The assignment is a short report about any research that I'm interested in and in my instruction, there are three report examples with my instructor's report too. I also uploaded the class PPT you nee

Research Design Example

Students will post an example of a published research study on any topic that they find particularly well done or compelling.  Why did you choose this study and what do you feel is well done?  Alternatively post an example of a published research study that you find particularly problematic.  What issues to do see with this study?

Discussion participation is worth 5 points and will be graded based on (4 points) the application of class concepts in your original post and (1 point) the relevance of your response to classmate(s) posts.  You are expected to complete your original post by the end of the week to give your classmates an opportunity to react and respond to your post. 

My instructor’s report:

I'll get us started here....attached is a study that might literally be the worst "research" ever published. 

mmr study 1.pdf

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wakefield_fraud_summary.pdf

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This should have never seen the light of day and has caused significant social harm in that it has been widely cited by anti-vaxxers as scientific evidence for link between the MMR vaccine (a childhood vaccine for Measles, Mumps and Rubella). The flaws in the study were significant...

1. Total sample of 12(!) children

2. Basically no study design - this was a retrospective look at medical records post hoc

3. No statistical relationship (or any specific relationship) between developmental disorders and the vaccine

4. No controls for any other potential causes

5. Conclusion was based on speculation in the discussion section

On top of all this - later investigation found that Wakefield (the lead author) actually faked some of the records.  The paper was later retracted and Wakefield lost his license to practice medicine in the UK.

My classmates’ reports:

Example One:

Companion Animals (Links to an external site.)

Overall I believe this is a good research

• Study Design - talked about its independent & dependent variables, it mention is mediator, and it also talked a bit about possible control variables

• Total Sample - it doesn't mention the total sample, but it does mention that they used a bunch of different data sets

• They found a significant relationship between - Animals and people with Mental Illness

But, I also believe they could improve and they even mention some of their limitations 

• Data - Even though they had a lot of data, some of it wasn't of the best quality

• Conclusion - They mention that they could use their research as a basis for a more complete research

Example Two:

Study on safety and Immunogenicity of two potential vaccines

Covid 19 Vaccine Trial.pdf 

This study was performed as part of a phase 1 process in a vaccine trial. Two vaccines and a placebo were compared in this study that sought to measure:  1) outcome of the safety of the two potential vaccines being administered, and 2) level of immune response being measured as the second factor in the study.

I believe this was a good Phase 1 trial, however, I would have liked to have seen more diversity in this initial trial phase regarding race and sex.

1.  This was a small study for a Phase 1 trial; it included 195 adults divided into groups. The study also described in a graph how participants were selected and dosages administered.

2. Study Design: well-organized in how participants were grouped and vaccines were administered, including variation of vaccine dosages and amount administered. 

3. Limitations: The study acknowledged that it included mostly healthy, females of White and non-Hispanic origin, but sought to diversify more in the following trial phases, if this trial 1 phase passed.

4.  This is an ongoing, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded, dose-escalation study in which healthy adult were randomly chosen between the ages of 18-55 and 65-85 years of age .

5.  Controls: only healthy adults in this phase, but to diversify more in populations of stable, chronic underlying condition, sex, and race if study trial passes first phase. Participants were divided into age groups, dosage groups, and vaccine type.

6. No mediator/moderator variables noted

7. No statistical hypothesis testing was conducted due to the size of study and level of analysis to be performed.

Example Three:

The_Correlation_between_Junk_Food_Consumption_and_age_of_menarche-1.pdf  

In the last few years, unprecedently high number of female kids experienced with early menarche in Korea. This is a significant problem because many notices that those kids are likely to have hormone problem, which leads to obesity and breast cancer. So, what caused this problem? Some scientists argue that since junk food first appeared in Korea, the increased consumption of junk food has put them at higher risk of accelerating age of menarche.

The research I found addresses the subject that I was interested in.

The research was conducted with observational-analytic research and case-control research design. I believe it was cross-sectional because it has data for one time period, analyzes variation between kids who eat junk food more than 2 times a week and kids who do not. 

However, there was some flaws in this research.

1) The sample for this research is very limited (30 students). Even if this research was only for Indonesia, the limited sample cannot represent the whole country.

2) Data from questionnaire is not sufficient to explain the situation. Questionnaire from kids may not be accurate. 

3) There is no control for the other potential causes that could be related to the problem. Just like the name of the research, it strictly believes "Correlation does mean causation". But it could have been better if other specific conditions were explained as well.

Although the research explained well with statistical analysis, the concerns above had me question the research as a whole.