Introduction
Schieber and Vegega recognize that children undergo various stages in their physical development. One of these stages is the ability to walk. According to the authors, this stage exposes children to immense risks since they encounter situations in which they have to share roads with motorists as they roam around (Schieber & Vegega, 2002, p.1). The authors identify child pedestrian safety as one of the biggest challenge that the US encounters. In an effort to address the problems, the authors argue, “experts in motor vehicle safety, public health, city planning, school safety, child development, and engineering have wrestled with the problems, each from his or her specialty’s point of view” (Schieber & Vegega, 2002, p.1). To this end, they attribute the recorded cases of childhood pedestrian injuries to the lack of integration of efforts of all the specialists in the reduction of injuries among children pedestrians.
In the attempt to set theoretical context for reduction of childhood pedestrian injuries that are related to interaction of children and motorists, Schieber and Vegega’s study attempts to establish a link between childhood pedestrian injuries and a number of factors including engineering, sociological, individual, and educational factors. For instance, the authors claim that the design of roads of having many lanes to accommodate motor vehicles often driving at high speeds leads to an increment of childhood injuries in the US. The authors are also quick to pinpoint those childhood-associated injuries in the US and Britain are on a downwards trend because there is a changing culture in which more children are being driven rather than walking. They also claim that healthcare for those who are injured has also enormously improved.
Evaluation of the Research Design
In the discussions of the study by Schieber and Vegega, the research is designed to employ the utilization of the results of the recommendation of a conference on a “panel to prevent pedestrian injuries” (p.1) held in the United States in 1998. One of the challenges established by this research design is that it is not evidence based. This makes the research design inappropriate for making the inferences of the study, which the authors claim can help in minimization of childhood pedestrian injuries not only in the context of the United States but also in other nations including those located in the developing world.
Alternative Design
If I were to conduct the same research, I would redesign the research to be conclusive and correlational. The claim holds because correlative and conclusive research requires the collection of data. The data is to be analyzed based on evidence of the applicability of the variable measurements in the specific health-related problems under study (Irny & Rose, 2005, p.302: Bowling, 2002, p.20).
Idea Validation Based on Experience
Based on experience, this has the impact of making the research findings and recommendations valid, rigorous, and attainable (Melrose, 2001, p.161: Griffiths, 2009, p.127). This creates opportunities for conducting a research based on cross sectional and longitudinal approaches, which are essential in drawing inferences that are evidence based. Apparently, “the manner in which one collects data, and not the statistical technique, allows one to make causal inferences” (Crosby, DiClemente & Salazar, 2005, p.81).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the relationship between the various factors that are related to childhood pedestrian injuries requires correlation research. This will often entangle data collection and analysis to help in making conclusions (Linden, 2010, p.81). The goal for doing this is to make the findings evidence based. This is very important for healthcare researches.
Annotated Bibliography
Schieber, R., & Vegega, M. (2002). Reducing Childhood Pedestrian Injuries, Injury Prevention, 8(1), 1-10.
This article discusses the various factors that increase the number of childhood pedestrian injuries in the US. Recommendations made in a “panel to prevent pedestrian injuries” (Schieber & Vegega, 2002, p.1) are deployed in making the recommendations of the article. Improved medical interventions for childhood and shunning the culture of walking are used to explain the reduction of childhood injuries in Britain and the US.
Crosby, R., DiClemente, L., & Salazar, L. (2005). Research Methods in Health Promotion: Chapter 4. “Choosing a Research Design” pp. 75–106. London: Jossey-Bass.
This chapter discusses various research designs that can be employed in health promotion researches. It cites the strengths and weaknesses of each research design based on the subject of the study. In the recommendation of an alternative approach to that of Schieber and Vegega, the discussion of this chapter is incredible.
Irny, I., & Rose, A. (2005). Choosing appropriate research methodology. Research Methods in Health Care, 3(2), 301-320.
This article discusses various research methods that are used in the healthcare settings. Among the method addressed includes quantitative, longitudinal, and cross sectional research. The article presents conclusive research as one of the methods that can be used in the bigger sphere of the qualitative research. According to the article, conclusive research is one of methods that are employed in conducting primary research.
Melrose, M. (2001). Maximizing the Rigor of Action Research. Field methods, 13(2), 160–180.
This article discusses action research and its development showing how it has enabled people to resolve some dominant challenges in the society. In the words of the author, the article also discusses the “meaning of rigor when the term is applied in action research. It presents some of the strategies that can be employed in improving rigor in research (Melrose, 2001, p.160). The article concludes that rigor and validity can be induced in a research by deployment of an appropriate research design such as quantitative research.
Griffiths, F. (2009). Research Methods for Health Care Practice. New York: Sage.
This book discusses a systematic process of carrying out various scholarly researches. It includes several examples of health care methods of research as mechanisms of illustration of how the process of scientific inquiry is conducted. It also addresses various issues that a researcher needs to pay attention to for credible and valid research to be realized through a thorough discussion of the roles of research ethics in research, data collection, and data analysis.
Linden, A. (2010). Introduction to research methods in healthcare. Research methods in health care, 2(1), 77-93.
This article discusses the principles that researchers in the field of healthcare needs to observe. Liden also discusses various methods that are adopted in the healthcare research such as correlational and quantitative researches. He argues that correlation research is credible for revealing the relationship between healthcare problems and causations.
Bowling A. (2002). Research Methods in Health Investigating Health and Health Services. Buckingham: Philadelphia.
This book describes various methods of conducting primary research in health care settings such as interviews, surveys, and even questionnaires among other approaches. It looks at the approaches for analyzing data generated from each of the methods. In healthcare setting, the author maintains that, amid the many methods that can be used to garner data, the method chosen by a researchers needs to be evidence-based.
References
Bowling, A. (2002). Research Methods in Health Investigating Health and Health Services. Buckingham: Philadelphia.
Crosby, R., DiClemente, L., & Salazar L. (2005). Research Methods in Health Promotion Chapter 4. “Choosing a Research Design”.pp. 75–106. London: Jossey-Bass.
Griffiths, F. (2009). Research Methods for Health Care Practice. New York: Sage.
Irny, I., & Rose, A. (2005). Choosing appropriate research methodology. Research methods in health care, 3(2), 301-320.
Linden, A. (2010). Introduction to research methods in healthcare. Research methods in health care, 2(1), 67-97.
Melrose, M. (2001). Maximizing the Rigor of Action Research. Field methods, 13(2),
160–180.
Schieber, R., & Vegega, M. (2002). Reducing Childhood Pedestrian Injuries. Injury Prevention, 8(1), 1-10.