, students will be required to demonstrate application of epidemiological methods to the breadth of settings and situations in public health practice using various evidence-based approaches, Each student will conduct an original data analysis using the person, place, time and relevant demographic and socio-economic survey variables for hypothesis testing. Students must include a chart or table describing the variables and the results of data analysis generated from the database. Guidelines for the Paper
[A minimum of 7 references must be used from referred journals. No Wikipedia, WebMD, textbook, etc. will be accepted for references.]
Suggested Paper Length: 8-10 pages including tables/graphs/charts
APA style, Times Roman, Font 12, 1.5 line spacing
Introduction/Background
Problem Statement:
What health-related problem/issue/topic are you interested in researching? What are the incidence and prevalence rates? How widespread is the problem? Why is it important to study this issue?
Purpose of the Study:
Why are you conducting the study? What are you trying to show or prove – correlation between an exposure and outcome? Difference in health outcome between two groups? Example: To show an association between smoking and lung disease.
Research Questions or Hypothesis
What is your research question? This is slightly different from the Purpose of the Study. While the purpose of the study can be a bit broad, these will need to be very specific.
For example: Do people who smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day are more likely to get lung disease compared to those who smoke less than that?
Theoretical or Conceptual Framework and Literature Review
In this section, you should explain the plausible relationships between the dependent and independent variables.
The theoretical/conceptual framework is a description about how variables of research interact with one another. The basic features of theoretical frameworks include
1. The variables considered relevant to the study should be clearly identified and labeled in the discussions.
2. The discussions should state how two or more variables are related to each other. This should be done for the important relationships that are to exist among the variables.
3. If the nature and direction of the relationships can be theorized on the basis of the findings from previous research, then there should be an indication in the discussions as to whether the relationships would be positive or negative.
4. There should be a clear explanation of why we would expect these relationships to exist. The arguments need to be drawn from the previous research findings.
5. A schematic diagram of the theoretical framework may be given so that the reader can visualize the theorized relationships.
Research Method and Design
Data
Describe the source of data (whether it is primary or secondary). Describe how the data was collected.
Analysis technique
Explain which statistical method(s) were used and why it was used. For example, regressions, ANOVA, Chi-square, T-Tests, etc.
Variables
Describe the variables – both dependent and independent – used in the study.
Results
Describe the results used in the study. Present a descriptive table that shows the descriptive statistics of the variables used. Another table should show the analysis (regressions, ANOVA, Chi-square, T-Tests, Odds ratios, relative risks, etc.). You must describe the findings of your analysis shown in the tables.
Discussion
In this section, you will explain the plausible explanations of your findings from the results section. Did the statistical analysis find a statistically significant relationship? If so, what is it and what is the most plausible explanation(s) of that relationship? Contrast your findings with those from the literature review. Are they similar or are they different? If they are different, why do you think that is the case?
Implications and Future Recommendation
What are the implications of your findings? Do you suggest new policies? For example, if your study finds that people who smoke are more likely to get lung disease, you may suggest that government can institute policies that discourage smoking,
Limitation
Describe the limitations of the study. For example, whether the survey conducted in the winter or not. Was it a telephone interview? Was it an online survey? Etc.