The Perceptions by the University Students of Alcohol Energy Drinks - Assignment Example

ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF A PUBLISHED RESEARCH STUDY By Name Institution Lecturer Course Date Adapted McMasters Critical Review Form – Qualitative Studies Study Purpose: Was the purpose and/or research question stated clearly? Yes Outline the purpose of the study and/or research question: This study was aimed at investigating the perceptions university students and their experience with alcohol energy drinks (AEDs). This aim was guided by the prominence of and increased consumption of AEDs by young adults, which are known to have serious negative effects including aggressiveness and high levels of intoxication that lead to blackouts, non-consensual sex and hospital admission (Jones, Barrie & Berry 2012). How does the study apply to nursing practice or patient care? This study applies to the branch of nursing known as community health nursing, whose main aim is to ensure healthy communities by providing information that supports healthy lifestyles. One of the main roles of community healthcare nursing, as outlined by Sines (2005, p. 1968) is to tackle lifestyle issues, of which alcohol misuse is a common lifestyle issues facing several members of the community. Accordingly, since this study is about tackling the problem of AEDs misuse, by young adults, it clearly fits into the practice of community healthcare nursing. Literature: Was relevant background literature reviewed? Yes Describe the justification of the need for this study. Was it clear and compelling? Literature review highlighted various characteristics, consumption behaviours and negative impacts of AEDs. From the literature reviewed in the study, it is clear that AEDs have serious negative impacts yet they are highly consumed despite the fact that there is little marketing, if any, done to promote them. This being the case, the current study wished to answer the following question, what is driving increased AEDs consumption by young adults? Although previous studies had investigated the negative impacts of AEDs, none of them had investigated drivers for the consumption of AEDs, and this formed the justification of the current study. This justification is very clear and compelling because anyone would be interested in knowing why young people will be so attracted to a product that is not advertised yet it has serious negative impacts. Design: What was the methodology/design used? Phenomenology was used as the methodology for the study Was the design appropriate for the study question (ie: rationale)? Explain: Phenomenology facilitates the understanding of the life experience of a person (Heppner et al. 2008). Accordingly, the use of this research design facilitated the understanding of experience of the students with AEDs consumption, which means it was appropriate for the study. Method(s) used: Focus groups Describe the method(s) used to answer the research question The researchers used four focus groups and each focus group was comprised of 4-6 university students. The researchers then used a structured interview to guide the discussions of the focus groups, which lasted for about one hour. Discussions involved students’ knowledge, perception and experience with AEDs. Do the methods used in the study fit with the chosen methodology/ design? The authors provide the rationale behind use of focus groups indicating that focus groups are particularly useful and appropriate when investigating social phenomena. This is particularly so because focus groups help the researcher to uncover some themes and issues using social interaction with the study group, which other methodologies may not be able to uncover. Since the issue on the current study is a social phenomenon issue (recreational drinking), the researchers decided to use focus groups. This claim, by the researchers, is further supported by Hardina (2013), Byers, Zeller & Byers (2002) and Hennink (2008), who claim that focus groups enable study subjects to be open, which makes it easy to explore social themes. Therefore, the method used (focus groups) was appropriate for the study and fit the chosen methodology. Sampling: Was the process of participant selection described? Yes Describe the sampling methods used (ie: how were potential participants identified for and recruited to the study?) The researchers started by providing posters to invite students to participate in a study about alcohol use. A $30 gift voucher was offered and several students turned up for the study. The researchers conducted screening to ensure that study participants were students from the university and that they were aged between 18 and 25 years, which the researchers described as the age comprising young adults. Screening was also done to ensure that study participants were social alcohol drinkers. Was the sampling method appropriate to the study purpose and/or research question? Since the study was about investigating the knowledge, perception and experience with AEDs among young adults, this sampling was appropriate because it ensured only appropriate study subjects were used for the study. Additionally, screening to ensure that only social alcohol drinkers participated in the study was useful in realising the study purpose especially with respect to experience with AEDs since only people who had taken AEDs could be able to engage in a discussion about their experience with the products. Was sampling done until saturation in data was reached? Not Addressed Are the participants described in adequate detail? No, the participants are not described in adequate. For instance the researchers do not indicate the number of students with these years and so on. Was informed consent obtained? Yes Is ethics approval for the study stated? Yes, researchers indicate that the University’s Human Research Ethics Committee approved the study protocol Data Collection Descriptive Clarity - Clear & complete description of: Study site/setting: Yes Participants: Yes Role of the researcher & relationship with participants: Yes Identification of assumptions & biases of the researcher(s): No Describe the context of the study. Was it sufficient for understanding the ‘whole’ issue/picture? The study was not sufficient for understanding the ‘whole’ issue/picture. In the limitations section, the researchers explain that the study was a “small-scale, exploratory study” (287) that used only a small sample within a limited region (New South Wales). Although the results of the study give an idea about the experience with and perception of young adults towards AEDs, these results cannot be generalised to the wider population. For instance, experience and perception of students in universities may not be similar to that of non-students or working young adults. What was missing and how does that influence your understanding of the research? Generalisation is missing in this study whereby the study ought to have included non-students too. The way the research study was conducted makes me understand it to have been aimed at investigating the perception and experience of university students with AEDs. Procedural Rigour Was procedural rigour used in data collection strategies? Yes Do the researchers provide adequate information