What is the Research Question and Hypothesis?
Hypothesis : The researchers hypothesize that midlife crises for men begins at age 50 and is mostly associated with depression, which is the leading cause of mental illnesses for the elderly, due to concerns with health and physical wellbeing, mental health issues, and many others.
Research Questions: What are the main midlife crises concerns or issues of men at age 50?
What Research strategies and variables are being used and or should be used?
An exploratory qualitative approach is employed by the three researchers to study inherent traits, which is evident in the use of stratified random sampling when choosing the participants. For example, a stratum of people aged 50 years and those who celebrated their birthdays no more than eleven months were selected. The independent variable is men aged 50 years, while the dependent variable is midlife crises (Mennat, Tuskor, and Anten, 1988).
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About 30 men aged 50 years were selected for the experiment. For exclusion criteria, participants were supposed to have celebrated their 50 th birthday not more than eleven months before their selection. Open interviews and questionnaires were mainly used to collect information from the participants. Video recordings were also taken during interview sessions, but with the consent of the participants.
What type of sampling is being used?
Mennat, Tuskor, and Antem mainly use stratified random sampling to identify the research participants, who are categorized based on shared attributes (age bracket of 50 years and those who celebrated their birthdays not more than 11 months). Random sampling is principally used by the researchers to eliminate any bias. The specific sampling technique can also be classified as network sampling, a method that is central to the assessment of a particular biological or social network. A particular sample of the network can be categorized as a stratum when referring to stratified random sampling (Mennat, Tuskor, and Anten, 1988).
What are the Confounding Variables and their Control? How else can the results be explained?
From the study, men-at-age-50 is one of the confounding variables because it influences several other characteristics, including education, occupation, marital status, and race. Age 50 is also a vital midlife concern, whether due to job and career problems, physical health or welfare, or issues with kids.
Discuss whether or not the researcher studied what needed to be considered to come up with such results.
The research team indubitably studied and investigated all the data and information collected from the 30 participants to come with the various findings. Some of these outcomes revealed by the three experts concur with the earlier hypotheses projected. Some of the leading themes or issues the reporters observed that are linked with midlife crises at 50 were rank ordered as physical health, mental health, aging, sex and marriage, children, job and career, financial, achievement, and security.
To come up with these results, the researchers first transcribed verbatim all the interview recordings after the data collection sessions. The three analysts organized a conference to discuss the transcribed responses collected from the three ten-man groups. They had first to agree before rank ordering them as indicated above. Also, it is essential to understand that a background check (a literature review) was conducted before the onset of the investigation. This background check gave the researchers insight by proposing the most appropriate study design to address the research problem.
Were the measurements they used adequately for this study?
Yes, all the measurements the researchers used from collecting, analyzing, and presenting data were appropriate for this particular study. Open questionnaires and interviews are unquestionably suitable for exploratory qualitative studies, which are often aimed at explaining certain trends or phenomena. The use of stratified purposeful (random) sampling is also justified because it does not only eliminate bias but also ensures the team examines a specific population best-suited for the study. The use of video recording then later transcription verbatim is also very critical for qualitative studies.
Describe and discuss how Data Analysis can be appropriately used and or improperly Data analysis and the effects in conclusions.
Data analysis is a very crucial process in research as it focuses on inspecting, checking, changing, and modeling the collected data, with a particular objective of identifying useful ideas and information. Such information from data analysis if used correctly can assist in making inferences, informing conclusions, as well as supporting decision-making processes. For example, the report above indicates that physical health is the primary concern for people when they reach age 50 (Mennat, Tuskor, and Anten, 1988). The government can use this data to identify the most appropriate measures to keep the elderly fit at this age, including recommending and providing training education and programs.
Find and discuss the problematic ethic concerns and errors
There are several ethical concerns associated with research that the investigators have addressed adequately. The most noteworthy is the issue of informed consent, an important process that obliges researchers to seek approval of the participants before recruiting them (Wear, 2012). For example, the permission of all the volunteers was sought before recording their views and responses.
References
Mennatt, R., Tuskor, M., & Anten, J. (1988). Midlife crises of men at age 50. In J. Meltzoff (Eds.), Critical thinking about research: Psychology and related fields (pp. 227-230). American Psychological Association.
Wear, S. (2012). Informed consent: Patient autonomy and physician beneficence within clinical. Springer Science & Business Media.
