Wednesday, February 8, 2017

In class work for 2/6 + 2/8 AND Extra Credit Selfie with Professor

EXTRA CREDIT SELFIE
1A. Graham, R., Rivara, F. P., Ford, M. A., & Spicer, C. M. (2014). Sports-Related                              Concussions in Youth: Improving the Science, Changing the Culture . Retrieved                    February 6, 2017.
1B. Mixed-Methods
1C. The authors of this article use this method by conducting their research to get a quantitative result. They use this method in order to determine the sports throughout the U.S. that result in the most concussions. They chose this method because they were specifically trying to find a quantitative result instead of qualitative one.
1D. The result of this study found that in men, the sports with the highest concussion rate was football, lacrosse, and wrestling, while in women, the highest concussion rate was found in lacrosse and basketball. Using mixed-methods, enabled the researchers to find an exact quantitative result for their study.
1E. What I found interesting in this article was the rate at which military servicemen suffered concussions during their hand-to-hand combat training.

2A. Wasserman, E. B., Bazarian, J. J., Mapstone, M., Block, R., & Wijngaarden, E. V. (n.d.).               Academic Dysfunction After a Concussion Among US High School and College                     Students. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
2B. Grounded Theory
2C. The authors of this article use grounded-theory by making observations, tests, and interviews and then conducting their own theories pertaining to concussions in high school athletes. They probably chose this method because conducting their studies before hand enabled them to make a more precise theory.
2D. Their research found that students who suffered a concussion when playing a sport had some academic dysfunction the first week and month following the injury. Using grounded theory let the researchers to interview and test students first before making their theory.
2E. One interesting thing I found in this study is that even though it is a "cohort study" it fits the description of grounded theory, therefore other studies like this one might be able to utilize different research methods in the future.


3A. Weaver, L. J., & Made, S. V. (2015, November 11). Type 2 Diabetes and                  Anxiety Symptoms Among Women in New Delhi, India. Retrieved                      January 29, 2017.                                                           
3B. My method is Theory
3C. In this article, the authors use theory as the basis of their research. They are testing to see if there is a link between diabetes and its effects on anxiety and depression. This theory is a basis idea that has come about in people who have experienced greater anxiety or depression as they have found they have diabetes. This method enables them to do specific research because they have a question that they need to answer. This method over others, was a better choice because they already had a basis. They chose to do this method because they had a topic and wanted to dive in deeper to see what the actual link between the two was. 
3D. The conclusion is that "Screening for anxiety among people with diabetes has been overlooked in the past. Anxiety appears more prevalent than depression, especially during the first 2 years of the disease." They were able to come up with this conclusion because of the prevalence that the case has. 
3E. One thing I discovered was that depression is more prevalent, but less known than anxiety. 

4A. Wu, L. T., & Anthony, J. C. (1999). Tobacco smoking and depressed mood in late childhood                   and early adolescence. American Journal of Public Health, 89(12), 1837-1840. 
4B. Case Controlled
4C.  This is an example of a cohort and case controlled study because the individuals who are conducting the research are looking at what causes the subjects to develop either smoking or depression. This method enables them to see which factor has more of an effect on developing the other, meaning if smoking has an influence on the development of depression or if already having depression has an affect on the development of smoking. This specific type of study looks at the correlation between two factors.
4D.   The conclusion of this study was that of those children who began smoking tobacco it was found that a statistically significant amount of individuals also developed a depressed mood within a one year period of beginning to smoke. There was not a statistically significant amount of adolescents who began smoking after having already developed a depressed mood. This method enabled them to come to this conclusion because case studies are based around finding a correlation. In this case there was a correlation between smoking causing depression and not a correlation between depression causing smoking.
4E.  One interesting thing I discovered while reading this article was that there is evidence to suggest that smoking tobacco does make an individual a greater risk for developing depression. Although, having depression does not make an individual more likely to smoke tobacco



5A. Frerichs, R. R., Aneshensel, C. S., Clark, V. A., & Yokopenic, P. (1981). Smoking and depression: a community survey. American Journal of Public Health, 71(6), 637-640. doi:10.2105/ajph.71.6.637
5B.  Phenomenology
5C. The authors have used this method of phenomenology because they have collected data through the study of interviews. These interviews are used to find out the experience of the individuals who smoke and if they have developed depression. This is not a trial to see if people will develop depression, it is simply inquiring about each person’s experience with the two factors. This interview method enables the researchers to collect data that will answer research questions without having to have subjects in a trial.
5D. The conclusion of this study is that those individuals who smoke tobacco did have a higher rate of developing depression than those who did not smoke. This method assisted in reaching this conclusion by keeping the study up to ethical standards. No one was asked to begin smoking to find the answer to the research question. The data was collected through interviews about a willing subjects personal experience.
5E. An interesting thing about this article is that nonsmokers have a much lower risk of developing depression. This suggests that one unhealthy habit can lead to a difficult mental illness. 