about data collection procedures? (ie: gaining access to the site, field notes, who collected the data, etc) Yes, the researchers provide a concrete explanation of how they went about data collection. In particular, the researchers explain how they used voice recorders and consequent transcription of data collected. Additionally, the researchers explain how they conducted the discussion including how discussions in the four focus groups proceeded. Data Analysis Analytical Rigour Was the data analysis inductive? Yes Were findings consistent with & reflective of the data collected? Yes Describe the method(s) of data analysis. Were the methods appropriate? The researcher used thematic analysis to analyse the data whereby they applied the constant comparison method. Firstly, the researchers used a commercial transcription service provider to transcribe the conversations/ discussions after which coding was done based on the structured interview that was used to guide discussion in the four focus groups. This method of data analysis was appropriate for this study considering it involved the collection of qualitative data. What were the findings? Findings were consistent with previous literature on the issue. In particular, the following findings were made. Firstly, young adults consume AEDs because they are attractive (attractive packages, caffeine or guarana made them attractive and palatable), can help them achieve high levels of intoxication (intoxication is seen to be the most sought after result of alcohol drinking), can be concealed easily and make them look classy. The second finding is with respect to experience with AEDs whereby respondents recorded instances of bad experience with AEDs, such as high levels of intoxication leading to hospitalisation, as well as bad hangovers. Auditability Did the researcher(s) outline how they made decisions regarding the data? (ie: a decision trail was developed) Not Addressed Was the process of data analysis described appropriately? Yes Describe the decisions of the researcher re: transformation of data to codes/ themes: The researchers decided to code the transcript using two different people who did the coding independently, which was aimed at checking the reliability of the data. Outline the rationale given for how themes were developed: Themes were developed based on previous research findings. For instance, previous research studies had investigated the negative impacts of AEDs on drinkers, and a theme on experience with AEDs was developed. Did a meaningful picture of the phenomenon under study emerge? Yes How were concepts/issues under study clarified and presented? The researchers combined results and discussion whereby they clarified the issues under study as they were presenting results on these issues. Overall Trustworthiness Did the researcher(s) undertake activities to ensure the trustworthiness of the data & study? Yes List the trustworthiness activities undertaken by the researcher(s) and explain why they are important: Use of several articles to support results and discussion, as well as in the literature review: this makes the research study to be reliable because the research aim is based on previous research studies. Additionally, this makes the discussions made to be valid because readers are assured that discussions are not based on the opinions of the researchers. Study Conclusions: Conclusions were appropriate given the study findings: Yes The findings contribute to theory development and/or future nursing practice/ research: Yes What did the study conclude? This study concludes that warning labels will not be sufficient to reduce the consumption of AEDs considering the harmful effects of AEDs. This, therefore, makes the solutions to the harms caused by the consumption of AEDs to be complex considering that on one side, the government is still reluctant to regulate AEDs yet young adults are aware of these harms and are still not ready to stop drinking AEDs. Accordingly, it is important to listen to these young adults who are consuming AEDs in order to develop effective methods of dealing with the problem of AEDs consumption. What are the implications of these results for nursing practice and/or patient care? These results have great implications for nursing practice. Of great importance, these results will greatly contribute to community health practice by enabling community health nurse practitioners to properly address the problem of alcohol consumption. Limitations: What were the main limitations in the study? The researchers outline various limitation of the study as follows: The study was a small-scale exploratory study using 21 participants only, which limits its generalisability The use of semi-structured interview as a guide to the discussion limited sufficient exploration into areas that participants felt were useful to them In some instances, participants did not express their own experiences with AEDs, but experiences of others CONCLUSIONS: Discuss the quality of the research based upon the critical appraisal you have undertaken: Based on the critical appraisal that I have undertaken, I can classify this research study as a high quality study that fulfils almost all of the important areas of a quality research study. Of importance is that the research aim and concept was well guided by previous research. Additionally, the researchers supported their arguments and discussion with previous research studies, which makes the research study highly reliable. Discuss how the appraisal process has broadened your understanding of assessing the quality of published research The appraisal process has enabled me to understand the crucial aspects of a quality published research paper/study. This appraisal process used a systematic appraisal system that focuses on all the important issues including the relevance of the study, the study question, concept, research methodology used, data collection method used, sampling method used, data collected, data analysis method used, discussion and conclusion made. Using this process, I am now able to conduct an assessment of research studies. Letts, L., Wilkins, S., Law, M., Stewart, D., Bosch, J. & Westmorland, M., 2007. McMaster University Bibliography Byers, PY., Zeller, RA. & Byers, BD 2002, Focus Group Methods. In MW. Wiederman & W. Bernard Eds., Handbook for Conducting Research on Human Sexuality. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Hardina, D 2013, Interpersonal Social Work Skills for Community Practice. New York, NY: Springer Publishing Company, LLC. Hennink, MM 2008, Emergent Issues in International Focus Group Discussions. In SN. Hesse-Biber & P. Leavy Eds., Handbook of Emergent Methods (207-220). New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Heppner, PP., Kivlighan, DM. & Wampold, BE 2008, Research Design in Counselling. Belmont, USA: Thomson Higher Education Jones, SC., Barrie, L. & Berry, N 2012, Why (not) alcohol energy drinks? A qualitative study with Australian University students. Drug and Alcohol Review, vol. 31, pp. 281-287. Sines, D 2005, The Context of Primary Health Care Nursing. In D. Sines., M. Saunders. & J. Forbes-Burford Eds., Community Health Care Nursing (pp. 1-2002). West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Read More