in health and social care fields. Research methods are used to achieve the aim they have been carried out to achieve such as a hypothesis. They are then carried out to test their hypothesis to see if it’s proved to be true or incorrect. Research is used to find questions and answers relating to the topic that is being explored and is used to investigate the area in more depth. Researchers may use more than one research method in order to make their research stronger and accurate. I will now outline the different types of methodology used in research:

AO1- The Aims and Use of Research in Health and Social Care

Research methodologies

Internet- this research can be used to find out statistics on a particular issue and it allows you to look at different websites which help you to gain further knowledge and give you more information on a particular issue.  

Survey- This is used to find out facts about the individual, it asks them questions such as what, where, when and how. This can be carried out through questionnaires. Surveys are used to investigate a specific area or topic. They are filled by individuals in order to find out facts about the topic that is being discussed. Surveys ask questions such as what, where, how and, when, on the issue being discussed. This helps the researcher to discover the comparisons in the answers provided from the public to give them a better idea of what the cause and effect of the issue might be.

Case study – A case study is a piece of information you have to investigate, this unit could be an example, like I am going to investigate a number of health issues in order to find out which health issue is most common. It gives you knowledge on a particular matter. This research method is used to find out the main issues about a situation. This can be carried out through Observation, interviews and Questionnaires.

Experiment- To carry out a test to discover what happens. It is like carrying out a practical test or research in order to get the results of what you are looking for. It helps you find out whether your hypothesis or what you thought would happen is true or not. Results are not always as expected. 

Cohort studies- These studies are used to discover the impact of a treatment between a group of patients. For an example, if a new medical drug had come out it would firstly be managed by a small group of supervisors to test the drugs impact before the medicine being revealed to the public.

Ethnographic study- this study is similar to the case study it looks at the the behaviour of a particular matter. Although it maybe similar it is also much bigger, it can sometimes involve the researcher itself into the situation that they are observing. This study is used to observe a situation that is relating to your research in order to have accurate results. It studies on parts of human behaviour in a particular situation. This study can usually concerns large groups of people.

Action research- to find out more information about an ongoing situation it helps to evaluate and analyse a situation, this can be carried through Questionnaires, interviews, diaries and case studies. This research looks at a particular task or problem. This is carried out by a group of people who review and monitor parts of the topic, so they can discuss and plan on how to tackle the issue. While doing this research most groups keep diaries to record information and then monitor in order to improve and make better changes.

Quantitative research- can be expressed in numerical form. It can also be presented in tables, bar charts, pie charts, graphs, etc.

Qualitative research- cannot usually be expressed simply in terms of numbers. It is often concerned with people’s values, attitudes and/ or opinions. This sort of research is in more depth and is also more detailed.

Advantages and disadvantages of different methods of research

Observation

Advantages

The advantages of this research are that you are able to witness the data yourself. This means you have stronger proof whether or not your research is correct regarding the data you are collecting as you have seen it and witnessed it yourself. The research is recorded and observed by the observer.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages are the research may take a lot of time, it could take weeks or even months in order to have strong based evidence. Another disadvantage can be if you don’t have a camera or anything and if you are doing the observation yourself, you will have to constantly keep observing on the times you have planned to do so. This could prevent you from doing other things and may take up most of your time.

 

Questionnaires

Advantages

The advantages of questionnaires are that they can provide you with the data you are looking for. They are also easy to fill and use. They can also be easily evaluated and analysed after they have been filled in.  

Disadvantages

The disadvantages for this type of research are when filling out the questionnaire people may not always be truthful and honest. This could lead to the data provided being false and invalid.

Diaries

Advantages

The advantages of writing a diary regarding your research will be the information provided by the researcher will be true and real life events would be written and the researcher will also provide their views and opinions on the issues.

Disadvantages

The disadvantages will be that the research provided by the researcher in the diary will be biased as everyone has different views on different things. The information provided will be biased because it will be from one point of view which is the researcher’s point of view. The researcher will only write his opinion and views, this will be unfair on others because they may not agree with the researchers opinions and may have different views on the issues.

Interviews

Advantages

The advantages of this research are you can ask questions to the person you are interviewing there and then. This will provide you with the information you are looking for and will be reliable.

Disadvantages

The person you are interviewing may not know the answer or may not want to answer it correctly and therefore give you wrong false answers. This could result in the data being false and inaccurate.

Research

These are some of the research methods in health and social care settings. I will now use some of these methods to do my research on different health related topics such as smoking, obesity and alcohol intake. The reason why I have chose to do my research on an health topic is because I want to see which factors there are that can affect an individuals health and want to find out which one of these factors is most common within the society. After researching these health factors I will then pick one health issue on which I will base my hypothesis on. I am going to find out this information by researching these health issues. To start with I will research on obesity.

Secondary research

 

Obesity research

This table shows the intake of both fruit and vegetables by the population in the U.K.

Looking at the social trends the department of health suggests that everyone should at least eat 5 portions of fruit or vegetables each day excluding potatoes to keep a healthy diet. Increased intake of fruit and vegetables is associated with decreasing the risk of developing various diseases. Below I have added a table which shows that in 2006 only, 19 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women met this target in England, while 12 per cent of men and 8 per cent of women ate none at all.

Again researching further on this issue to make sure my results were correct. I found a graph showing adults and children who are obese or overweight. Research shows that men are unhealthier than women. This research also shows that younger girls and boys are much healthier than both men and females, but each year all obese and overweight results are increasing gradually for all genders.

Alcohol research

I will now research on a different factor affecting health. I will now research the amount of alcohol intake.

Looking at this table it suggests In 2006, 40 per cent of men and 33 per cent of women in Great Britain reported exceeding the recommended amount of alcohol on at least one day during the week before interview. People aged 25 to 44 were more likely (44 per cent) to exceed the recommended daily amount compared to people aged 65 and over who were least likely to exceed the recommended daily amount (17 per cent). Men aged 25 to 44 were the most likely of all to binge drink (defined as the consumption of twice the recommended daily amount). In 2006, 31 per cent had done so on at least one day in the previous week compared with 7 per cent of men aged 65 years and over. This shows that men seem to drink more alcohol than women.

In general, the higher the level of gross weekly household income, the more likely men and women were to drink alcohol in the previous week and to exceed the daily standards. In 2006, 51 per cent of men in households with a gross weekly income of £1,000 or more drank more than four units on at least one day in the previous week, compared with 32 per cent of men in households with a gross weekly income of less than £200. There was a similar pattern for women, with 47 per cent of those with a gross weekly income of £1,000 or more per week and 20 per cent with a gross weekly income of less than £200 drinking more than three units on at least one day in the previous week.

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I got these Statistics from the Social Trends 38

This table shows the death rates linked to alcohol related causes. The number of alcohol-related deaths in the UK was 4,144 in 1991 and 8,758 in 2006. Death rates from alcohol-related causes were much higher among men than women and the Gap between the sexes has widened in recent years In 2006 the male death rate was 18.3 per 100,000, more than twice the rate of 8.8 per 100,000 for women. The alcohol-related death rates among men increased in all age groups between 1991 and 2006, and in 2006 were highest among those aged ...

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Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

This is a fairly good piece of research that investigates whether boys smoke more than girls. The writer does not always focus on the topics that they suggest. There are some good examples of misreading data and making false assumptions. The writer has given a good evaluation but not really made any conclusion. That, and some further explanation in places, would help to enhance the essay. ****