Part 1
For the final task of this semester, assignment 5 we were to choose a topic or return to a previous one we did at the end of semester 1 and review it. The next part is to develop a short proposal of how we could use one of the methods we carried out and developed from the four previous assignments.
The topic I have decided to go with for this assignment is the one I did last semester. For that I chose two journals that looked into the area of sexually transmitted diseases and just how much people are aware of them.
What the two journals discussed were the results of observations and tests carried out to see how affective advertising is and how much knowledge people have on STI’s.
The next thing I will do, will be propose what techniques I could use and what possible results I would gain from them.
For the journal ‘Internet treatment of sexually transmitted infections – a public health hazard?’ the article discussed the stigma that is normally associated with sexually transmitted infections as people who have been infected by any of theses diseases prefer to keep it private and would rather seek information and advice from the Internet than from a one to one from their doctor, as this is less embarrassing. It is though quite dangerous to seek out remedies from the Internet, as those who sell them do not always provide the correct information.
The second journal ‘Teenagers and the risks of sexually transmitted diseases: a need for the provision of balanced information’ is an evaluation of teenager's knowledge and understanding about sexually transmitted disease, conception and contraception. It goes on to explain how teenagers may underestimate their risk of contracting a STD after the promotion of information about HIV/Aids. It says that simple messages about them in mass media advertising programs may have unwanted results and need to be targeted and easy to understand for teenagers to take in the effect.
Both my chosen journals are trying to increase the message of how high a risk people are at contracting STI’s and how little information is actually available.
So what could I do? Well a technique I could use would be to carry out interviews with those who have experience with treating and studying STI’s. Who would I ask though; well the most obvious people to ask are nurses and doctors. The first thing I would do when beginning this research would be to first email or phone a doctors surgery or a clinic that specializes in treatments with STI’s asking if I could spare an hour of one of their colleagues time giving them a brief overview of what the topic will be about. I believe that asking doctors and nurses would be beneficial into the research as it would allow me insight into the opinions of those who deal with these sort of thing all the time. What do they think of the information that is available to people today? Do they think it is helpful enough and do they think it making the issues of how dangerous they can be effectively? I do think that it would be more appropriate to interview school students.
Results from both groups would slightly differ, as I would get the opinions of those who deal with this all the time and already have experience of how young people are made aware of them and how affective the current information is to them. Is the information working or do people need to be made aware of them at an earlier age?
Another technique I could possibly pursue would be to observe how people react in a clinic, what is their behavior like? Do they seem comfortable or nervous? Are they keeping to themselves? Even looking at posters and advertising in these places. How are the displayed and where? Are they more commonly seen in clinics and surgeries and how many of them are there? This could help show just how available the information is and how helpful clinics can be. Looking at the leaflets available I can even see for myself what information is out there and can compare with others what there opinions on this can would be. I think it would be more beneficial to do an observation in a clinic rather than a surgery.
Out of both of these techniques I think the interview would be the more successful as I would get a variety of answers and results form those with different points of view and ask what their own personal opinions are.
Yet another way to find out information would be to ask, how much do young people actually know about sex in general? Do they actually understand the consequences? Do they read the back of condom packets? Do they use condoms or do they rely on the pill, coil or injection? Looking at contraception packets and information about them could allow me to see if the company’s that provide these are giving out enough information.
Once I collect all my results I would compare my results with others and discuss in detail our own opinions and differences. A major problem with that I may find with this is that the people who I would be discussing this with may be the wrong people to talk to. They may not have the same understanding as nurses, doctors and patients. A way that I could possibly get around this problem would be to discuss my findings with someone also a nurse, doctor or patient who I have previously talked to.
A discussion with people who have never had an STI or who are above a certain age may be a bit useless as they would not know themselves enough about how much young people know about STI’s. They may just say that young people do not know a lot and have nothing to back up these answers, also because it is not only young people who contract them. This is also why I think having a discussion with someone or a group of people who have dealt with this my notes is a better idea, because they themselves know and understand. People who have at one point in their lives contracted an STI may not be so willing to answer any questions let alone take part as they would most likely be to shy and embarrassed to talk about it. This is a problem I see with this technique as finding and talking to someone may be quite difficult.
Another way to compare my notes is with past articles and journals that have carried out similar research into the same area. This is good as it would be easy to do and find out the results of those like me. I do however think that may not be as affective as searching on the Internet may be a bit more difficult to do. The question would be where to look for the more appropriate sites to find and how long would it actually take. The only way I think I could solve this would be to look in libraries, books, magazines and appropriate newspapers.
So now to conclude this part and go over the key points of what I have gone over. I have quickly reviewed two journals I had carried out in a previous assignment; both went over what this essay is based on. I then went over what techniques I would and believe to be the most effective use to carry out research on gain an understanding of just how much information is available to schools and the public. From here I talked about doing observations, and from this seeing what treatment is available and how comfortable are clinics made for patients.
The final part was talking about who I would find more beneficial to carry out a final discussion going over my notes and results with them expressing their own opinions and saying what they thought of the things I had collected.
Part 2
For the next part I will be going into detail of how I would apply both primary and secondary research into a project that I have done this year. The most suitable project that comes to mind would be a project we did to produce a broadsheet and 3D typography piece for a design exhibition. In this project I was given a particular food (Potato) to thoroughly research and produce these final outcomes. This project was based on the food science centre SCRI who carry out research and produce healthier and more nutritious food.
A research technique I could carry out for this would be to do a cross search on the potato. This would allow me to see if there have been any previous articles on the life and health of a potato. Even just carrying out research from books, any magazines where I happen to come across any information. Also looking at SCRI’s research on the food would be very beneficial for what I am doing. I would then break up all my information into the form of a mind map. I could map out all the different areas I have covered. I think would be a good technique to use, as I would get a clearer picture of what it is exactly that I have done. Everything would be highlighted, each part colour coded.
Another research technique I may use to further this could be to again carry out an interview. This may be both a good and bad thing because I might not be able to find a lot of people who know a lot about potatoes. The main people that would be the most obvious to interview would be those who work at SCRI. They would be able to tell me anything I wanted to know about them.
During my research I discovered a disease known as Black Dot. If you want to know more about this, I have previously blogged about this and is simple to access. I discovered that supermarkets have a high demand for a perfect looking potato. They believe looking good is a lot better than being nutritious. So this is where the interviews could be affective again. If I managed to interview a manager at a store such as Sainsbury’s I could subtly find out what their actual views are without me telling them what my actual research is about. That way they cannot lie about it.
Another interview I would do is to question members of the public. We all do shopping so questioning them would be perfect. With another set of questions, subtly asking them how much they know and what would they do etc. without giving away the actual purpose of the topic. From this I would have the opinion of the researcher, provider and the consumer and not just the one view that could be biased. Also finding out what they all think of each other as well. What the consumer thinks of the provider. What the provider thinks of the researcher and so on.
Even getting in touch with potato farmers and hearing their thoughts and opinions would help. This would help see how much they lose, such as profit, time, labour and crops. Something I think not a lot of people would think about.
To conclude this I find that carrying out interviews would be the most effective technique to carry out. I also find that because of the project I chose for this I feel that interviews are the only effective technique to use. I also find that the mind mapping would be most efficient just because of how it would make the process as a whole a lot easier. It would also allow me to understand what people from all sort of views think of each other and what they think of not just potatoes, but food in general as well as the consumerism within supermarket, but that is another topic that can be further explored from this.
Bibliography
Cooper, RG. (2007) 'Sexually transmitted disease/HIV health-care policy and service provision in Britain' INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF STD & AIDS 18 (10) 655-661.
No comments:
Post a Comment