Qualitative Research On Increasing Rates Of Obesity

Research objective

Discuss about the Qualitative Research on Increasing Rates of Obesity.

The society has changed drastically along the years from the simplistic version it used to be and along with it has changed our life styles. With the globalized consumerism and recession at play, human life now only surrounds the rat race of success and financial stability. In the meantime we have completely forgotten to pay any attention to our own health and welfare (O’Sullivan et al., 2015). Hectic work schedules and paramount stress, there are a number of health concerns that have caught the attentive eye of the global health care authorities. Among all the health care issue that have arose in the last decade, obesity is a significant one. Obesity has taken into grasp all of the age groups, irrespective of the gender (Bolton et al., 2014).

With the adults suffering with the social repercussions of obesity like the societal seclusion, depression and bullying, there is the added pressure of all the more complicated diseases obesity is a precursor to. Obesity gives rise to a lot of health acre complications, like diabetes, coronary heart diseases, hypertension, cholesterol and what not; obesity has become a rising health care concern globally (Sanders et al., 2015).  The issue complicates further into alarming territory if we consider the increase in the rate of obese children. Along the last few years there has been a marked and frightening increase in the rates of obese children worldwide. More and more children are suffering from the clinical and societal repercussions of obesity (Millar et al., 2013). The data from the leading health care facilities all around the world suggests that in the last couple of years there have been a marked influx in the number of obese children coming with myriad of clinical or psychological aftermath of obesity (Javed et al., 2015). This qualitative research program will attempt at defining the reasons behind the increasing rates of obesity in the children and what preventative and awareness programs are in place to educate and aware the children and the parents about the repercussions of  excess body weight.

• To determine and evaluate the reasons leading to the alarming increase in the rates
• To determine and investigate the level of awareness in the general mass about the repercussions of obesity
• To investigate and evaluate the existing treatment programs and awareness programs available in the health care industry
• And lastly to provide a list of recommendations to improve the situation.

A qualitative research methodology has a number of different research data collection and analysis methods to choose from like the methods of phenomenology, discourse analysis and grounded theory. While all approaches have different and unique characteristic benefits and drawbacks associated with it, grounded theory has immerged as the most popular approach that different research scientists have used most abundantly top carry out their research study in the most logical and most scientific manner (Charmaz, 2014).

Justification for chosen study method

Grounded theory is primarily a systematic research methodology that involves construction of different theories relevant to the research topic under consideration and carry out data collection and analysis to test out the efficacy of these theories. It has to considered that any research study attempts at unravelling facts and statistics of different aspects (Morse et al., 2016). And in order to achieve that a research study progresses with a preconceived standard and benchmark to compare with the research findings and arrive at the verdict. In grounded theory approach as well a theory is developed and according to the conceptions of that theory the research id planned and carried out, and later on the findings are compared to the findings that the results could elicit (Morse et al., 2016).

There are different strategic steps of a grounded theory approach that articulates the research process into a series of organized actions that eases and simplifies the research significantly. The very first step of grounded theory approach to research is the preparation stage, where the research topic is selected and the research questions are framed. Moving forward the theories are designed that will define the course the research is about to take (Birks & Mills, 2015). The second step is the data collection, collecting relevant data from different resources, primary and secondary, that will serve us with the information of judge the efficacy of the theory that has been developed. The next step is the data analysis method either taking the qualitative or quantitative approach depending on the type data collected. The last step to the process is the comparison with the benchmarks set up by the theories that the researcher has constructed prior to the commencement of the research (Birks & Mills, 2015).

Grounded theory has gained popularity in a very short period of time, and there are a number of reasons for the abundant use of it in scientific research across the globe. Grounded theory is efficient, to the point and precise. The verdict that a grounded theory approach is genuine and accurately along with being free from all bias (Glaser & Strauss, 2009). Constructing theories prior to research and then testing out the relevance of it with substantial data leaves no room for discrepancies in the conclusion drawn. In the topic chosen for this research, where obesity has taken entire young generation within its grasp, there are different factors that can be the driving force. In this case a grounded theory approach where a theoretical conception is the best manner to determine what are the reasons behind the increasing obesity in the adolescents taking Australia as an example. Therefore grounded theory approach has been selected out for the research study.

