Qualitative, Quantitative and mixed research - Case Study Example

Qualitative, Quantitative and mixed research It is clear from the review of the literature on the public health issue, that there is lacking study that provides evident as to whether obesity among children under five years to ten years of age is linked to cardiovascular diseases. From the literature, it is only but Graziano et al. (2011) who conducted a study on 141 girls and 127 boys to evaluate how childhood obesity can be predicted by cardiovascular regulations. However, in this study, the researcher used a study population of boys and girls within the age limit six and twelve and the key objective was ascertaining if there was a significant difference between the African American Children and the white American children. This, thus imply that race was the main subject under scrutiny. In this respect, the researcher showed that only AA children displayed association between cardiovascular regulation, BMI growth, and childhood obesity. As much as the researcher conclusively showed that poor cardiovascular regulations can be a serious risk factor for the development of obesity, the complete mechanism of this link could not be assessed by this study (Graziano et al., 2011). It is therefore prudent to set up a research that investigate if there was an association between obesity and cardiovascular diseases among children within the age range five to ten but not limited to African American children. It is also evidenced from the literature so far explored that there is lacking research to ascertain if age is a factor as far as childhood obesity cases are concerned. Clearly, most researchers tend to focus on other factors as gender, and genetics providing little information on how different age groups among children differed significantly or not. For instance, it is cited that Childhood obesity is increasing at the alarming rate worldwide with America alone having 17% obese children and adolescent between the age of 2 and 19. This studies show that although genetic compositions are still regarded as major contributor, obesity among children has almost doubled in recent years indicating change in lifestyle as an important reason. In another separate study, which used a minimum of 30 students from 134 high schools of America, the study population was classified according to region, size, ethnicity, and curriculum. This study evaluated the influence of physical activities, sedentary activities, and dietary habits on AA childhood obesity. Results, as recorded by Dodor et al. (2010) in this article, state that low physical activities and high sedentary lifestyle increase body weight and obesity in the adolescents. Also, greater intake of fruits and vegetable reduce obesity. However, this study did not establish any relation between different age groups children in relation to obesity. One or two statements concerning age as a factor were mentioned however, there is no detailed study that focused on age as a dominant factor among children. This paper thus, proposes a research to be conducted to ascertain if obesity significantly changes as children transform from toddlers to adolescence. In the proposed study seeking to ascertain if there existed an association between obesity and cardiovascular diseases among children within the age range five to ten but not limited to African American children, the researcher should employ a quantitative research method. In social sciences, quantitative research is used to refer to systematic investigation of a phenomenon through a computation technique (Briffa, Osborn & Schweingruber, 2001). The aim of the quantitative research is to employ and come up with mathematical theories or models that pertain to the phenomena (Dodor, Shelley & C.O. Hausafus, 2010). Measurement processes are key elements as far as quantitative research is concerned since they provide fundamental connections linking mathematical expressions and empirical observations. Therefore, quantitative research is used in analyzing numerical data. In respect to this study, the researcher would employ surveys, laboratory experiments, as numerical methods, to help realize the objective. This means the data collected shall be analyzed surveys shall be analyzed using the relevant quantitative techniques with a view to confirm if data provides enough prove to warrant a conclusion that there is a link between obesity and cardiovascular diseases among children within the age range five to ten but not limited to African American children. This design method shall be appropriate given an array its practical advantages. The method often involves the validation and testing of the theories that already existed and helps in tasting of the hypotheses which was constructed before data collection. However, its shortcomings are that it can lead to generalization of data especially if the data obtained is based on the random sufficient samples and categories used by the researcher may fail to indicate the understanding of the local constituency. Moreover, the focus on the testing of the hypothesis may make a researcher to miss out the occurring phenomena. This, thus means a researcher would be keen when using it to avoid collecting data with errors. In the second proposed research, the researcher shall employ a rather a mixed method design. This method combines qualitative and quantitative methods to collecting, reporting and interpreting data. Types of mixed method designs are explanatory, exploratory, and triangulation (Hunter & Erin, 2008). In the explanatory design, the quantitative data are collected first with qualitative data collection following. For Exploratory design, qualitative data are collected first with quantitative data collection following. In Triangulation method quantitative and qualitative data are collected at the same time to help in providing a somewhat more comprehensive but complete set of data. This research design is appropriate for this research since it incorporates the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Moreover, it provides a more comprehensive view of the phenomena being studied and does not limit the data being collected. However, the use of this method demands that the researcher need to have expertise in both methods since the method requires extensive data collection and resources. References Hunter, L., & Erin, L., 2008. Collaborative Research in Sociology: Trends and Contributing Factors. American Sociologist 39:290–306. Dodor, B.A., Shelley, M.C. & C.O. Hausafus. (2010). Adolescents’ health behaviors and obesity: Does race affect this epidemic? Nutrition Research and Practice, 4(6), 528-534. Graziano, P.A. et al. (September, 2011). Cardiovascular Regulation Profile Predicts Developmental Trajectory of BMI and Pediatric Obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring), 19(9), 1818-1825. Read More