Posted: February 2nd, 2015

Smoking Cessation in Female Adult

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

 
Research Methodology Design and Process MOD001742

A research report justifying the need to complete an audit or research study on a topic related to your practice. You will need to describe your strategy for searching various sources of evidence, including a critical evaluation of the types of audit and/or research designs and data collection methods others have used to examine your topic (6000 words).

Assignment Guidelines

This assignment is a report which critiques published research data in regards to a subject related to your profession, from these discussions a gap in knowledge will be identified which justifies a proposal for future research. You will need to describe your strategy for searching various sources of evidence, including a critical evaluation of the types of audit and/or research designs and data collection methods others have used to examine your topic.

To complete this assignment successfully it is strongly recommended that you follow the guidance provided below. You will be allocated a ‘supervisor’ for you assignment and you are entitled to one hour of tutorial support, this may be provided face to face, by email or telephone.

1) Identify an area of interest related to study/practice area which to research/audit.

If you work in health or social care you should identify a topic which is of interest to you and is related to your area of practice.
If you are a public health student you should identify a topic of public health interest.

***IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT YOU ARE NOT UNDERTAKING A RESEARCH PROJECT BUT IDENTIFYING AN AREA WHICH REQUIRES FURTHER RESEARCH***

2) Justify why you think research in your chosen area would be useful

You will need to provide a rationale for your choice of topic to do this you may consider factors such as the prevalence and incidence of a condition (if relevant), and possibly the economic and/or social costs to the organization, individual, workforce or society in general

You could consider if there have been changes around your topic due to recent policy changes (internationally, nationally or locally), new guidelines issued, or budget changes, changes in demography, a new public health issue, or recent coverage in the media. (Learning Outcome 5)

3) Outline search strategy used to identify sources of research already conducted in the topic area, justifying range of sources used.

What search terms and data bases did you use and why? What process did you go through to narrow your search initially?

4) Critically examine the range of research designs and data collection methods used by others to examine the topic area

This is NOT a review of all the available literature. You must identify previous primary research that has been conducted in the topic area- this means only using journal articles or books which present research data. You are looking at the published research done by others and the research designs and data collection methods they used to investigate your area of interest. You must then evaluate the strengths and weaknesses and compare and contrast the different research studies. For this you may find it useful to use a critical appraisal tool (some are available on VLE or you can identify a different one if you prefer). It is imperative that you critically analyze the research studies- you are not just describing what the authors did. (Learning Outcomes 1, 2 & 3)

5) Critically reflect on the impact of the identified previous research on the development of policy and practice in the subject area.

You need to consider the extent to which previous research has influenced the development of policy and practice in your area of interest. You could consider the barriers (if any) to implementing research findings or recommendations. (Learning Outcome 5)

6) Suggest an appropriate research design/data collection method for further research in the topic area.

Having looked at other research in this area suggest a further research project which you think would be useful to undertake to enhance the evidence base. You must include a rationale as to why you are choosing a qualitative or quantitative methodology, justify your choice of research method, and consider the ethical issues of undertaking further research. (Learning Outcomes 3 & 4)

All your work must be appropriately referenced and follow the University guidelines for referencing and presentation.