Data collection methods

This research study will focus on collecting raw and recorded data both from human subjects and also data from the medical records from clinics across Queensland. This will be an exploratory study that will attempt to capture the differing opinion from the different individuals. The study will target the children from the secondary schools of the Queensland area and persuade them to appear for a questionnaire survey. The interviews are going to be direct and telephonic, especially for the parents of the children that are obese and the ones that are just on the verge of being overweight.

Questionnaires will be constructed that will have open ended questions that will engage the participants without offending their believes in any manner. The questionnaires will have direct questions that will attempt to capture the emotions a obese child goes through in his or her day to day life. It will try to grasp at the perception of the teenagers about obesity and try to understand the level of awareness in them about the obesity. Apart from that the questionnaires will focus on the behavioural and lifestyle changes that has happened in the life of these children and how if they are more inclined towards outdoor games involving physical activities or they are more drawn towards indoor computer games. The parents of these children will be contacted telephonically to include their perception and awareness as well.

Researchers will contact the clinics to gather data about the number of obese children seeking different health care services and will also gather information about what supportive and awareness programs there are running for this children and if there are any counselling programs in place for the children to cope with the bullying and social discriminations obese children are generally faced with. The school authorities will also be interviewed to understand if there are any awareness campaigns are in place in the schools for such children.

The interviews and the data will be handled very carefully, and the telephonic interviews will be recorded accordingly for the analysis process. As the most of the data collection will be by the means of interviews the data analysis method will be qualitative. Persuasive interviewers with pleasant and engaging communication skills will be recruited for the sake of this research study. The entire data collection and analysis method will commence in a pre-planned organized step by step manner to avoid any pitfalls.

Ethical consideration for the study

Any research study that involves the participation of human subjects needs to maintain the ethics of the entire study. Ethics are considered to be the norms of any study that is concerned with taking the consent of the participants prior to involving them in the research study and also handling the information that they share with utmost confidentiality (Wright et al., 2016). There are a number of reasons why the maintaining the ethics of the research is extremely vital. Ethical practice does not allow there to be any kind of false or fabricated data in the research study and also ensures that the data is collected genuinely and analysed following the standards that are set up by the authorities. Ethical research practice also ensures that the research follow the rules and regulations set forth in the nations regarding any health care related research work (Bohl et al., 2014).

There are various codes and policies that are in place that makes following ethical constrain in the research much easier than it sounds. Institutional review board is a regulatory panel that overlooks whether the research studies follow all the ethical considerations and also sets up different amendments to the ethical requirements for regular intervals. The motto of this review board is to ensure the safety and the privacy of the human subjects associated with the research studies. This research experiment will diligently follow the ethical policies to comply with the guidelines of IRB, and will ensure that the subjects are aware of the details of the experiments and will be given the liberty to discontinue at any point of time. Moreover the privacy of each of the human subjects will be maintained with utmost efforts and the data given by them will be utilized retaining their confidentiality (Matthews & Ross, 2014).

For a research experiment to be viable it is of utmost importance that the data collected and analysed are credible (Noble & Smith, 2015). Credibility of the research is enforced to ensure that the results of the study will be believable and reliable for the mass. The quality and accuracy of the that needs to be assessed to ensure that research study is credible (Cope, 2014). As the research method selected for this study is qualitative the data collected can have fabrications or bias. For this research study to have a credible findings and outcome the researcher will opt for the data triangulation technique. In this techniques multiple data analysts are employed to cross check the analysis procedure and ensures that the results generated by the data analysis are genuine and accurate (Cormier & Hagman, 2014).

Transferability of a research study refers to the ability of the findings or verdict of the study to be application to other relatable contexts (Burchett et al., 2013). This is mainly concerned with the readers of the study and whether they find the findings and results to be comparable or relatable to their own perceptions. If a study is transferable in its content the readers will be more drawn to the content and will find the findings to be more genuine and applicable to real world scenarios (Burchett et al., 2013). hence it is of vital importance that the transferability of the study is well maintained.

To ensure that the content of the study is transferable the researcher will incorporate the details in a relatable and easy to understand manner. Moreover the researcher will also ensure that the data is presented in a comparable manner, that draws the attention of the readers of all demographic and appears applicable and engaging to them.

References:

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