Unit 4 research in health and social care

Question 1

\How accurate results of research are to real life

Answer 1

Validity

Question 2

How well results can be repeated or replicated under the same conditions

Answer 2

reliability

Question 3

Purposes of research:

Answer 3

1. Improve outcomes for people using services
   2.inform policy and practice
   3.Extend knowledge and understanding
   4.identify gaps in provision

Question 4

Improve outcomes for people using services:

Answer 4

Using research to help improve services allows researchers to understand the needs of professionals, service users etc and allows them to experiment ideas to see how it works. It allows improvement for lifestyles, having better lifestyles through understanding and researching how poor lifestyle affects health.

Question 5

Inform policy and practice

Answer 5

Research allows to understand strengths and weaknesses in current practice and experiment changes in practice to see what works and what improves practice and outcomes

Question 6

Extend knowledge and understanding

Answer 6

Allows a deeper understanding of health, ill health, treatment and practice

Question 7

Identify gaps in provision

Answer 7

Research allows us to identify where improvements are needed

Question 8

Research Methods

Answer 8

1.Questionnaires
2.interviews
3. Scientific experiments
4. case studies
5. Observations

Question 9

Questionnaires

Answer 9

Advantages: Easy and quick to produce, data normally reliable (researchers can check findings and repeat the research), Easier for people to respond (less time consuming, can do whenever they can which may increase respondent rate), better for people that don’t have lots of resources.quantitative and qualitative data can be collected
Disadvantages: limited choice of answer, respondents cant explain their response more, meaning of questions may be unclear, these factors may decrease the validity.

Question 10

interviews

Answer 10

Advantages: enable more in depth answers, normally have good reliability, researcher can assess the persons body language etc and detect when someone may be lying. Validity could be better too due to the fact that more in depth answers can be given.
Disadvantages: more time consuming, expensive, may not useful if the researcher is on a time limit.

Question 11

Scientific experiments

Answer 11

Advantages: reliable, variables can be manipulated and changed for the use of the experiment, can be inexpensive sometimes
disadvantage: can be difficult with limited resources, variables being changed can lower validity, and the environment is sometimes artificial lowering the validity.

Question 12

case studies

Answer 12

Advantages: allows in depth insights and allows an understanding for complex situations. Allows researcher to explore possible variables in real life settings that may difficult to explore using other methods
Disadvantages: Findings might not be applicable to different contexts. Poor reliability because replicating case studies is unlikely, lack validity because findings might not be applicable to some contexts making it less accurate to real life

Question 13

Observations

Answer 13

Advantages: Does not require technical skills making it easy. offers high validity if the participant doesn’t know they are being observed because they won’t change the behavior.
Disadvantages: expensive, time consuming,researcher rely on documents that might not be accurate sometimes which can lower validity. feelings and opinions aren’t observed. Difficult to replicate observation.

Question 14

Sample methods

Answer 14

Random sampling
Stratified sampling
Volunteer sampling
Opportunity sampling

Question 15

Random sampling

Answer 15

Every member of a population has an equal chance of being selected. It provides more chance of an unbiased sample increasing the validity. However for large populations it is time consuming. Reliability depends on size of sample, smaller sample would lower reliability and conclusions drawn from research would have lower reliability. Bigger sample = higher reliability.

Question 16

Stratified sampling

Answer 16

Diving the target population into subcategories and selecting members in proportion that they occur in population. Effort is made to make the sample representative of the target population. it can be time consuming. Sample is more representative of the population which means reliability and validity is higher.

Question 17

volunteer sampling

Answer 17

Individuals choose to participate in a study. Ethical, because it leads to informed consent. Also fairly convenient. unrepresentative as it leads to bias on the part of the participant. for example, a social media advert wouldn’t attract many elderly people. This means reliability and validity is low

Question 18

opportunity sampling

Answer 18

Selecting people that are available at the time. using whats available to the researcher at the time.Quick, convenient. Very unrepresentative and often biased. which lowers reliability and validity of the research.

Question 19

Primary data

Answer 19

first hand data gathered by the research themself.

Question 20

Secondary data

Answer 20

Data collected by someone else earlier for example using information from an article.

Question 21

Quantitative data

Answer 21

Data that can be counted or measured in numerical values

Question 22

Qualitative data

Answer 22

data representing information and concepts that are not represented by numbers

Question 23

Ethical considerations

Answer 23

Informed consent
maintain confidentiality
Avoid deception
Avoid conflicts of interest
Protect participants from harm
provide the right to withdraw

Question 24

Informed consent

Answer 24

This means that the researcher has to provide participants with all information about risks, benefits, alternatives etc before someone can consent. This empowers the participants and means they are protected from harm. It is not always possible for people to give informed consent if they don’t have mental capacity. It is upheld by the researcher risk assessing all risks and researching benefits etc before a participant consents.

Question 25

maintain confidentiality

Answer 25

Keeping participants sensitive and identifiable information private. benefits of upholding this ethical consideration is that participants will feel respected and their safety is maintained. limitations of maintaining confidentiality is that its time consuming being careful not to leak information. it is upheld by using a name alias and not using locations and the persons date of birth etc.

Question 26

Avoid deception

Answer 26

Deception is giving false information. It is avoided through the use of informed consent. A benefit of avoiding deception is that it protects participants from harm. Limitations is that when using observations, participants will know which could cause them to lie if they know they are being watched affecting validity and reliability of the data.

Question 27

Avoid conflicts of interest

Answer 27

this means the researcher removes them self from decision making processes that could cause conflict and also to reduce bias. benefits of this being upheld is that participants are protected from harm and reliability and validity is better because there’s less bias. Limitations is that it isn’t always possible. It is upheld by inviting a third party to make decisions

Question 28

protect participants from harm

Answer 28

participants are protected from physical and emotional abuse. This can be upheld using confidentiality and informed consent. Benefits is that participants are safe and looked after. There are no limitations

Question 29

provide the right to withdraw

Answer 29

This means participants can leave the study whenever they wish. limitations of this is that sampling and results may be affected by people leaving midway through the study. Benefits are that participants are empowered and safe. This can be upheld through the use of informed consent and ensuring all participants know they can withdraw whenever they wish.