Monday, February 6, 2017

Research Diary #1 audio

Friday, February 3, 2017

This site kind of helped me when I had trouble trying to site my journal. I was a little confused on what format to use for APA, whether it was in Journal or Website format, and this page showed me how to site it better in APA.

Research Journal #1


What was the process by which you narrowed down potential topics to two appropriate ones? And how were these decisions made on the basis of either class discussion, or our required course textbook (Aveyard 2014), or both?
At the beginning of this research project, I knew I wanted to write about something that had to do with sports. Whether it pertained to effects on the body when training or something that had to do with injuries. I narrowed my topics down to psychological effects after suffering an injury in the NFL and effects on academic success when suffering a concussion for high school athletes. I decided to continue with high school athletes based on the amount and variety of the articles I was finding on the topic.

What research question did you choose, and how can I be sure you're making a reasoned, academic judgment on the basis of chapters 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?
I chose to study the effects of concussions on high school athletes because I was able to find several peer-reviewed articles and was able to find several keywords that linked me to other scholarly articles on the topic.


What article (or articles) are you basing this question on, and what type of article is it (research, theory, policy, practice) (citation[s] in APA, please)? 
Research Article---> Qualitative Research/Grounded Theory

Wasserman, E. B., Bazarian, J. J., Mapstone, M., Block, R., & Wijngaarden, E. V. (2016). Academic Dysfunction After a Concussion Among US High School and College Students. Retrieved January 27, 2016.

How can I be sure that the key vocabulary of the question corresponds not only to literature in the field, but also to chapter 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)? 
I can be sure it corresponds with the literature by using the key term "public health" and using other key terms that are consistent with finding good peer-reviewed articles.

How do you define your key terms, and how do these definitions link to key journals in the field?
Public Health= the health of the population as a whole, especially as monitored, regulated, and promoted by the state.

Adolescent= in the process of developing from a child into an adult.

Concussion=temporary unconsciousness caused by a blow to the head. The term is also used loosely of the aftereffects such as confusion or temporary incapacity.

Dysfunction=deviation from the norms of social behavior in a way regarded as bad; abnormality or impairment in the function of a specified bodily organ or system.

Did anything unexpected happen? From you initial search, does it appear as though your research question will work? Or does the vocabulary and/or type of research sought need to be changed?
Nothing unexpected has happened thus far in my research. I really like my topic and think that so far, it works fine. I'm sure I'll have to change it a little bit at some point but for now, it works with the types of research we have talked about in class and the key terms I am using help me find other articles that I can use.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Choosing A Topic

My research question I'm going to begin with is do concussions suffered by high school athletes have an effect on their academic success and how? Asides from this, I wanted to research brain trauma in NFL players after their career but I couldn't find enough peer reviewed articles that provided adequate information. I stuck with my topic question because I was able to find several peer reviewed articles regarding academic disfunction in high school athletes. I was interested in writing about this topic because as a high school athlete, I sometimes wondered what kind of effect getting a concussion has on your brain. I've only ever suffered one concussion, however i didn't recall any academic disfunction following the injury, but I would like to learn more about that specific public health issue. Some key words that I have found that kind of guided my research thus far were brain trauma, adolescent, concussion, and athlete. One of the articles I found regarding my topic was "Academic Dysfunction After a Concussion Among US High School and College Students" from the American Journal of Public Health. This article talks about talks about how concussions affect the teenage learning processes and how the concussions affect them "at 1 week and 1 month after injury" (Wasserman, Bazarian, Mapstone, Block, Wijngaarden 2016). I really look forward to researching this topic because it effects me, my family, and my friends if one so happens to suffer a concussion in their life.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

I chose this picture to post because it kinda portrays a good image of how stressful this research process can be. I don/t know about you guys, but trying to get this audio file on here was already kind of stressful.