Draft of Signature Assignment
The research topic of interest to the paper is to examine the norm of the elderly in regards to physical activity and their health and to analyze the improvement of physical activity knowledge to the elderly using knowledge translation tools. The research shall aim to establish perceptions concerning physical activity among older adults and help to achieve the anticipated healthy physical activities. The research topic aims at employing knowledge translation tools to develop an understanding of the knowledge that the elderly has regarding physical activity, which would further allow for the improvement of their knowledge on that subject. The focus of the research topic is to examine the already known information that the elderly has regarding the effects of engaging in physical activity, as it would help in realizing the area needed for improvement. Qualitative data analysis shall be performed through the different theoretical frameworks, a range of methods, and conceptual analyses. The research methodology shall depend on the anticipated data and the data structure. The paper shall elaborate on the ethnography research method, which best suits the analysis.
Background of the Topic
The prime benefit of indulging in physical exercise is maintaining an efficient cardiovascular and respiratory system among adults. Individuals above the age of 65 require regular physical exercise to enable them to maintain healthy physical conditions and independence to reduce the risk of getting ill and recover from illnesses (McKinney et. al, 2016). The human body has the potential to respond to physical exercise at any age, giving many benefits to the body. Many illnesses can be prevented through consistent physical exercise among the elderly (McKinney et. al, 2016). Some of the common ailments related to lack of physical exercise among older adults include increased blood pressure, reduced bone strength, increased body fats, and reduced cardiovascular and respiratory functions among others. A large population of the elderly members of the society does live with conditions or succumb to illnesses that could have been prevented or well managed through an increase in their physical activity (Böhm, Mielke, da Cruz, Ramires, & Wehrmeister, 2016). Heart-related conditions, mainly caused by clogging of the arteries because of the thick layers of fat, are the leading causes of death among the elderly population (Menne, Borato, Shelton, & Johnson, 2016). However, statistics show that only a small percentage of the elderly members of society do engage in regular physical exercises (Menne et al., 2016). Thus, it is vital to conduct a study that would help in understanding the social reality of older adults, their culture and setting and to explain why certain facts and phenomena regarding physical activity in the elderly members exist. Having such knowledge can be useful in determining the appropriate actions needed for ensuring that this population engages in frequent physical activity to reduce their risks of developing or succumbing to heart related illnesses.
Problem Statement
The lack of enough knowledge regarding the importance of the physical activity to the improvement of health is the problem that this research topic seeks to address. Many of the elderly population do not engage in physical activities because of various factors such as the lack of motivation (Saito et al., 2018). Other hypotheses in regards to the lack of physical activity among the older adults include high cost of engaging in sporting activities that presume as physical activities among individuals, many existing physical exercise activities support young ages, and older adults may have other preferences apart from taking part in physical exercises such as socializing and reading. Although many studies have been done that identifies the lack of physical activity engagement among the elderly, very few exist that examine the knowledge that the elderly have regarding the subject (Mašanović, Popović, Bjelica, Vukotic, & Zoric, 2018). Thus, this paper will seek to present information regarding the existing knowledge of the elderly on physical activity, to identify the area that needs further improvement to help in improving the population’s good health report.
Qualitative Method for Investigating the Problem
The qualitative research method that would be appropriate for investigating the problem of focus to the paper is ethnography. Ethnography is a qualitative research design that allows the researcher to observe and interact with the participants of the study in their real-life environment (Fatterman, 2019). Ethnography would be the most appropriate method to investigate the problem of focus because it allows for close interaction with the participants in their environment. The main focus is the behavior of the target individuals, concerning their social set-up; in this case an older age population set-up (Pelto, 2016). The study shall focus on the older community set-up, characteristic of lack of knowledge tools for the assimilation of physical activity in the normal lives of the older adults. Through the analysis tools, the research shall achieve a deeper comprehension of the socio-ecological factors that contribute to or influence physical activity among the older adults in the community. The research shall constitute an open-ended long-term living with the target population in understanding the local knowledge, practices, and values of the target group. The study involves understanding the perception of the elderly population regarding the importance of physical activity in their health and examining their level of engagement with physical activities. Ethnography research design would allow the researcher to gain one-on-one interaction with the study’s participants, which would help in gathering useful information regarding their existing knowledge on the importance of physical activities (Pelto, 2016). Further, using ethnography design would also help in engaging the participants in their environment to make observations on their frequency of engagement with physical activities (Fatterman, 2019) While conducting the research, it would require the ethnographer to get engaged in the daily norm of the target population, observe and record findings on the target group. The ethnographic research shall be characteristic of non-obstructive research entailing observation and limited interaction with the subjects. The main consideration is to make observations with minimal interference to the environment. Therefore it shall require complex procedures of data collection and coding the information (Pelto, 2016).
