Comparative report. Topic suicide

Suicide is a significant cause of death in most countries, in some cases there are more deaths than car accidents in a year. Most countries spend huge amounts of money to ensure road safety, but only few are appointed by the suicide and ways to prevent them, as well as teaching people how to solve their problems. So why today so many people do not want to live? Suicide occurs in persons of all ages and backgrounds. Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts are often a sign that the person is unable to cope with the unbearable emotional pain, which may be due to various reasons like traumatic and distressing events, specific life situation or depression. People who want to commit a suicide often feel terribly isolated and for their suffering they fail to think about the people who can help them. Today suicide issue is a huge and increasing problem and it is crucial to try and figure out main suicide causes and what certain groups of people are at increased risk for suicide attempts. In this comparative report I will try to compare two different types of articles: newspaper article and a research paper. They both are discussing topic of suicide. I will summarize both articles and then I will compare and evaluate both of them and draw a conclusion.

Firstly I will present newspaper article ‘Suicides on the rail network rose last year, say Samaritans’ (A. Hill, 08.09.2010). Newspaper article provides information on current events and issues on suicide topic, giving comprehensive detailed news report about the increasing number of deaths and attempted deaths on the railways. The main aims of the article are to state the facts that among all suicides even three-quarters are men and to inform a reader about most recurrent causes of men suicide. Due to increasing number of men suicides, article informs audience about Samaritans campaign called ‘Men on the ropes’ which strives to help those who are not coping with everyday problems. Samaritans research group are targeting working-class men in their 30s to 50s and lately they found out that men from poorer backgrounds, those who are unemployed or in manual jobs and those who have experienced difficult times such as financial worries or breakdowns in their family relationships were more likely to take their own live (A. Hill, 08.09.2010).

Second one is a research paper ‘Factors influencing the decision to use hanging as a method of suicide: qualitative study’ (L. Biddle et al, 2010). This paper provides information about the increasing number of suicides among men and women by hanging and gives a detailed report about the factors influencing the decision to use or contemplate hanging as a method of suicide. This increase is of concern for two reasons. First, hanging is a lethal method with an estimated fatality rate. Second, hanging poses a challenge to current suicide prevention strategies, which place emphasis on restricting access to commonly used methods such as reducing paracetamol pack ...

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Now I will try to compare and evaluate both articles. Newspaper article is written using informal but informative and persuasive language because it is designed for daily reader’s interest and they do not need complex academic sentences. Article begins with a lead that identifies a narrow topic – increasing number of suicides on railway. The main point is summarized in one sentence. The most important information is presented in first half of the article. Here we find pure facts, ideas that support and elaborate main topic and essential background information necessary for reader to understand the topic. Due to space limitations or content considerations article do not have topic summarizing conclusion. Also there are missing internal organizational structures: paragraphs contain only one or two sentences, they are not build upon separate topics, transitions between sentences, paragraphs are abrupt, sentences are very mechanical and simple.

Newspaper article is written using quantitative research and is positivistic and also objective because social facts that are in article have an objective reality: showing real portrayal of suicide among men and trying to answer the question why men are at risk to die by suicide. It is a quantitative research because author himself did not interfere in any suicide investigation. Firstly he used already prepared Rail Network annual report to confirm his raised hypothesis about increasing number of men suicides on the rail network. Secondly he used method of interview to get an existing data by interviewing Samaritans, who did their own research on suicide among men and also listened Nigel Owens who attempted to take his own life. In other words article is written using background information on suicides, analysis and interpretation and by using interview.

Article is deductive because this reasoning involves moving from generalities to specifics by working through a series of reasoned statements (S.E. Smith, 2010). Firstly, article works from more specific theory (increasing number of suicides on the railways), secondly, it narrows down to hypothesis (among all suicides even three-quarters are men), then it goes even further to observations (collecting data and interviews) and finally it leads to confirmation of hypothesis where collected data is used to proof or disproof it (men are more likely to commit a suicide than women).

