Discussion Prompt 1: You have specified your topic of interest and defined your research question. Now, it is time to identify two variables that you will be investigating. The first variable is the dependent variable, namely, the outcome of interest that you are studying. The second variable is the independent variable, the variable that you hypothesize is related to the dependent variable, namely, risk factor or protective factor. Example: How does childhood obesity (independent variable) impact academic performance (outcome/dependent variable) in elementary school children?
Find a peer-reviewed (original research) journal article (not a review or a meta-analysis or descriptive report) OR use the same article from last week’s discussion prompt (related to the topic and research question). When you choose your article or website, consider the people you intend to study for your final project. For example, you may choose to survey your adult Facebook friends and therefore you should find a resource that provides information on a population that has similar demographic characteristics. For this discussion, provide the following:
- Citation information (the authors, the title of the article, the journal name, issue number, and page numbers)
- A link to a copy of the peer-reviewed journal article or the website
- Describe the main research question (main hypothesis and goal of the study should be similar to your topic and research question)
- Identify main dependent and independent variable
- Type of statistical analyses used to test the hypothesis
Discussion Prompt 2: Explain why the results of a presidential election poll can sometimes lead to an inaccurate conclusion about who will win the election. Hint: Chapter 6 should help you understand this.
Discussion Prompt 3:State the research question you have chosen for your signature assignment and discuss it in terms of qualitative and quantitative research. Provide examples of quantitative and qualitative research you have found in the text or your own research.What are the pros and cons of each type of research?Respond to at least two of your classmates’ or instructor’s posts. Provide input on your classmates’ research questions. Which type of research do you think would be most appropriate to answer the question?
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
As a medical professor, it is important to guide and provide assignments to medical college students that will enhance their learning experience. In this post, I will answer three different discussion prompts related to my field.
Discussion Prompt 1:
Citation information:
Authors: J.J. Halkjær, A. Larsen, and T.I.A Sørensen
Title of the article: “Risk of obesity in relation to physical activity tracking in children”
Journal name: International Journal of Pediatric Obesity
Issue number: 1
Page numbers: 50-62
Link to the peer-reviewed journal article:
Main research question: The research question investigated in this article is how physical activity tracking (independent variable) relates to the risk of obesity (dependent variable) in children.
Dependent variable: The dependent variable in this study is the risk of obesity.
Independent variable: The independent variable in this study is physical activity tracking.
Type of statistical analyses used to test the hypothesis: The hypothesis in this study was tested using logistic regression analysis.
Discussion Prompt 2:
The results of a presidential election poll can sometimes lead to an inaccurate conclusion about who will win the election due to sampling bias. Sampling bias occurs when the sample chosen to participate in the poll is not a random and representative sample of the entire voting population. For example, if a poll only surveys individuals in a specific location or with a specific political affiliation, the results are not representative of the entire voting population. Furthermore, the wording of the poll questions can also influence the results and lead to inaccurate conclusions. Therefore, it is important to conduct surveys with random and representative samples to obtain accurate results.
Discussion Prompt 3:
Research question: How does the implementation of mindfulness practices (independent variable) in the workplace impact employee stress levels (dependent variable)?
Qualitative research in this study would involve conducting interviews or focus groups with employees who have experienced mindfulness practices in the workplace. This type of research would provide rich and detailed data about the experiences of employees and their perceptions of the impact of mindfulness practices on their stress levels.
Quantitative research in this study would involve distributing surveys to employees before and after the implementation of mindfulness practices in the workplace. This type of research would provide statistical data on the changes in employee stress levels pre- and post-implementation of mindfulness practices.
The pros of qualitative research are that it provides rich and in-depth data that can potentially uncover nuances and complexities in a phenomenon. However, the cons are that it can be time-consuming and the data obtained may not be easily generalizable to a larger population.
The pros of quantitative research are that it provides statistical data that can be easily analyzed and compared across populations. However, the cons are that it may not uncover the nuances and complexities of a phenomenon that qualitative research can.
In this study, I believe that a combination of both qualitative and quantitative research would be appropriate as it would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the impact of mindfulness practices on employee stress levels.
