Reference no: EM133701247 , Length: word count:2000

Research Design

Task: Choose 4 from the following scenarios and:

analyse them, identifying both the practical and ethical issues that need to be taken into account before and during the conduct of any research

choose and justify a research design that will enable you to collect the data that you will need to address the issue then identify appropriate and ethical data collection methods and justify why they were chosen.

Literature (such as your set text and other relevant resources) should be provided to support and justify your arguments.

Please note: these scenarios contain some fictitious locations, but where fictious locations are used - the issues are real.

Research scenario 1
It has been suggested that a 2020 cluster of COVID-19 cases in certain suburbs of Melbourne was due to the fact that the suburbs contain groups of immigrants for whom English is not the first language and who have not had access to or understood the COVID-19 messages that have swamped the community. Your task is to:
1) identify the suburbs with high concentrations of migrants and the actual number of COVID-19 cases in these suburbs, ranking them, &
2) then for the four suburbs with the highest number of cases, collect data from a selected sample to determine their knowledge and understanding of COVID-19 preventative strategies.

Research scenario 2
Procol is a small remote town some 500 kilometres from the nearest city. It has a small school, health clinic, general store and large council offices that includes a tourist centre. There are 100 students who are enrolled in the local school but for varying reasons attendance is poor so on some days only 50 may be present. A teacher in the combined year 3 and 4 class noted that 10 of the 20 students in her class had school sores (Impetigo) around the nose, mouth and hands. (The sores were flat, yellow and crusty with a yellowish discharge.) Concerned, the teacher sent a letter home and asked the parents to take the students to the clinic and keep them home until the sores had cleared. Only 5 parents complied, but after standard treatment - antibiotic cream and oral antibiotics, none had cleared after 14 days. Given the highly infectious nature of the sores, difficulty in treatment and the impact on education, you are required to investigate the extent of infection, and the underlying Streptococcus or Staphylococcus species causing the sores without unduly upsetting the community.

(CHOOSE 3A OR 3B: NOT BOTH)
X
Research scenario 3A
Micro-plastics are the range of chemicals that manufacturers use to give plastics their desirable properties. They include small fragments of stabilisers, lubricants and plasticisers. There is however, increasing concern about the impact of these chemicals on human health since they have been implicated in impaired fasting glucose, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The average person in the USA may unintentionally consume over 50,000 particles from food a year, and a 2019 study identified that an average of 20 microplastics per 100 grams of stool sample in eight participants. Since water in plastic bottles is a high source of micro-plastics, you are to design a research project that seeks to investigate evidence that drinking water from glass or metal water bottles over a significant period of time can reduce the amount of micro-plastics in stool samples. The participants will be 200 healthy university students aged between 20 and 30.

OR
Research scenario 3B
Double Down is a youth drop-in centre located in a large suburban shopping centre. It offers a range of services 24/7 from just a place to hang-out and drink coffee or chilled water, to the opportunity to play pool, video games or access a range of counselling and medical services. One of the medical services is a sexual health clinic that deals with everything from confidential testing for pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) to referrals for major physiological sexual problems.
During December 2022 and January 2023 there was a concerning 100% increase in cases of Gonorrhoea (caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacterium) in females aged between 15 and 18, but only 10% more males in that age group reported with symptoms, largely testicular pain. Since males with Gonorrhoea can be asymptomatic (show no symptoms) the sexual health workers at the centre are concerned that they are only seeing the ‘tip of the ice-berg' and that there may be untreated male spreaders who may be not only increasing their risk of infertility but be contributing to the sudden increase in females with the infection. Taking into consideration the age group and nature of the topic, design a research project so that teenage users of the drop in centre can anonymously report any specific symptoms of the infection while at the same time learning about how it is transmitted and its future impacts - but most importantly options for treatment and how to access them.

(CHOOSE 4A OR 4B: NOT BOTH)

Research scenario 4A
Testing of pills at music festivals is a widely accepted practice in Europe where in countries like the Netherlands substances are regularly tested to determine if there are fillers or levels of chemicals in pills that make them dangerous. If this is identified, then warnings are then posted on screens or posters around the venue. While testing has been used intermittently in Australia, in NSW and Victoria political leaders are opposed to pill testing claiming that it will lead to increased uptake of recreational drugs. You are required to conduct some research at an upcoming music festival in Scoresby, Victoria where the testing will be made available (even though the government is against it) to find out why festival goers do or don't use the service and their opinions about its impact on their drug taking.
OR

Research scenario 4B
Researchers have suggested that women will be disproportionally impacted by climate change because of burdens of care and responsibilities, negative mental health outcomes and the possibility of gender-based violence (Stone et al, 2022). You are required to conduct a small project with between 50 and 100 women in the town of Vacerra (population 20,000) who are mothers of one year old children, to identify what they feel will be the main health challenges for their children as they enter their teens.