Health Methodology

Health Methodology

Title

The following methodology is about to design a research study to figure out whether tobacco smoke increase the level of stress in the regular smoker or not. To conduct the research in a refined manner, following methodology is defined to carry out the research.

Objective

Following are the research objectives of the study on which the methodology is based on;

Was it a single stress factor or multiple stress factors?

Did stress levels actually alleviated after 'x' number of years of smoking?

Were there any other modes of relieving stress along with smoking?

What factors made the smoker decide that smoke can relief stress?

What does the smoker believes-does the benefit of smoking outweigh the hazardous effects of smoking or vice versa?

Methodological Approach

Mixed methodology is a research orientation that possesses unique purposes and techniques. It integrates techniques from quantitative and qualitative paradigms to tackle research questions that can be best addressed by mixing these two traditional approaches. As long as 40 years ago, scholars noted that quantitative and qualitative research were not antithetical and that every research process, through practical necessity, should include aspects of both quantitative and qualitative methodology. Therefore, this entry is grounded in the work of these scholars (Sandford, 2008, pp. 223-36). This entry provides a historical overview of mixed methods as a paradigm for research, establishes differences between quantitative and qualitative designs, shows how qualitative and quantitative methods can be integrated to address different types of research questions, and illustrates some implications for using mixed methods. Though still new as an approach to research, mixed methods design is expected to soon dominate the social and behavioral sciences.

The objective of social science research is to understand the complexity of human behavior and experience. The task of the researcher, whose role is to describe and explain this complexity, is limited by his or her methodological repertoire. As tradition shows, different methods often are best applied to different kinds of research. Having the opportunity to apply various methods to a single research question can broaden the dimensions and scope of that research and perhaps lead to a more precise and holistic perspective of human behavior and experience. Research is not knowledge itself, but a process in which knowledge is constructed through step-by-step data gathering.

Data are gathered most typically through two distinct classical approaches—qualitative and quantitative. The use of both these approaches for a single study, although sometimes controversial, is becoming more widespread in social science. Methods are really “design” components that include the following: (a) the relationship between the researcher and research “subjects,” (b) details of the experimental environment (place, time, etc.), (c) sampling and data collection methods, (d) data analysis strategies, and (e) knowledge dissemination. The design of a study thus leads to the choice of method strategy (Costa & Mossialos, 2006, pp. 77-100). The framework for a study, then, depends on the phenomenon being studied, with the participants and relevant theories informing the research design. Most study designs today need to include both quantitative and qualitative methods ...