A current health issue is that of head and spine injury and the long term effect

Question

A current health issue is that of head and spine injury and the long term effects of concussion for football players. This issue has been in the news, and we can assume that most Americans who follow football are aware of the risks involved in playing the game. However, we have not seen any decline in the number of young boys, ages 8-10 that are joining football leagues. They must have the permission of a parent or guardian to play, indicating adult support for participation. Given the risks, why would parents allow or even encourage their child to play football? Using what you know about qualitative research, briefly explain (one page) how you would design a research study with the goal of understanding why parents allow their children to play football? How could you utilize triangulation in your study?

Explanation / Answer

First we know that Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem. Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Some common methods include focus groups (group discussions), individual interviews, and participation/observations. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.

A research design is the set of methods and procedures used in collecting and analyzing measures of the variables specificed in the research problem research study. The design of a study defines the study type (descriptive, correlational, semi-experimental, experimental, review, meta-analytic) and sub-type (e.g., descriptive-longitudinal case study), research problem, hypotheses, independent and dependent variables, experimental design, and, if applicable, data collection methods and a statistical analysis plan. Research design is the framework that has been created to find answers to research questions.

From the given question we have to Apply/use the Experimental research design,In an experimental design, the researcher actively tries to change the situation, circumstances, or experience of participants (manipulation), which may lead to a change in behavior or outcomes for the participants of the study. The researcher randomly assigns participants to different conditions, measures the variables of interest and tries to control for confounding variables. Therefore, experiments are often highly fixed even before the data collection starts.

In a good experimental design, a few things are of great importance. First of all, it is necessary to think of the best way to operationalize the variables that will be measured, as well as which statistical methods would be most appropriate to answer the research question. Thus, the researcher should consider what the expectations of the study are as well as how to analyse any potential results. Finally, in an experimental design the researcher must think of the practical limitations including the availability of participants as well as how representative the participants are to the target population. It is important to consider each of these factors before beginning the experiment.[3] Additionally, many researchers employ power analysis before they conduct an experiment, in order to determine how large the sample must be to find an effect of a given size with a given design at the desired probability of making a Type I or Type II error.

In the early 21st century, sports concussion has become a prominent public health problem, popularly labeled “The Concussion Crisis.”Football-related concussion contributes much of the epidemiological burden and inspires much of the public awareness. Though often cast as a recent phenomenon, the crisis in fact began more than a century ago, as concussions were identified among footballers in the game’s first decades. This early concussion crisis subsided-allowing the problem to proliferate-because work was done by football’s supporters to reshape public acceptance of risk. They appealed to an American culture that permitted violence, shifted attention to reforms addressing more visible injuries, and legitimized football within morally reputable institutions. Meanwhile, changing demands on the medical profession made practitioners reluctant to take a definitive stance. Drawing on scientific journals, public newspapers, and personal letters of players and coaches, this history of the early crisis raises critical questions about solutions being negotiated at present.

Better ways of reducing the risks of head injury may be found through high-profile collaborations of medical science and football corporations. But the long history of the concussion crisis tells us that, although the pursuit of fixes is well and good, proponents of fixes need to know their enemies: the financial interests that support the status quo, and the cultural assumptions linking football, violence, and our current iterations of manliness.85 Steps must be taken to ensure that safety and honest interpretations of science drive the research that is done and the conclusions that are reached.

The ultimate challenge to building and implementing good policy may be that football became popular not despite its violent aspects, but because of them. The most effective interventions will surely be integrative of improved technical protections, regulatory modifications, enforcement of rules and policies, and public education, as well as diagnostics and treatment of the injuries that will continue to occur. But the mass popularity of dangerous sports inhibits the interventions that might be most effective at all levels-from youth to collegiate to professional. The inherent dangers of the game will continue under the cloak of monetary settlements like that announced in August 2013.

This was acknowledged among even the very earliest discussions about American football’s concussion crisis. “An attempt has been made to gloss over football’s worst aspects by widely published suggestions that no game is entirely without the danger of death under accidental circumstances,”JAMA reported in 1906. But the injuries are “absolutely dependent on the present methods of playing the game itself, and bound to occur.” The fact that so many injuries occur in one season of play is of itself enough to stamp on the game as something that must be greatly modified or abandoned if we are to be considered a civilized people, and if our universities are to be considered centers for influence for good.

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