In an article titled Impact of health education intervention on knowledge and perception of cervical cancer and screening for women in Ghana, Ebu et al. (2019) delve into determining the impacts of a health education intervention on cervical cancer and perceptions of screening, especially in women of the Ghanaian regions of Abirem, Eguafo, Edina, as well as Komenda. This comes against the backdrop of the rise in cases of cervical cancer in the region as well as other developing countries. Women in these regions have a high chance of developing cervical cancer as a result of a greater prevalence of the risk factors related to the disease.
Research Design Used by Authors
The authors utilize an experimental research design as they primarily wanted to observe how educating women on a particular subject, which is cervical cancer in this case, might affect their perceptions of being screened. Specifically, it is a non-equivalent control-group design as it is a quasi-experimental research design whereby dependent variables were measured in one group of research participants before (pretest) as well as after (posttest) the intervention. The same variable that is dependent is also measured at pre and post-test in another non-equivalent control group.
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Why the Authors Used The T-Tests
The authors collected data via a validated structured interview schedule and analyzed using the independent- and paired samples t-tests. They utilized the paired t-test in order to compare if the means of two paired measurements have much of a difference. The paired t-test usually compares two means that originate from the same object, individual, or other items that are related. The independent t-tests were undertaken in order to compare the means of two independent groups in a bid to ascertain whether there is statistical evidence that the population means are significantly different. The t-tests were primarily used to compare the mean differences between the pre-post-tests scores for the control and intervention groups.
Choice of Tests
Personally, I think that the methodology utilized by the authors is the most appropriate for the study type because it helps them in comparing the scores before and after the intervention process in a group that receives the intervention and one that does not. The research designs help in drawing a stark contrast between the different groups, and thus they can easily visualize or perceive the impacts of the process of intervention. In this case, it would help the researchers judge whether the public health education of women in Ghanaian districts helped in improving their perceptions of cancer screening.
Display of Data
The authors displayed the data in the results sections. Some of the data include those of the socio-demographic traits of the study participants, as well as paired and independent t-test results, which were the highlights of the study. The display of results is usually desirable because it helps the audience in easily comprehending what the authors are trying to relay and thus have a more comprehensive understanding of the study.
Results
The results of the study are standalone. This is because they add to the existing pool of knowledge and insights on t-tests. The article provides methodologies that can effectively be utilized in the whole process of using t-tests to showcase experimental differences, especially in regards to the variables. Therefore, interested individuals in the field of statistics in public health can find it to be very resourceful as a reference.
Reporting on Effect Size
The authors depicted the effect size of the research, especially by undertaking the Kruskal-Wallis test. This is meaningful in order to have a clear picture of the impacts of the process of intervention.
References
Ebu, N. I., Amissah-Essel, S., Asiedu, C., Akaba, S., & Pereko, K. A. (2019). Impact of health education intervention on knowledge and perception of cervical cancer and screening for women in Ghana. BMC public health , 19 (1), 1505.
