Research Critique
According to Petrofsky et al. (2010) obesity has become a predisposition to numerous chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. Women tend to have additional factors that promote being overweight such as pregnancy, overall decreased muscle mass, and hormonal factors in comparison to men who have increased muscle mass and lack the hormonal and pregnancy impact that may cause weight gain. In addition to the factors previously mentioned, recent studies have shown that women who are overweight going into a pregnancy tend to remain, or become even more overweight following pregnancy. The authors of the Petrofsky et al. study also look at the changes in posture and the alignment of the skeleton during pregnancy that affect posture both prenatal and postpartum, as well as the concept of self image and the role it plays in weight loss. According to Petrofsky et al.,“the greatest indicator of postpartum weight retention is weight gain during pregnancy” (p. 41). The Petrofsky et al. study investigates the use of a specialized diet and exercise program specifically designed to promote diet compliance and exercise designed to rehabilitate the muscles weakened during pregnancy and regain appropriate balance and posture with special consideration given to promoting positive self image.
Methodology
Statement of the Problem
The purpose of the Petrofsky et al. (2010) study was to “assess the benefits of an exercise and diet program in restoring posture and balance and fitness in women who have given birth to 1 or more children in the last 18 years” (p. 40). The population included 117 women broken evenly into 3 groups. The first group consisted of 40 women who were labeled in the intervention group, the second gro...
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...cted the data. There was no mention by the authors of the Petrofsky et al. study of a need for further study or research from the study (Petrofsky et al., 2010).
Works Cited
Fain, J. A. (1999) Selecting a research design: quantitative vs. qualitative. In P. Walner & S. Filderman (Eds.), Reading, Understanding, and Applying Nursing Research. (p.205). Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company.
Petrofsky, J., Batt, J., Berk, L. Schweichler, C., Arai, D., Conas, C.,… Bains, G. (2010) The affects of an exercise and diet program on fitness, posture, and self image in women. The Journal of Applied Research, 10, 40-51. Retreived from Cinahl database.
Polit, D.F., and Beck, C.T., Sampling designs in quantitative studies. In M. Zuccarini & J. Morita (Eds.), Essentials of Nursing Research: Methods, Appraisal and Utilization. (p. 268). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Catherine Cangany’s article Fashioning Moccasins: Detroit, the Manufacturing Frontier, and the Empire of Consumption, 1701-1835, cover the main theme 18th century Detroit. Cangany explores how the moccasin, a fashionable and practical shoe, transformed from a shoe exclusively worn by native groups to a highly fashionable shoe that French and British colonies started to integrate into their own culture to taking the moccasin to manufacturing and becoming Europeanized. Though out many decades, the process of creating moccasins became more ‘industrial’ which made them a symbol of native culture to East Coast fashion. Cangany’s article examines how the production of moccasins became so popular and fashionable among European colonists that eventually moccasins no longer were a native creation.
According to Kaplan, the methods section should provide sufficient information for the study to be reproduced (Kaplan, 2012). The study does acknowledge that their 57 study participants sample is too small for adequate analysis, but this can still be an acceptable number of participants, as there is no defined number for an appropriate sample size (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014). More specifically, the sample included 57 participants in their junior year at the same college of nursing encompassing six different clinical groups that were all currently enrolled in their second acute care course. The groups were evenly divided between traditional students (28 students) and accelerated students (29 students). There were 10 males and 47 females selected. This sample size is representative of the target population of nurses, which is 17.5%, which according to the National League for Nursing in 2012 in baccalaureate programs nationally is 14% (http://www.nln.org/researchgrants/slides/pdf/AS1112_F29.pdf). Selection biases were not addressed in the research study, which could influence the outcome of the study if the study p...
du Prel, J. B., Hommel, G., Rohrig, B., & Blettner, M. (2009). Confidence interval or p-value?
Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2012). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (9th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott.
Study Design: In the search for nursing literature, 34 publications were found to be relevant to be used in the study; out of these 34 publications, 22 studies exercise a qualitative design while 12 exercise quantitative design. The quantitative studies designs of this literature review included descriptive designs, cross- sectional designs, correlational designs, descriptive cross- sectional and correlational design. As for the qualitative studies included study designs: exploratory and descriptive, interpretative interactionism, hermeneutic, phenomenological design, ethnographic, feminist phenomenological design, and grounded theory approach,
...ng the thin-ideal body may be linked to body image disturbance in women (Grabe, Ward, & Hyde, 2008).”
I have chosen to use nursing framework because Quantitative and Qualitative studies are different approaches to research and therefore need to be approach different with regard to critiquing' Frances Ryan et al (2007) However, there has been considerable debate concerning whether qualitative and quantitative research can be assessed using the same criteria May & Pope (2000).
Gelo, O., Braakmann, D., & Benetka, G. (2008). Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Beyond the Debate. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 42(3), 266-290. doi:10.1007/s12124-008-9078-3
Gelo, O., Braakmann, D., & Benetka, G. (2008). Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Beyond the Debate. Integrative Psychological & Behavioral Science, 42(3), 266-290. doi:10.1007/s12124-008-9078-3
In our ever-changing society, the one common thread that now every American seems to possess is a desire to have a body that is not hour-glass (1950’s) nor waifish (1990’s), but one that is lean, trim, and can physically go the “extra mile”. I speculate that the all-around athletic look is so popular because it is probably one of the hardest body types to achieve. In earlier times, hour-glass figures were the product of genetics and corsets, and the emaciated Kate Moss look could simply be achieved by starvation. To be physically fit inside and out is something that every person can control and achieve, but only through strong self-discipline. “The $52.9 billion fitness industry is constantly coming out with activities and products designed to get and keep us interested in working out” (Whigham-Desir 84). Two of these types of work-outs, specifically Tae-Bo and Spinning, were created just for the purpose of keeping “us” interested in working out. Despite this revolution in the fitness industry, many false preconceived notions about losing weight persevere and impede the movement.
Studies of body image in the past have gained varying results as to the groups that are affected, as well as the amount of impact body image has with these groups. There has also been much debate over the validity of methods used to judge body image, and how well the measurements used actually correlate participants’ actual views of body image (Cash, Morrow, Hrabosky, & Perry 2004). Some factors that have led to this discrepancy in answers are questions that were framed to be more suitable to attain the attitudes of one gender over another. The initial studies of body image focused upon simply body shape which seemed to be more important to women, whereas body image affects were seen for men when questions of muscle definition were included into the questionnaire process (Ridgeway, & Tylka, 2005).
Corner, J., 1991, ‘In search of more complete answers to research questions. Quantitative versus qualitative research methods: is there a way forward?’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 718-727.
Body image for women has always been stressed for them to look a certain way and to try obtain “physical perfec...
We believe it is clear that both qualitative and quantitative research have many benefits and many costs. In some situations the qualitative approach will be more appropriate; in other situations the quantitative approach will be more appropriate.
Qualitative and quantitative researcher’s exhibited conflicting ways of approaching a research. Some researchers prefer qualitative over quantitative and vice-versa. Also, it is common for qualitative and quantitative to be used together in a research. But, both methods when carried out correctly provide good research. Plus, both methods have their own unique differences and characteristics. In this paper I will define three of these characteristics in a quantitative and qualitative research design and discuss and compare their differences. (Smith & Davis, 2010)