On the other hand research paper is more complex than newspaper article. Research paper is written in formal and academic language avoiding the use of slang and colloquial language. It is designed for academic audience to read and analyze. It is more organized: one major point with each paragraph, paragraphs contain long sentences, they are build upon separate topics and are not abrupt, hypothesis are stated very precisely and information is present only as needed to support a position. Research paper has a clear structure: introduction, methods, results, discussion and references. Introduction describes the importance of the study (hanging is now the most common single method of suicide), states a specific hypothesis (what factors influence the decision to use hanging as a method of suicide) and briefly describes what experimental design was used (using narratives of people). Methods, results and discussion describes practical steps that were used in a research (semi-structured interviews, data analysis), outcomes of research and analytical point of view to see whether statements were supported effectively enough or they were rejected during the research. This research is appropriate because it is approved by ethics committee and has all principles – voluntary participation, informed consent, no risk of harm to subjects, confidentiality and anonymity (W. M.K. Trochim, 2006).

This paper is written using a qualitative research because it seeks out the ‘why’, not the ‘how’ of its topic through the analysis of unstructured information (semi-structured interview) and tends to look for understanding social processes and social phenomena. It doesn’t just rely on statistics or numbers, which are the domain of quantitative researchers (G. Ereaut, 2007). This research is conducted with the interpretive tradition which aims to account for how people choose courses of action by exploring how people interpret, assess and make sense of their experiences and the world around them (L. Biddle et al, 2010). It is a primary research because authors intervened in a research using semi-structured interviews with people whose approach was studied and then they did data analysis. We can say that this research paper is constructive and reliable because authors allowed participants to be in a research, to assist the researcher in the research question as well as with the data collection. Engaging multiple methods, such as, observation, interviews and recordings led to more valid, reliable and diverse construction of realities (N. Golafshani, 2003).

This research is inductive because it moves from the particular to the general, from a set of specific observations and measures (hanging is now the most common single method of suicide, accounting for about 2000 deaths per year) to patterns and regularities, then it goes further and formulates some tentative hypotheses that can be explored (why people choose hanging as method of suicide) and finally ends up developing some general conclusions or theories (reasons for favouring hanging were based on some misconceptions about the ease with which it may be implemented and the likely nature of the ensuing death).

In conclusion I want to say that both newspaper article and research paper are based on social research. Newspaper article is relevant to people on a local level, research paper is for academic society that’s why approaches to research on main topic differ. Newspaper article is written using quantitative approach where author is analyzing already collected data and develops it from specific theory to a confirmation of hypothesis. On the other hand research paper uses qualitative approach where researcher is observing, gathering and analyzing data and develops it from specific observations to some general conclusions or theories. Both approaches are useful and legitimate in social research. Some research situations and topics are most amenable to qualitative examination other’s to quantification. We need both. However because these two approaches call for different skills and procedures (E. Babbie, 2009) we need to think about audience and outcomes of research and then choose an approach suitable for social research.

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References

Hill, A. (08.09.2010). ‘Suicides on the rail network rose last year, say Samaritans’. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/sep/08/suicide-samaritans-railways-deaths

[Accessed 07.10.2010]

Biddle, L., Donovan, J., Owen-Smith, A., Potokar, J., Longson, D., Hawton, K., Kapur, N., Gunneli, D. (2010). ‘Factors influencing the decision to use hanging as a method of suicide: qualitative study’. The British Journal of Psychiatry (online) 197: pp. 320-325. Available from:

[Accessed 02.10.2010]

Smith, S.E. (2010). What Is the Difference Between Inductive and Deductive Reasoning?

Available from:

[Accessed 02.10.2010]

Trochim, W. M. K. (10.20.2006). Research methods knowledge base. Ethics in research. Available from: [Accessed 02.10.2010]

Ereaut, G. (2007). What is qualitative research? Available from:

[Accessed 12.10.2010]

Golafshani, N. (2003). Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 8(4), pp. 597-606. Available from:

http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR8-4/golafshani.pdf [Accessed 12.10.2010]

Babbie, E. R. (2009). The Practice of Social Research. (12th Edition). USA: Wadsworth Publishing