Health Methodology - Research Paper Example

Health Research Methodology Name Course Instructor’s Name Institution Date Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Critique of Title 4 Critique of Authors 4 Critique of Abstract 5 Critique of introduction/rationale of the study 5 Critique of literature review 6 Critique of Research Aim, Questions and Key Concepts 6 Critique of ethical considerations 7 Critique of methodology (Theoretical Approach) 7 Critique of methods: Data collection instrument and procedures 7 Critique of Methods: Study participants and Sampling 8 Critique of data analysis 8 Critique of Findings/Results 8 Critique of conclusions 9 Critique of presentation 9 Summary of critique 9 References 10 Introduction Critiquing research studies is not only necessary but also very essential in order to ensure that those studying the research are able to understand the terminologies and demystify the methods used in the studies. Most of the quantitative and qualitative research studies necessitate that readers do so critically to help understand the significance of the research. This work will identify one past health research study which will be critically analyzed. In doing so, the critique will ensure any health student or worker will apply the best practice when using information from this research. The critique will also ensure that most if not all the terminologies, methods and processes used in this research are well interpreted and outlined. Critiquing is systematically analyzing the terms and components of a research study while considering its strengths and limitations. This document will engage critical analysis on an article by the title Users’ views of prison health services: A qualitative study by Condon, et al. It will show clear and robust evaluation of the above study. As per the title of the study, the research was a qualitative study that was conducted to establish prisoner’s views on health services being offered in prisons. The study was indeed conducted to show the experiences and observations by prisoners on health care provided to them by nurses and how they took are of their own health while in prison. The article shows whether the health needs of prisoners were fully met and what duration it was before they were met. The critique has been organized in several sections. It includes the table of contents, introduction, critique on all the parts of the research and summary of the critique. The table of contents outlines all the sections in the study as per their headings. The introduction contains an overview of the work, its purpose, introduces the topic of the article being considered and also summarizes the organization of this document. The body contains critical analysis of the study while the summary of the critique shows the quality and usefulness of the research. Critique of Title The title; Users’ views of prison health services: A qualitative study contains several keywords. The first is "user’s views" which shows that the healthcare research study includes the perceptions on prisoners only. The second keyword in the title is "health services" which indicates that the study was specific and dealt only with provision of services regarding physical conditions. Finally, the title indicates that the research conducted was a "qualitative study" which outlines that the research dealt with quality. In summary, the title of the study can therefore be considered as strong enough for the study since it sums up the contents and purpose of the study. The title also contains between less than 15 words which is the required average. Critique of Authors The research was conducted and written by Louise Condon, Gill Hek (deceased), Francesca Harris, Jane Powell, Terry Kemple and Sally Price. They held different positions at the time of the research but their experience and education backgrounds proved a great importance in the research. The authors included two health research nurses, a senior lecturer in health economics, a general practitioner, a reader in nursing research and a consultant midwife. They contained widespread knowledge in the area since they came from different field of the health sector which was strength in the study. The authors had the necessary qualifications, skills and ability to conduct the research. The study did include other author contributions from other personalities who helped collect data, revise the paper, draft the manuscript and also supervise the process of conducting the study. These contributions improved the credibility of the study and variety of knowledge included in it. The authors also did strengthen the study and its credibility by referring from other sources such as medical journals, books and other sources to ensure the information in the research study was relevant and as per code of ethics in health studies. Therefore, the authors followed the required steps when conducting the study. Critique of Abstract The abstract contains the title, aim, background, method, findings, conclusion and keywords. These contents of the abstract provide a succinct overview of the study. This to a great extent does help a reader to determine whether this study is what he/she required so as to decide to continue reading or not. The contents of the abstract indicate that purpose of the study was to show the perceptions by prisoners on health services that are provided in provisions and states that the study method used was semi-structured interviews. The abstract also contains information on how the prisoners were selected and the findings of the research which are vital to improve the believability of the study. Critique of introduction/rationale of the study An introduction should present the research problem that led to the study being conducted. The authors indicate this in the introduction where they outline that provision of health services differs around the world. This affects the quality and standards of health services provided in prisons around the world. According to Condon et al, the study was conducted to contribute to heath care services in prisons by showing their quality providing a chance for the improvement in their quality and reduce the inequalities that occur during provision of these services. The purpose of the study becomes clear in this part since the introduction states that the standards of health services were measured from users’ views which show that the main goal of the study was to determine the perceptions of prisoners on health services. Critique of literature review In keeping with Smith (2010), the literature review should define and explain the research question and identify the method of data collection. The literature review outlines prior qualitative studies and literature indicated that imprisonment brings about worsening of health but this hasn’t matched an equal amount of researcher of how prisoners view health services provided in prison. This did leave a gap that needed to be filled by the study. The introduction identifies several previous literatures that