Comparison of Self-Reported and Audio-metrically Measured Hearing Loss - Research Proposal Example

Critique Assignment A research study entitled "Comparison of Self-Reported and Audio-metrically Measured Hearing loss in the Australian Defense Force" conducted by Kirk, McGuire, Nasveld and Treloar has been published in 2012 by the University of Queensland centre for Military and Veterans' Health Mayne School, Brisbane Australia. In this paper, we shall critically evaluate this research study by Kirk, McGuire, Nasveld and Treloar to identify its strengths, weaknesses, scope and also limitations of the study. Credibility and Introduction to Authors: At first place, it is important to assure the credibility of the selected article for critical analysis. This research article is written and complied by well-known researchers including Kirk who is an associate professor at Queensland Institute of Medical Research. Similarly, McGuire is also a known chief investigator, she has great experience and expertise in leading research projects particularly in psychological related researches. Treloar is also an associate professor and she is an expert in genetic epidemiology and mental health issues. Whereas, Neveld is a lieutenant colonel, but he has also worked as a reliable researcher to explore out different health issues faced by the Australian Defense Force. Here, from the publisher, the Queensland Centre for Military and Veteran's health Mayne School to list of authors who have contributed to research, write and compile this study, it can be understood that the information quoted in this study would be authentic and credible. It should be noted that this research article is about hear loss problem among military men but after reviewing the professional careers and experiences of all authors it can be suggested that none of them is an expert ENT specialist or general physician. It can be argued that it is important to have a contribution of at least one expert of the health problem particularly addressed in the study. Likewise, noticed in other research studies by the University of Queensland such as "Teenage Acne in Influenced by Genetic Factor", by Evans, Kirk, Nyholt, Novac and Martin. Among them Nyholt is a well-known genetic epidemiologist and his opinion is worthy for analyzing genetic factors in teenage acne. Aim and Scope: Furthermore, in this research article the objective problem was clearly identified and stated as to explore the relationship between self-reported and audio-metrically measured hearing loss in a sample of Australian Defense Force personnel. This is the best and most concise way to state the aim and identified problems for research as also observed in other credible articles. Such as, in the research study by Waller et al. (2012) it has been stated that the study aims to investigate the association between stress events on warlike deployment and subsequent mental health problems among the Australian Defense Force. For identification of the problem, the authors have shown clear connection of the issue with the previous studies, such as a reference to study by Barton (2012), Doa, Fischa and Evoya (2004) and Hilton (2002). All these research studies have also talked about hearing loss among different professionals and working groups. Although, this research study has a very good scope in future because it can help future researchers get clear and well-researched information about hearing loss problem among Australian Defense Force Personnel, but researchers of the study have not discussed the scope prominently. Hypothesis and Ethical Considerations: In this study, researchers have not set any particular hypothesis as their aim was to study relationship between self-reported and audio-metrically measured hearing loss in a sample of Australian Defense Force personnel. Similarly, authors of this study have not mentioned any ethical issues they might have came across during research. Literature Review: Literature review of the study is not well organized with proper headings, but in overall research particularly in introduction different studies have been adequately discussed related with the topic, undoubtedly the use of source was appreciable in this study. This format is suitable as it is also followed by many other research reports; for example, in a study "Smoking Prevalence, its determinants and short-term health implications in the Australian Defense force", by Barton et al. and “Risk of adverse health outcomes associated with frequency and duration of deployment with the Australian Defense Force” by Bieier et al. But the format is contrary to some of the other studies, as it has been noticed that the literature review is separately discussed in a particular section of the report such as in the study by Eckels (2009). However, in comparison with some other studies like "Tafenoquine for the treatment of recurrent plasmodium vivax malaria" by Ketchener et al. (2007), the study presents much organized and well-balance literature review because the study report by Ketchener et al. (2007) does not illustrate proper references to previous studies related to the issue. Moreover, as authors have not discussed literature review separately thus, the authors have not provided a critical view on the selected literature for the study. It is understood that it is a good approach to critically analyze previous studies to understand the gap in the literature and