Research in multidisciplinary public health can be challenging. There can be serious tension generated among the participants in the research process concerning which approaches are best suitable for the research. Also, the choice of methods to be considered from a compendium of methods that best suits a study could be a herculean task to overcome owing to the differences in the interests and views of the various disciplines involved in public health research (Saks, 2013). This could result in a pyramid of research approaches where an approach is seen by professionals as more scientific and more relevant to public health than others. Research approaches have been observed in the past to have a vertical relationship with each other. In today’s multidisciplinary public health, there is a need to consider them as a spectrum having a horizontal rather than a vertical relationship. This could present a challenge to a new researcher in the field who does not know all the approaches are available and the best applicable to a study. Also, the experienced researcher who already has a particular approach of preference and considers others as inferior may not be applying the best approach available to a study owing to this bias. There is a need for researchers in public heath to be dexterous in research methodology by moving beyond the limits of one’s discipline and gaining skills in a spectrum of approaches available and probably use a blend of methods so as to effectively conduct research (Daly, 1997). As such, I will be discussing Ethnography and Participatory Action research approaches relevant to multidisciplinary public health. I will examine their theoretical and epistemological basis and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.
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...h-related action research, British Medical Journal, 320: 178 - 181
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Ethical violations committed on underprivileged populations first surfaced close to 50 years ago with the discovery of the Tuskegee project. The location, a small rural town in Arkansas, and the population, consisting of black males with syphilis, would become a startling example of research gone wrong. The participants of the study were denied the available treatment in order further the goal of the research, a clear violation of the Belmont Report principle of beneficence. This same problem faces researchers today who looking for an intervention in the vertical transmission of HIV in Africa, as there is an effective protocol in industrialized nations, yet they chose to use a placebo-contro...
Shi L. & Singh D.A. (2011). The Nation’s Health. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
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There are two types of research that can be conducted in research studies, these are qualitative and quantitative (Newman, 2011). Qualitative research is a process that uses detailed oriented methodology that tries to achieve a profound knowledge or understanding of specific incident and circumstance, wh...
Morris, C; Michie, V. (2011) Level 3 Health and Social Care Diploma: London, GBR: Hodder Education.
The type of data collection for a qualitative research study depends on the research design. The qualitative design itself originates out of the disciplines and flow throughout the process of research (Creswell, 2014). Creswell (2014) recommends narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, case study, and grounded theory as common qualitative research methods. These were recommended because of they are popular across the social and health and science research studies. Hays and Woods (2011) asserted that selecting a research tradition congruent with one's research orientation and study purpose, and at the same time, infusing it in all phases of qualitative inquiry, is one of the key criterions for trustworthiness of the research results. Hays and Woods (2011) recommends six qualitative research traditions, including ground theory, phenomenology, consensual qualitative research, ethnography, narratology, and participative action research. Indeed, while there are additional qualitative research methods available, scholars have identified these six qualitative traditions consistently or identified them as emerging and common methods of qualitative research (Hays & Woods, 2011).
Isabel Fletcher Sociology of Health & Illness Vol. xx No. x 2013 ISSN 0141-9889, pp. 1–16
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This essay will focus on one of these principles which support service users in having a voice and being heard. It will show why it is important for care workers to give services users the opportunity to have a voice and communicate their views and preferences together with the ability to convey their fears and concerns without being judged or discriminated against.
As social workers there will be numerous times in which one must do research on a certain topic or case they are working on. When conducting both qualitative and quantitative research, there is a logical sequence of events; both types articulating a clear problem statement must precede all other tasks (Yegidis, Weinbach, & Myers, 2012, p. 55). If one does not have a clear problem statement, then the results may not be exactly what one is looking to achieve. Time is a precious entity, whether you are a client, researcher, social worker, whatever the case; one must a clear research problem so that time is not wasted on other aspects that have nothing to do with the end result. Conducting research can be an intense process, in using the proper
Kevin White pp: 5-8k introduction to sociology of health and illness second edition books.goole.co.uk accessed 11-04-2014
In the previous chapters I discussed the problem of the lack of healthy eating promotion programs in schools are leaving parents and students uneducated about how to purchase healthy items which is leading to childhood obesity. I also discussed how the problem is being addressed, as well as the theory of social constructionism. In this chapter, I will discuss the specific methodology I plan to use and the three different types of data collection I plan to employ to carry out my study. This study will use a qualitative approach to study and address the issue of the lack of healthy eating promotion in schools. The three types of data collection I plan to use are: direct observation, focus groups and a questionnaire. These methods will be clarified later in this chapter.
Purdy, M and Banks, D (2001) The sociology and politics of health: A Reader, Routledge Press