have been conducted but has left this gap. The literature review is robustly organized since it indicates the methods used in the study and the research stated has been of recent origin. Epidemiological approaches were used and a few studies used qualitative research designs. However, this literature review had a weakness because it does not compare and contrast the findings of the studies stated and it doesn’t outline the type of literature used. Critique of Research Aim, Questions and Key Concepts The study clearly states that the aim of the research is to survey the prisoners’ views about the health care in prisons. It also states some key concepts that are discussed in the rest if the study. Condo et al identify key concepts such as the target population which is remand prisoners, juvenile offenders and sentenced prisoners. The research contains study questions and prompts that were to be answered by the prisoners during interviews. Critique of ethical considerations According to Brink et al (2007), any study should be conducted according to some code of ethics. The study describes some ethical considerations that were considered during the research. Research approval was obtained from a NHS Multi-centre Research Ethics Committee and also other Local Ethics Research Committees that were relevant. Participants were fully aware that such nature of research was being conducted on them and signed a written consent. Prisoners were also assured of confidentiality of their information and identity before commence of the research study. The prisoners were therefore protected from any harm that may arise from disclosure of the information. Critique of methodology (Theoretical Approach) In keeping with Polit & Beck (2004), the methodology section should clearly show the research design to be used in the study. L. Condon et al state that in-depth semi structured interviews were used during the study. A qualitative approach was implemented in the research. After completion of the study, a validity and reliability was conducted to see if the findings represented the prison population as a whole. However, the reliability test proved that the final sample didn’t represent the entire population of the prison since some demographic details were different from general population of the population. On the other hand, the design used gives confidence in the accuracy of the findings since it ensured confidentiality throughout the study. Critique of methods: Data collection instrument and procedures According to M. Coughlan et al, the researchers should outline the methods, procedures and instruments used to collect data in this section. Researchers used instruments such as audiotapes. They researchers conducted interviews in which questions were different and lasted about twenty to sixty minutes. The audiotapes improved the credibility and validity of the study since they could be used as future reference incase there were doubts on the regarding. Critique of Methods: Study participants and Sampling Any research study has to outline the participants, how they were selected as samples and whether they were aware about research being conducted on them. According to L. Condon et al, the study participants were prisoners (remand, juvenile offenders and sentenced prisoners). However, they did not show the method that was used to get the sample. This would have been the reason that weakened the reliability and validity of its findings. Critique of data analysis In accordance with Cutcliffe & Ward (2007), the statistical methods used to break down of data collected should be well outlined here to provide information on how the findings were arrived at. The study indicates that thematic analysis was used within an analytical framework that had been developed by Ritchie and Spencer (1994). Data analysis was conducted in several stages e.g. coding and sorting the collected data. This strengthened in the study because it helped identify the themes that were dominant from the data set. The findings from this data analysis were indeed appropriate and significant since it outlined the whole process from becoming a prisoner to becoming a patient while in prison and then to provision of health services. Critique of Findings/Results The findings of the study indeed did answer the research question outlined in the literature review. On the other hand they did not provide generalizability of the results because the percentages used in the research did not much the population of the prisons. For instance, L. Condon et al state that 9% of the samples were women who were over represented. The study found that at all stages, how prisoners accessed health services affected how much a prisoner did exercise autonomy. Critique of conclusions The researchers concluded that a lot more needs to be done in order to ensure that there isn’t any lack of autonomy regarding the ability of prisoners to ensure that their needs in health care are catered for. This conclusion may be regarded as unbiased because it was arrived at after a thorough process of data collection and analysis. The researchers also in this section conclude that those prisoners with long-term conditions need to be investigated. The conclusion also shows that user’s views are very important in ensuring the national health-care standards are met. Critique of presentation The whole process of the research is well arranged and outlined by the authors. The researchers used diagrammatic representation and codes to present their findings. This provided readers with easy ways of analyzing the numeric data collected and used in the study. Summary of critique The critique has successfully provided an impersonal scrutiny of the research study. It has critically analyzed and highlighted whether the research is trustworthy by showing its strengths and weaknesses. It includes detailed information about all parts of the study showing whether it is reliable for application by nurses. References Brink, H., Van, . W. C., & Van, R. G. (2007). Fundamentals of research methodology for health care professionals. Kenwyn: Juta. Condon, L., Hek, G., Harris, F., Powell, J., Kemple, T., & Price, S. (2007). Users’ views of prison health services: a qualitative study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 58(3), 216-226. Coughlan, M., Cronin, P., & Ryan, F. (2007). Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 1: quantitative research. British Journal of Nursing, 16(11), 658-663. Cutcliffe, J. R., & Ward, M. F. (2007). Critiquing nursing research. London: Quay Books Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2004). Nursing research: Principles and methods. Philadelphia, Penns: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Ryan, F., Coughlan, M., & Cronin, P. (2007). Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 2: qualitative research. British Journal of Nursing, 16(12), 738-745. Smith, J. A. (2010). Interpretative phenomenological analysis. Existential Analysis: Journal of the Society for Existential Analysis, 21(2). Read More