point out the shortcomings in prior researches, in order to cover those aspects in the study. This approach is widely used in different studies to derive out adequate and well-balanced results. For instance, in studies like Doa, et al. (2007), Shield (2006), and Thorne (2006), the authors have presented a critical viewpoint of studies conducted in the past related to their respective topic about hearing loss in individuals. Method: Outcomes of the study are based on the quantitative research data that has been analyzed to demonstrate a comparative analysis of self-reported and audio-metrically measure of hearing loss. In this study, authors have not clearly mentioned the adopted research methodology for attaining their targeted goals, unlike other studies. It can be stated that this is an inappropriate way as it affects the understanding of readers. Reference to clear methodology has been observed in many studies like Ketchener et. al (2007) and Lucino et al (2005). In both these studies, researchers have clearly mentioned that they have adopted mixed methodology including qualitative and quantitative approaches. However, by reviewing the report, it has been noticed that they have adopted quantitative method of research, but they have not mentioned it clearly in adopted methodology section. Nonetheless, the authors have mentioned that for self-reporting they derived out result based on only one question that if military men experience any problem with hearing. On the other hand, for Audiometrical measurements three different frequencies were considered. These methods are considered most appropriate as evidenced from the American Hearing Research Foundation report and accepted approaches indicated by The Children's Hearing Institute. (Childrens Hearing 2011). In this study no conceptual and theoretical frameworks like other studies such as by Ketchener et. al (2007) and Lucino et al (2005) have been provided and adopted. This approach is not totally incorrect, as evidenced from other credible studies, but for a more organized and well-balanced format researchers widely include theoretical and conceptual frameworks in their studies. For instance, there is another significant study from the University of Queensland entitled as "Outcomes for Young Children with Hearing Loss in an Auditory-Verbal Therapy Program" by Doran (2010) in which the author has clearly highlighted the conceptual framework of the study based on shortcomings of the prior researches. Result and Discussion: The study does not present any research variables, but it simply talks about the comparison between audiometric measurement and self-reported hearing problems. Even though, it can be critically analyzed as a shortcoming of the study because this study dealt with two variables that are self reported and audiometric measurements, but authors have not shown a relationship between these two variables, but they have discussed respective outcomes separately. However, in a study by Hilton (2000) entitled "Occupationally Acquired Hearing Loss among Civilian and Active Duty Fire-Fighters". Researcher has explicitly mentioned four different variables including continuous variable recorded in years, at the nominal scale: civilian versus military employment, total years as a firefighter and hearing profile in 1995. Moreover, it has been noticed that the study has shown targeted sample population based on location deployment. Such as, out of 3,335 respondents, 985 were those who were deployed in Bougainville, 1,027 were deployed in East Timor, 153 were those who deployed in both Bougainville and East Timor while the rest of 1,170 were deployed in different localities. On the other hand, in order studies researchers usually classified their sample population based on gender and age. For instance, Hilton study shows out of total 62 fighters, 22 were civilians and 40 were on military active duty. In this study, authors have also talked out about mean age, which is an important factor while analyzing health issue because age factor plays a crucial role in determining intensity and severity of any type of health loss. Hilton witnessed that their entire group was 32 years with a range of 19 to 57 years. Civilians were between 30 to 57 years, while active duty individuals ranged between 19 to 37 years. At first, the age factor point was missed out in this study and then they have not provided logical reason to back up this weakness. However, it should be appreciated that in the study the researchers have considered sampling of those individuals, whose previous medical data was available, whereas this fact has not been noticed in Hilton research study. The research design adopted in this study seems suitable as many other similar types of studies have evidenced similar structure and formatting. This study follows the structure that included abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion and conclusion. This is a common format followed by many researchers and scholars for their professional researches; for example, a study entitled "Sexual orientation and psychiatric vulnerability: A twin study of neuroticism and psychotocism" by Zitsch et al (2011) has used the same pattern and formatting structure, which indicates that adopted method in the study is commonly used and appropriate. However, in other studies different methods are adopted such as, Shield (2006) is comprised of thirteen chapters including