Review of Relevant Literature
Benefits of Ethnography Research Method
Ethnography offers many benefits to the researcher. One of the benefits of the selected method is that it immerses the researcher in the lives of the participants of the study, which allows a relationship to develop with the participants throughout the research (Butlewski, Misztal, & Belu, 2016). The importance of developing a close bond with the participants is that it will help the participants to be open and free in sharing information needed for the study, which would lead to success in the data collection process. Another benefit of the selected method is that it provides a rich source of visual data and helps in revealing silent needs of the participants, which will help in developing a deeper understanding of the areas of improvement that the population needs to realize great health (Butlewski, Misztal, & Belu, 2016). Moreover, ethnography can be able to identify and examine unanticipated issues within the target population. The nature of the research enables the input of faithful and detailed information by the target population.
Limitations of the Research Method
One of the limitations of the method to consider is the fact that it is time-consuming. The immersion into the participant’s lifestyle can lead to much time loss, which would also increase the cost of the study (Queirós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). Another limitation of this method is that the collection of too little data can lead to the making of assumptions about the perception of the participants on physical activity, which would affect the validity of the study (Queirós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017). The other limitation is that it takes time to develop trust with the participants to the level of receiving accurate information regarding the subject of interest, which means the possibility of receiving false information from the participants is high (Queirós, Faria, & Almeida, 2017).
Challenges of the Research Method
The major challenge presented by ethnography design to the researcher revolves around ethics. Determining the information to share and withhold without affecting the validity of the study as well as respecting the participants’ anonymity can be quite challenging (Kurtz, Trainer, Beresford, Wutich, & Brewis, 2017). Another challenge presented by this method is the verification of whether the data collected is true (Kurtz et al., 2017). Verifying whether the information presented by the participants is true is quite hard using this research method since the data collection relies totally on the information presented by the informants.
Theoretical Assumptions of Ethnography
The research shall assume that all human choices and actions are socially configured and each has certain driving forces. Individuals often engage in different activities to achieve certain objectives or goals. The process shall purely be based on the fact that individuals perceive and act upon needs in different ways. During the study, the natural settings, thoughts, and activities of individuals should not be interrupted; this shall ensure high standards of accuracy and authenticity throughout the study (Hammersley, 2016). Additionally, the scientific research shall by all means avoid introducing instances of inauthentic fragmentation, which may take the subject out of context. Thoughts and actions should be perceived in line with natural social contexts.
The researcher shall be cognitive of the idea that social significances are generated through dynamic processes. The subjects of the research undergo constant changes and in some instances, certain societal forces drive their decision-making stands. The perception of time and place has to be put into consideration when conducting the research, especially on the data generation phase. Moreover, the researcher shall be aware that the individual subjects have different perspectives of looking and thinking about things (Hammersley, 2016). This implies that individuals may hold different archetypes regarding similar issues, which cautions against generalization or stereotyping.
Evaluation of the Software Analysis Program
The software analysis program that would help in the study of focus is MAXQDA. MAXDA is a computer program designed to perform qualitative analysis, able to perform tasks with data in the form of mixed methods in various fields. MAXQDA is designed to reduce the amount of time used in qualitative data analysis (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2019). The software comes with data conversion in-built data conversion features that minimize the time used for transcribing data to and from different forms. MAXQDA shall be a profound tool in conducting psychology research in achieving an explanation and interpretation of the social phenomenon in physical activity among older adults. The main advantage of the program is that it allows the user to work with a wide range of data formats. Through the program, we can analyze text documents, survey data, and social media information comfortably by switching into different task forms. Additionally, the software can support audio and video information. The software enables efficient team management among the analysts through the administrators. The software has profound features that may be tuned to present attractive data output (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2019). Unlike other qualitative analysis tools that store data from different sources o different packs, MAXQDA can store the entire project data in one data pack, making it efficient for the storage, access, and manipulation of different data-sets. Moreover, MAXQDA has a wide range of mixed methods analysis that can output various formats of descriptive statistics. However, MAXQDA software is expensive and requires regular upgrades (Kuckartz & Rädiker, 2019). Additionally, the software lacks a community of users in a global context. The software is predominant in Germany only and adopted in a few nations.
