Discuss about the Correlation and Linear Regression.
This paper reviews two articles discussing different health issues. The selection criterion for the two articles is that they should have different research strategies. The papers selected are Paper B and Paper C. Paper B was written by Tiggeman and Miller, and is about the impact of internet exposure on adolescent girls’ weight satisfaction and drive for thinness. Paper C was written Coory ad Baade, and is about differences in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, radical prostatectomy and in prostate cancer mortality among men living in urban and rural areas in Australia. Appraisal of these papers was done based on the following elements: health issue that the paper has addressed; how the authors have framed the issue and justification for carrying out the research; worldview of approaching the issue; identifying and critiquing the research question or hypothesis; analyzing the research strategy used; analyzing the research methods used; and analyzing the research approach used.
Paper B has discussed how media exposure, particularly the internet, affects formation of the body image of adolescent girls (Coory and Baade, 2005). According to the authors of the paper, media has significant impacts on the life of modern adolescent girls. The manner in which adolescent girls use various media channels such as the internet, magazines and television affects these girls’ internalization of this ideals, weight dissatisfaction, appearance comparison and thinness drive. If the girls are not satisfied with any of these elements, they tend to develop low esteem and negative attitude towards their bodies, which translates into health problems such as eating disorder and depression.
Paper C has discussed the issue of differences in prostate cancer mortality, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing and radical prostatectomy in men aged between 50 and 79 years living in urban and regional/rural areas in Australia (Coory and Baade, 2005).
The authors of Paper B have made the issue of the relationship between the internet and thinness drive and weight dissatisfaction of adolescent girls to be of great importance thus necessitating attention and critical analysis. Use of internet is increasing all over the world and adolescent girls now have unlimited exposure to the internet, which has both positive and negative outcomes (Norris, 2007). Most of these girls compare their body images and appearances with those of other girls, including models, stylists, beauty pageants and artistes that are found on the internet and other media channels such as televisions and magazines (Perloff, 2014; Bell, Lawton and Dittmar, 2007). As a result, the girls end up being dissatisfied with their weight and develop drive for thinness so that their body images and appearances can resemble those that they see on media platforms. The end results has always been low-esteemed and demotivated girls who also develop eating disorders. For these reasons, it was very important to conduct the research so as to find the actual relationship between internet use and thinness drive and weight dissatisfaction among adolescent girls. The findings from the research can help relevant stakeholders, including parents, guardians, teachers, religious groups, etc., to find ways on how to help adolescent girls use the internet without it making them develop negative attitude towards their body images and appearances.
Authors of Paper C have assessed the issue of prostate cancer particularly radical prostatectomy, PSA testing and prostate cancer mortality. According to the authors, it is very important to identify the relationship between geographical differences and radical prostatectomy, PSA testing and prostate cancer mortality. This makes it necessary to conduct the research because its findings can be used by relevant stakeholders to find strategies of helping men to get tested, diagnosed and treated of prostate cancer at the right time irrespective of whether they live in urban areas or regional/rural areas. Therefore authors want the study to help in eliminating geographical difference as an obstacle to timely testing, diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
The worldview and theory base of Paper B is that low self-esteem, weight dissatisfaction and eating disorders are key problems that affect adolescent girls worldwide. When girls are in their adolescence stage, they become very sensitive about their weight and how they look. Majority of girls tend to be dissatisfied with their bodies and looks when they weigh more resulting into eating disorders either to become thin or because of stress and depression. This largely affects self-esteem of adolescent girls thus lowering their performance in schools and some of them start developing negative attitude towards themselves and life in general. The authors of this article have recognized that this is a global problem that needs to be solved so as to save girls from negative effects of internet exposure.
Paper C’s worldview and theory are based on the fact that prostate cancer is a life-threatening disease among men but unfortunately testing, diagnosis and treatment of this disease is dependent on the patient’s geographical location. Those who live in urban areas are likely to have easy access to medical information and facilitates that are needed test, diagnose and treat prostate cancer. However, these privileges are minimal for those living in rural/regional areas thus increasing the likelihood of high prostate mortality rates in these areas.
Paper B has two hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that there is a correlation between internet appearance exposure and lower weight satisfaction and higher thinness drive. The second hypothesis is that the relationship between effects of internet exposure and thinness drive and weight dissatisfaction can be mediated by internalization of appearance comparison and thin ideal mediated. These hypothesis are adequate to help the researchers achieve their objectives and find solutions to the problem being investigated.
The hypothesis of Paper C is that there is a difference in radical prostatectomy, PSA testing and prostate cancer mortality between men living in urban areas and those in regional/rural areas in Australia. This hypothesis can be tested by analyzing the health and death statistics available showing the number of men tested, diagnosed and treated with prostate cancer and those who have died from prostate cancer within the period considered. Therefore testing this hypothesis is adequate to achieve the main aim and objective of the research.
The research strategy used in Paper B is surveys, which entailed collecting data from a sample of participants from a specific population by use of a questionnaire. In this case, 156 adolescent girls in high school were involved. The questionnaire consisted of both closed-ended and open-ended questions, and it took about 15-20 minutes to complete.