introduction, definitions of deafness, prevalence of hearing impairment among adults in Europe, major studies of psychological effects of hearing loss, psychological effects of hearing loss, ownership of hearing AIDS, use of hearing AIDS, Satisfaction with hearing AIDS, Impact of hearing AIDS on overall quality of life, studies of costs of hearing impairment, employment, earning and discrimination at work, evaluation of costs to Europe of hearing loss, and finally discussion with conclusion. This long list of content from Shield study also helps identify and understand various shortcomings and limitations of the research study. For instance, it can be clearly observed that researchers of the study "Comparison of self-reported and audiometrically-measured hearing loss in the Australian Defense Force" should have added information about prevalence of hearing loss among Australian defense force. Impact of hearing loss on their performances, psychological impact of this health disorder, and AID programs from state government or concerned authorities to cater needs of the victims are some important areas, which could have added more detailed information to the study. Conclusion: Moreover, in the concluding section of the study, outcomes were presented in a table form with a range of different frequencies including binaural low frequency, better-era mid frequency, binaural mid-frequency, worse era mid-frequency, binaural high frequency and worse-ear high frequency. Statistical analysis of these frequencies with sample population was difficult to understand because in this study authors have not mentioned the results with respect to the manner they distributed sampling population. However, similar types of results are easily understandable in Hilton research article. Although, this study and Hilton article clearly reflect hear loss problem varies and increases with age factor, employment period and gender, but Hilton research finding are easy to understand because the author has explicitly calculated each outcome with binary logistic regression with separate numerical presentation of variables, odds ratio, confidence interval and p-value. Additionally, in the end it was clearly observed that no recommendations have been provided by professionals to assist needs and problems of Arm force individuals suffering from hear loss issues. Therefore, from the above critical analysis it can be observed that the way entire research study was searched, formatted and complied was commendable and adopted approaches can be witnessed from other studies as well. But, the result and discussion and most importantly a shortcoming in coverage of significant aspects was noticeable in comparison with other previous related studies. List of References American-Hearing, 2012. Noise Induced Hearing Loss. [Online] Available at: http://american-hearing.org/disorders/noise-induced-hearing-loss/ [Accessed 15 November 2012]. Barton, C. et al., 2012. Smoking prevalence, its determinants and short-term health implications in the Australian Defence Force. Centre for Military and Veterans' Health, 175(4), pp. 267-72.. Bleier, J., McFarlane, A. & McGuire, A., 2011. Risk of adverse health outcomes associated with frequency and duration of deployment with the Australian Defense Force.. Queensland Institute of Medical Research, pp. 139-46. Childrens Hearing, 2011. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://childrenshearing.org/custom/about_us.html [Accessed 15 November 2012]. Doa, T., Fischa, C. & Evoya, F., 2004. Susac Syndrome: Report of Four Cases and Review of the Literature. Academic Journal of Neuroradiology, Issue 25, pp. 382-388. Dornan, D., 2010. Outcomes for Young Children with Hearing Loss in an Auditory-Verbal Therapy Program, Queensland: The University of Queensland. Eckels, P., 2009. Investigation and literature review of unilateral hearing loss, Washington: Washington University School of Medicine. Evans, D. M., Kirk, K. M., Nyholt, D. R. & Carti, N. G., 2005. Teenage acne is influenced by genetic factors. British Journal of Dermatology, 152(3), pp. 579-581. Hilton, A., 2002. Occupationally Acquired Hearing Loss Among Civilian and Active Duty Fire Fighter, Texas: The University of Texas. Kirk, K., McGuire, A., Nasveld, P. & Treloar, S., 2012. Comparison of self-reported and audiometrically-measured hearing loss in the Australian Defence Force. International Journal of Audiology, 51(4), p. 294–298. Kitchener, S., Nasveld, P. & Edstein, M., 2007. Short Report: Tafenoquine for the Treatment of Recurrent Plasmodium Vivax Malaria. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg, 76(3), p. 494–496. Luciano, M., Kirk, K., Heath, A. & Martin, N., 2005. The genetics of tea and coffee drinking and preference for source of caffeine in a large community sample of Australian twins. Addiction, 100(10), pp. 1510-7. Shield, B., 2006. Evaluation of the Social and Economic Cost of Hearing Impairment, s.l.: Heart IT. Thorne, P., 2006. Noise Induced Hearing Loss, s.l.: Auckland Uniservice Limited. Waller, M., Treloar, S. & Sim, M., 2012. Traumatic events, other operational stressors and physical and mental health reported by Australian Defence Force personnel following peacekeeping and war-like deployments, s.l.: Waller et al. BMC Psychiatry. Zietsch, B. et al., 2011. Sexual orientation and psychiatric vulnerability: a twin study of neuroticism and psychoticism. Arch Sex Behav., 40(1), pp. 133-42. Read More