Methodological Flaws of a Research - Essay Example

? Critical Appraisal Currently, the number of articles written by professionals lacks the basis of the topic. In many cases, articles do not include in-depth analysis of a problem – an aspect that makes them irrelevant. Some of the major areas that lack in articles include the methodology that was used to obtain the information, conclusion and recommendations from the authors (Gerrish and Lacey, 2006). Relevance of the Study In this article, the study is relevant bearing in mind the number of people who are dying every day in United States. Health professionals have been lacking the skills to vaccinate members of the public, which is an aspect that has increased the number of casualties as a result of the disease. The study plays, therefore, an important role in order to enlighten the government on the need to undertake an in-depth campaign to the people for them to accept the vaccination. In addition, the study is important for non-governmental organisations. This is because these organisations, which educate the public on the need to take up vaccination, mainly use statistics from these researches in order to come up with a conclusion or way forward. Also, the research is important to the government as it highlights the effort made and its importance to the general public (Macnee and McCabe, 2008). Value Added by the Study The study gives up-to-date information concerning vaccination and percentage of people who have received the vaccination. This data will be useful in future planning for the intervention. In addition, the study will help the government to determine the most affected people who need more attention. Type of Research Question Posed Different types of questions were posed to the people. Some of these questions were open ended and close ended. Those were mainly used in order to ensure that the information obtained had a deep insight into the topic. The questions also asked on the effectiveness of the vaccine. The questions are aimed at coming up with a conclusion concerning the prevalence of the disease, predictions and investigations on the quality of the health care given. Effectiveness of Research Questions on the Study The questions used were effective to some extent as they enabled the researchers to come up with a conclusion. In addition, the method used to avoid errors allowed the researchers to narrow down to almost the correct answer to the problem. The questions are ethically appropriate and are unbiased – an aspect that can be equalled to the overall results. On the other hand, the mailing system used to send the questions to the population to be interviewed was not effective. This is mainly because many interviewees are likely to ignore the letter and not send back the feedback. How the Research Addressed Biasness One of the methods employed to avoid biasness is use of randomly picked samples. This ensures that there is no specific group favoured in the research. On the other hand, what researchers did was so little to avoid biasness. Instead, they could have biasness through training the people to be interviewed in order for them to understand the questions asked. Although they used educational letters, such letters were not effective as some of the members who were interviewed could not understand them. This aspect, therefore, could have interfered with the overall study (Crombie, 1996). Nevertheless, use of one form of getting information could have made the results of the study ineffective as they lacked an in-depth analysis of the topic. For a study to be effective, both quantitative and qualitative methods of obtaining data should be applied in order to minimize any error associated with the study (Gerrish and Lacey, 2006). Outcome in Accordance with the Original Protocol The study was able to achieve the initial objective that was set. Due to well structured research methods used, the researchers were able to keep up with the task, which enabled them to gather the necessary information. Nevertheless, with the scope of the research, the researchers could have incorporated other problems in order to improve the effectiveness of the research. Mainly, when such a research is being undertaken, researchers tend to incorporate other problems associated with the main question in order to diversify the study and come up with a number of solutions. For example, this research could have tried to establish the reason for this low percentage of people who receive the vaccination. As a result, the researchers could have tried to come up with a more established research rather than leaving the research incomplete, requiring more investigation for such a problem to be solved. The involved parties could have achieved this through requesting the interviewees to give recommendations that seemed appropriate to solve the problem (Doratotaj, Macknin and Worley, 2008). Hypothesis The study never stated a hypothesis. In addition, there was shallow discussion on what was to be studied and the reason behind taking up the study. Although to some extent the statistics were correct, little was explained on how the overall percentage was arrived at. In every study hypothesis is important in identifying the topic and enabling the researchers to focus on the topic (Kilby, Johnson and Oepkes, 2012). Collection and Analysis of Data This section is poorly done with little said on how the data was compiled, coded and given a meaning. Instead, it is only the conclusion which stated the results of the study. For a research to be effective, methods used to give the data a meaning should be stated, and the process used to come up with the overall conclusion should be described clearly. This helps the readers understand the study easily and enables them make any changes where necessary. This is done because the study can be used as a secondary source of information for other researchers (Cluett and Bluff, 2006). Conclusion This is well done although challenges that were faced during the research are not stated. This could be helpful to other researchers who could be interested in taking up a more insightful research (Marchevsky, 2000). Nevertheless, recommendations should be given in details in order to give the interested parties a way through in solving the problem. References Cluett, E. R. and Bluff, B., 2006. Principles and practice of research in midwifery. 2nd ed. London: Churchill Livingtone. Crombie, I. K., 1996. The pocket guide to critical appraisal. London: BMJ Pub. Group. Doratotaj, S., Macknin, M. L. and Worley, S., 2008. A novel approach to improve influenza vaccination rates among health care professionals: a prospective randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Infection Control, 36 (4), pp. 301–303. Gerrish, K. and Lacey, A., 2006. The research process in nursing. Oxford: Blackwell Pub. Kilby, M., Johnson, A. and Oepkes, D., 2012. Fetal therapy: scientific basis and critical appraisal of clinical benefits. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Macnee, C. L. and McCabe, S., 2008. Understanding nursing research: using research in evidence-based practice. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Marchevsky, D., 2000. Critical appraisal of medical literature. New York: Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers. Read More