The research strategy that has been used to accomplish Paper C is case study. This strategy usually aims at collecting data about a particular group of people so as to generate specific information about them. Case study makes an inquiry about a topic using past studies and reports (Wedawatta, Ingirige and Amaratunga, 2015). In this case, the researchers analyzed prostate cancer cases (testing, diagnosis, treatment and deaths) among men living in urban areas and rural areas in Australia. This strategy is also among the commonly used research strategies in caring sciences, and is most suitable when conducting research aimed at answering ‘how’ & ‘why’ questions.
The research approach used in Paper B is mixed methods approach. This is because the method combines both qualitative and quantitative research methods (Hughes, 2016; Tariq and Woodman, 2013), which was the case in this research. Qualitative research method is an exploratory approach that aims at gaining an understanding of primary reasons, motivations and opinions behind an issue. It also uncovers trends in opinions and beliefs by use of open-ended questions. Quantitative research method is an approach that uses numerical data to quantify a problem so as to generate usable statistics. The method quantifies defined variables such as opinions, attitudes and behaviors from a selected sample population then generalizes results. This method uses quantifiable figures to uncover trends and formulate facts about a problem. This research approach has several strengths that made it suitable for the research. Its basic strength is that it overcomes the weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, and enables the researcher to use all available tools in collecting comprehensive data (Center for Innovation in Research and Teaching, 2013). The approach also gives the researcher freedom to present final findings in form of statistical analyses and observations. Additionally, this research approach combines rational and inductive reasoning; it reduces the researcher’s personal biases; the findings appeal a wider audience due to use of both text and numbers when presenting results; (Moss, 2017; Bryman, 2012; Creswell, 2013). Therefore this approach helps the research to test the research hypotheses or answer research questions comprehensively (Malina, Norreklit and Selto, 2011). However, the approach also has some weaknesses including: it is time consuming, it usually involves a complex research design, and it can be challenging to resolve any discrepancies that may arise when interpreting findings (FoodRisc Resource Centre, 2016).
The research approach used in Paper C is descriptive approach. This is a type of research approach that describes the study population’s characteristics. The approach establishes relationships between various variables. The descriptive approach used in this research was quantitative that established the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables (University of Southern California, 2017). In this case, the independent variables were urban and rural/regional areas, and the dependent variables were prostate cancer mortality, PSA testing and radical prostatectomy. Strengths of descriptive studies include: it provides a multidimensional approach for collecting data; it facilitates assessment of people’s life experiences; it enables the researcher to analyze the subjects without changing them; it widens the researcher’s scope of topic; and it gives researchers the freedom to explore the problem in ways that could not be possible with experimental approach. Weaknesses of this research approach include: accuracy of findings depend largely on availability of data; it is difficult to use for testing the research problem qualitatively; and researchers are not able to control events so as to establish causes and effects.
The research methods used in Paper B paper are regression and correlation analyses. These are statistical and numerical research methods used to establish the relationship between different measurement variables (McDonald, 2015). Correlation is mainly used to define how two different variables are related to each other (McLeod, 2008). In this paper, several subscales were used to measure and analyze different variables. Some of these include Sociocultural Internalization of Appearance Questionnaire – Adolescents, Physical Appearance Comparison Scale, Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults, and Eating Disorder Inventory Miller and Tiggemann, 2010). Regression and correlation equations were also used to determine regression and correlation coefficients respectively for various variables.
Paper C used joinpoint regression to calculate confidence intervals and point estimates of age-standardized rates from Stata – a statistical package. Joipoint regression is a statistical tools that is used to generate lines shows trends of data over several years. This helps researchers to easily and precisely interpret changes in rates or trends of data collected over time (Administration of Pennsylvania, (n.d.)). Further analysis was done using Poisson regression models.
The two papers have been appraised efficaciously by considering their respective health issues discussed, framing of the issues, worldview of the issue, research question or hypothesis, research strategy, research methods and research approach. Paper B is about the impact of internet exposure on adolescent girls’ weight satisfaction and drive for thinness. The paper has used survey as the research strategy, mixed methods as research approach, and regression and correlation analyses as research methods. Paper C is about differences in PSA testing, radical prostatectomy and prostate cancer mortality among men living in urban and rural areas in Australia. The paper has used case study as research strategy, descriptive quantitative approach as the research approach, and joinpoint regression as research method.
Administration of Pennsylvania. (n.d.). Cancer Trend Analysis Using Joinpoint Regression: Part The Basics. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from https://www.statistics.health.pa.gov/StatisticalResources/UnderstandingHealthStats/ToolsoftheTrade/Documents/Cancer_Trend_Analysis_Using_Joinpoint_Regression_Part_1_The_Basics.pdf
Bell, B.T., Lawton, R. and Dittmar, H. (2007). The impact of thin models in music videos on adolescent girls’ body dissatisfaction. Body Image, Vol. 4, Issue 2, pp. 137-145.
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Wedawatta, G., Ingirige, B. and Amaratunga, D. (2015). Case study as a research strategy:Investigating extreme weather resilience of construction SMEs in the UK. UK: University of Salford.
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