Question
Review the following research questions.
Is the use of soap and water or alcohol-based rubs more effective in preventing nosocomial infections?
How effective are anti-depressive medications on anxiety and depression?
For patients of 70 years and older, how effective is the use of the influenza vaccine at preventing flu as compared to patients who have not received the vaccine?
What is the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer?
What is the difference between self-efficacy scores in older adults who exercise and the scores of those who do not?
What is the difference in attitudes of male and female college students toward condoms?
Next, select 3 of the above questions and address the following:
Identify an appropriate research design.
Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the design.
Provide a rationale for the design you selected.
Qualitative vs quantitative?
Subject | Research Analysis | Pages | 3 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Selected Questions
1. What is the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer?
2. What is the difference between self-efficacy scores in older adults who exercise and the scores of those who do not?
3. What is the difference in attitudes of male and female college students toward condoms?
The first question investigates the relationship between consumption of alcohol and breast cancer. Mainly, little is known about the connection between breast cancer and lifestyle behavior, especially use of alcohol. However, it has been noticed that most individuals that have been diagnosed with breast cancer are heavy drinkers. The second question investigates whether doing exercise has an effect on the scores in older adults. The last question looks the attitudes of different gender towards the use of a condom. Of course, males and females have diverse perceptions of condom use.
Rationale of the selected research design
For the research question, “What is the difference between self-efficacy scores in older adults who exercise and the scores of those who do not?” requires qualitative research design. The reason for this design is because the researcher needs an in-depth understanding of whether exercise has got effects on scores on older adults. The researcher will have to rely on the case study to come up with a comprehensive conclusion. For example, the researcher will conduct in-depth interviews, interact with participants and rely on his/her observations (Creswell, 2013). In this case, the primary data are imperative since the researcher does not have to depend on the previous researches but the case study. In this case, the researcher will be drawn to write the research in a literary style rather than in a numerical as it is in quantitative research design. The most important consideration, in this case, is that a conclusion cannot be made without the case study which calls for qualitative research.
For question one and three, a quantitative research design is needed. Notably, the study of the difference in attitudes of male and female college students toward condoms does not require the researcher to be part of the study. In this case, the researcher only needs to collect a shallow data using interviews and questionnaire to know the attitude of the males and females towards the use of condoms (Creswell, 2013). In other words, one does not need a case study or cohort as it in qualitative research design. The same happens to the survey of the relationship between alcohol and breast cancer. The numbers can be directly retrieved from hospitals and calculation made.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Research Design
Qualitative and quantitative research designs have both advantages and disadvantages. Qualitative designs provide data based on the participants own category of meaning. It is also paramount in describing complex phenomena. Additionally, it provides individual case information. However, it has some shortcomings. It is quite difficult to make quantitative prediction due to the limited sample number. Additionally, it is very difficult to test theories and hypotheses with large number participants (Creswell, 2013). Lastly, the results are likely to be influenced by the researcher’s idiosyncrasies and biases. On the other hand, quantitative designs allow a large number of participants which can permit the generalization of the study. It is relatively easy to analyze since it involves numeric. Moreover, the data can be precise, consistent, and reliable. However, the data sometimes is not robust to describe complex issues. Additionally, related data may not be available or difficult to access (Munhall, 2012). Lastly, Self-reported information received from questionnaires may be incomplete or inaccurate
References
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Sage publications.
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