Validity Threats in the Chosen Design
Researcher bias is a significant validity threat in the qualitative research design chosen. This threat occurs when the researcher develops predefined ideas regarding the topic that might place the findings and conclusion of the study at risk. Several types of researcher bias exist, which can affect the study’s conclusion. One such bias is a procedural bias that originates from how the researcher carries out the research (Baldwin, 2018). For instance, in the study of focus, this can occur when the researcher spends little time with the participants, as it will lead to the collection of little information that would affect the realization of a satisfactory conclusion regarding the subject of interest. Another researcher bias that is a potential validity threat in this design is interviewer bias, whereby the researcher subconsciously influences a particular response from the participant (Baldwin, 2018). This type of bias is hard to avoid in this type of research design since the conclusion of the study relies highly on the responses from the participants. Apart from the researcher bias, this research method is also prone to interviewee bias, which acts as another significant validity threat (Baldwin, 2018). Since the conclusions made in the study of interest when using this method depends highly on the information presented by the informants, the presentation of wrong information can affect the validity of the conclusion made. Moreover, the researcher has to protect the participants of the research from potential consequences that may arise out of their participation. This happens in the case where the individual subjects cannot protect themselves, such as older adults who are vulnerable and marginalized in most communities.
Potential Ethical Considerations in the Chosen Design
The major challenge that this research design presents to the researcher revolves around ethics, which means the researcher needs to focus on some vital ethical considerations to mitigate the effects that such issues can have on the study’s authenticity. One of the potential ethical considerations to consider in this chosen design is the participants’ anonymity (Hayashi Jr, Abib, & Hoppen, 2019). The researcher needs to ensure that the identity of the research participants is withheld to avoid the subsequent harm that the leakage of such information can have on those participants. Thus, the researcher will assign codes and pseudo-names to the research participants as a way of protecting their identity during the presentation of the research’s findings. However, the researcher needs to ensure that while observing the anonymity of the participants, the study does not lose its meaning in the process (Hayashi Jr, Abib, &Hoppen, 2019). The researcher would seek to address the potential occurrence of this issue by discussing with the participants on what information is necessary for the study and how they would be revealed to get consent from the participants on the use of the information collected. Another ethical consideration that the researcher would take in employing the chosen design is informing the participants about the core details of the study and the purpose of the research and how the information presented would be used, stored, and disposed of (Hayashi Jr, Abib, & Hoppen, 2019). Such information is vital for making the participants comfortable with participating in the study, which is an essential element in ensuring the collection of sufficient information when using the chosen design. Due to the nature of intrusiveness of the research, the research personnel has to have precise reasons and explanations as to why the research is being conducted on that particular group of people (Europeia, 2019). Some instances of information retrieval may take up a lot of time in taking observations or questioning the subjects, therefore providing a rationale for the essence of the study to the people shall be of significance in clarification and accuracy of data given.
Conclusion
The research topic of interest focuses on examining the already known information that the elderly population has regarding the effects of engaging in physical activity, as it would help in realizing the area needed for improvement. The qualitative research method that would be appropriate for investigating the problem of focus to the paper is ethnography since it allows for close interaction with the participants in their environment. The method has benefits like the immersion of the researcher in the lives of the participants of the study, which allows the participants to be comfortable during the study. Threats to validity that can manifest in this design include researcher bias as well as participant bias. It is also essential to focus on ethical considerations such as the need to seeking the consent of the participants regarding the sharing, use, and disposal of the data collected to make the participant feel secure about sharing their information. Additionally, how to disseminate the findings after analysis should be done with caution and concern. The research personnel has to judge whether the information available to the public is relevant, has benefits, or may ignite potential harm to the community. Thought must be availed as to what forms and how the findings are to be disseminated.
References
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