Introduction
This study aims at creating awareness on the lethality of diabetes by ensuring that the necessary information about this disease is available to the public. However, in order to achieve this, the study will seek to provide answers to questions about the causes, susceptibility, and preventive measures for diabetes.
Research Questions
- What is the level of diabetes awareness among the public?
- What are the common causes of diabetes?
- Does diabetes have any cure or is it preventable?
Hypothesis to be tested
- H1: Many people are aware of diabetes, its susceptibility, causes, and preventive measures.
- H2: Many people are not aware of diabetes, its susceptibility, causes, and preventive measures.
Problem and Purpose
Even though many people have heard of diabetes, only a few are aware of its causes, preventive measures, as well as what category of people is likely to suffer from diabetes (Shaw, Sicree & Zimmet, 2010). This study, therefore, will offer an insight into the causes, susceptibility, as well as the preventive measures of diabetes. The study will also get quantitative data that relate to the causes from databases in the respective regions in United States of America. This will be supplemented by interviewing nurses and administrators on the overall subject of diabetes. The research will be comprehensive and will combine two study designs including descriptive and cross-sectional study designs.
Population and Sample
In any study, the target population is used to point to the elements for which the study is interested. The number of registered public hospitals in USA is 5686. These targeted people/units will be identified from the sampled hospitals. Furthermore, the study will seek to interview the stakeholders involved in the treatment and prevention of diabetes. These include the nurse, hospital administrators, and hospital district heads.
Sampling Design
A sample is a subsection of the target population. To arrive at a sample size, proper sampling techniques should be applied.
Sample Frame
The sampling frame for this study was the public hospitals. A sample is usually drawn from the target population. Sampling frame represents the working population that is to be utilized in the study. According to Denzin and Lincoln (2008) if a sample frame is taken correctly it will lead to a sample is representative of the whole population.
Sampling Techniques
The study will use simple random sampling procedure. According to Mitchel and Jolly (2010) simple random sampling is very useful in getting a representative sample from a large sample group. In addition, simple random sampling technique is free from human bias and avoids classification errors, by giving each unit an equal chance of being selected.
Sample Size
The determination of the sample size depends on the number of replication applicable in drawing inferences about the population/units. Sample sizes are important in determining the precision of a research (Neumann, 2007). This research by application of the random sampling will have a sample size of 500 hospitals.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
The study questions and the hypothesis to be tested will be used to guide the research. As a result, the study will apply a type of data collection method that will ensure gathering of comprehensive data. Denzin and Lincoln (2008), point out that the choice of any method of data collection is usually depended on the research strategies, the point of collection, and the person to carry out the research.
Archival Records
This source of data will include diabetes information gathered since the discovery of diabetes. Other records will also be collected to help in comparison.
Interviews
In order to collect in-depth information, the study will contact interviews. According to Denzin and Lincoln (2008) interviews are good research instruments that can be applied in data collection since they focus on the respondents’ attitudes and perceptions along with the exploration of personal differences, experiences, and outcomes.
Data Analysis
After data is collected, the study will apply different methods of data analysis. The statistical package for social sciences (Foster and Yarvosky, 2006) will be used to analyze the data, i.e. to compute the average mean, modes and standard deviation from the collected data. Correlation will be calculated by use of regression analysis. This will help in establishing the level of diabetes awareness among people under study. In addition, cross-sectional time series analysis will be utilized in the analysis. Such will assist the researcher in studying the statistics of diabetes since its discovery. The causal relationship here will entail the respondents’ perspectives and the respective hospital details.
In addition, data from BRFSS will be used in analyzing the level of diabetes’ awareness in US (Cdc.gov, 2015). As such, the use of BRFSS will allow the use of more variables in relation to respondents’ demographic information. Such variables will include sex, age, level of education, ethnicity, level of income, weight, as well as marital status. In order to answer the question of diabetes awareness and its preventive measures, the study will analyze the number of patients under diabetic pills, length of insulin intake and frequency of blood test.
Summary
From the above, it suffices that a number of factors are responsible for causing diabetes. Shaw, Sicree and Zimmet (2010), point out that the causes of diabetes are classified depending on the type of diabetes. However, some causes are common in both cases. Often, Type 1 diabetes affects children and young adults. Genetic susceptibility is the primary cause where the genes inherited by children make them prone to suffer from diabetes type 1.
From the analysis of the data collected during the study, it is evident that diabetes is preventable. In addition, the study found out that few hospitals out of the sample had adopted measures of preventing diabetes. However, according to most of the respondents, the preventive measures put forward were not sufficient and that more diabetes awareness was necessary.
References List
Cdc.gov. (2015). NHANES 2009 – 2010: Diabetes Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies. Web.
Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y.S. (2008). Colllecting and interpreting qualitative materials. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Foster, J. and Yavorsky, C. (2006). Understanding and Using advanced statistics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Mitchell, M. and Jolly, J. (2010). Research design explained. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Neumann, W. L. (2007). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. London: Allyn & Bacon, pp.35-44.
Shaw, J. E., Sicree, R. A., & Zimmet, P. Z. Global estimates of the prevalence of diabetes for 2010 and 2030. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 87(1), 4-14.