Sample
This study targets 500 men aged above 45, who are the respondents that this survey seeks to gather information from. The respondents will be requested to share information willingly and to make the results credible, their identities will not be revealed in the study.
The targeted respondents will mainly share their experiences regarding the survey questions to uncover relevant data for the survey. The population of the sample size that the survey intends to cover is 500. The respondents who will be drawn out of this population will be asked to participate in the survey voluntarily.
The researcher will seek the consent of these respondents first before allowing them to participate in the survey after revealing all the information that will be used.
Survey Questions
- Have you had any heart related problems?
- If yes, what do you think is the reason for this problem?
- Do you think a diet high in cholesterol level exposes one to the risk of heart related failures?
Strongly agree -1; agree – 2; not sure- 3; disagree -4
- Do you think lifestyle influences such as smoking and drinking increase the risk of one getting heart failure?
Strongly agree -1; agree – 2; not sure- 3; disagree -4
- Do you think limited exercise by a person can expose that person to the risk of heart disease?
Strongly agree -1; agree – 2; not sure- 3; disagree -4
According to these factors below, which one of these has the highest contribution to heart failure? Begin with the highest contributor to the lowest contributor.
- High cholesterol levels
- Smoking
- Drinking
- Lack of exercise
The questions for the survey seek to find out from the surveyed population the contribution lifestyle activities and choices in diets have on the risk of people getting heart related complications.
These questions seek to obtain qualitative responses from the surveyed population to determine their knowledge on heart related issues. The questions seek to establish the relationship between the potential causes of heart disease and the occurrence of the disease in the surveyed population.
Variables
The study will highlight various factors which contribute to heart attacks in middle aged men. The factors that are to be studied will mainly be medical, social and diet changes and their contribution to the level of heart attacks that are experienced by middle aged men.
These variables will apply to each individual respondent in varying degrees because they will be exclusively suited to each individual’s situation. All these variables will be compared against their influence towards making respondents in the sampled population experiencing incidents of heart attack.
The variables will seek to establish a relationship between the measured aspects of the sampled population’s way of life and their contributions to the heart related issues they face. The variable which remains constant in the survey is the changes that are experienced by the surveyed group relating to their heart conditions.
Survey Tool
The survey tool to be used will be an interview survey where each respondent will get to fill in the response to each set of questions asked in the space that appears immediately after each question. This tool is effective because it does not require the respondents to reveal their true identity while they are being surveyed.
The interview will be carried out through various forms on which the questions will be typed and the respondents will go through them and respond to them accordingly.
The respondents will be given 30 minutes to respond and this will only be done after they have given their full consent to the interviewer who will carry out the survey. The interview target is 500 middle aged men who are aged 45 and above.
This may reduce depending on the number of these men who agree to take part in the survey. The margin of error in the survey is likely to be at an estimated 5% margin. The level of measurement will be nominal to explore the exhaustive influences the variables have on the manifestation of the studied attribute in the sampled population.
At the initial stages, nominal measurements will be used to give each participating respondent an identity through a specific number. The order will range from the first participants to the last participants.
Ordinal measurements will be used in the survey to relate the causes that have been identified by the sampled population as being responsible for high rates of high disease. This ordinal measures will be used to give out the rank order as highlighted by the surveyed population regarding their views on the biggest contributors to heart related illnesses.
These two forms of measurement will be vital in determining the personality profiles of the surveyed population and how their views and knowledge regarding heart related issues.
The survey will focus on those locations in which the potential respondents from the sampled population are likely to be found in large numbers.
The survey will be carried out for a period of two weeks because the researchers will have to go to different locations from which they will interview the respondents. After the survey has been done, the interviews of the participating respondents will be stored safely until all the data collected has been analyzed and presented.
Data Analysis
The data collected will be tallied through SPSS and there will be a parametric test, which will be carried out to look at the impact the variables have on the survey. This will seek to establish the influence the highlighted factors have on making the sampled population experience heart related failures and complications.
The parametric test will seek to establish whether the research question has any relationships with the survey and the information that is gathered from the survey conducted.
This will try to show if there is a confirmation of the stated earlier assumption or a difference in the assumption that was carried out at the beginning. The data analyzed will be compiled and used for the presentation together with other information that will relate to the survey.
Review of Literature
A review of literature will be conducted to find out the wider context in which the topic that was being studied and the implications this had on healthcare infrastructure.
Brannon and Feist (2009) state that frequent medical checkups and a good lifestyle can help one to overcome the problems associated with heart related complications (p. 125). These habits and lifestyle choices contribute to the level of heart related conditions a person is likely to suffer from.
Particular types of foods are known to increase the risk of middle aged men to acquire complications that may later lead to heart failure. The consumption of food with a high level of cholesterol has been found to be one of the major contributors to the high incidents of people who suffer from heart related ailments (Brannon & Feist, 2009, p. 127).
Rippe and Rippe (2011) argue that the high incidents of heart related complications result from poor diets, which increase the risk of consumers of such foods becoming ill from heart related complications (p.163).
Failure to participate in various body exercises by the people who are middle aged increases their general body weakness and their immune system becomes more diminished. Modernity and technology have simplified many complicated processes and operations and, as such, people are not as physically active as they used to be two decades ago (Rippe & Rippe, 2011, p. 167).
There is less activation of the muscles in the body and, as such, the level of heart related problems that are likely to be experienced by this group of people is likely to be high (Rippe & Rippe, 2011, p. 167). Middle aged people avoid physically involving activities such as walking, jogging, doing manual labor and other forms of exercise, and this makes them to be vulnerable to heart related ailments.
Recommendations
People should consume healthy foods and limit their intake of foods, which are high in cholesterol as this will reduce their vulnerability to heart related ailments.
People should undergo regular medical check ups to find out if they have any problems that are related to their health. This will make these people to deal with any heart related condition early enough.
People should have regular exercises, which can see them to become more active so that they can deal with the problems caused by heart ailments at an earlier stage.
More sensitization is needed on the issues related to heart related problems to ensure that everyone in the society becomes aware of how to deal with such problems.
Conclusion
Middle aged men need to be more careful about their diets as this will help them to overcome risks that can cause them heart related complications, which are prevalent among members of this age group. They should engage in exercise to make their bodies more active so as to avoid any complications that could bring about heart illnesses.
References
Brannon, L., & Feist, J. (2009). Health psychology: An introduction to behavior and health. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Rippe, J. M., & Rippe, M. D. (2011). The healthy heart cookbook for dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books.