Presenting Justification of a Research Question and Research Approach

Antismoking Campaign
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Introduction
Smoking is a harmful habit and one that is taken up due to peer pressure. However, the impacts of the same are devastating to the health of a smoker. This is especially the case relative to the health risks associated with the cardiac system and the respiratory system among a myriad of other health complications that come with the habit. Quite a number of patients that have suffered stroke or coronary heart diseases have been found to have been smokers (Fiore & Baker, 2009). As such, smoking does increase the risk of these diseases (Emedicine.medscape.com, 2016). It is estimated that smokers in the general population are twice as likely to develop heart attacks compared to the rest of the population (CDC, 2016). This is relative to the fact that, smoking tends to affect the arteries by causing material buildup on the inside walls of the arteries causing them to become narrow. This further leads to the development of angina and heart attacks (Fiore, Croyle, Curry, Cutler, Davis & Gordon, 2004). There are quite a number health risks associated with smoking, such as asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and respiratory diseases. smoking also increase the risk of leading to effects such as, stillbirths, ectopic pregnancies, sudden death syndrome, orofacial clefts, cataracts and even low sperm counts among other risks (CDC, 2016). Of the most common and deadly risks is the development of cancer on various part of the body. Smokers run the risk of developing, cancer of the bladder, esophagus, liver, blood, trachea, colon, cervix, larynx, blabber, stomach, kidney and most importantly the lungs (CDC, 2016). This would significantly indicate why, there is such a subtle number of deaths that are associated with smoking relative to the health risks aforementioned (Heidel, 1989). The significance of the health risks associated with smoking is underlined by the CDC reports indicating that, there are more deaths caused by smoking, than there are for, HIV, drug abuse, firearm injuries, motor vehicle injuries and alcohol abuse all combined (CDC, 2016).
This is a significant element, especially considering that, there are 480,000 deaths that are attributable to smoking in the United States alone (CDC, 2016). The World Health Organization on the other hand estimates that, globally, there are more than 6 million people that die from smoking related diseases (World Health Organization, 2016). While an estimated five million are due to the fact that they have in fact directly smoked cigarettes, more than 600,000 of people that die from smoking are in fact victims of secondhand smoke (World Health Organization, 2016). There are myriad of benefits that are associated with quitting smoking (Netemeyer, Andrews, & Burton, 2005). It is estimated, according to the CDC that, most of the benefits are accrued exponentially after one year of quitting (Healton & Nelson, 2004). Patients that have developed coronary heart diseases undergo the CABG procedure to try and treat the element of narrow arteries through surgery (Jha & Peto, 2014). If such patients were to resume smoking, this would highly affect their chances of restoring their health from the benefits accrued from quitting smoking (Fiore & Baker, 2009). This paper tries to establish education strategy, to assist smokers to quit and commit for more than six months, by evaluating the efficiency of the educational brochures handed out at the hospitals and the educational strategies of getting smokers with coronary heart disease and a history of CABG procedure to quit smoking (Fiore, Croyle, Curry, Cutler, Davis & Gordon, 2004).
Justification Relative Other Research
The health effects and risks of smoking are quite a number and this makes this a wide topic. Relative to the fact that much of the information is also being sourced online, there is a wide array of information and data to work with. There are quite a number of research materials on these topics that are available on the internet (Smith, Carter, Chapman, Dunlop, & Freeman, 2015). As such, there is need for search criteria to help narrow down on the information relevant to the paper. The research material the paper was searched on a narrowing strategy. This is to mean that, much of the content at the start of the paper was general and related to smoking and proceeds towards more specific search related to CABG and smoking cessation strategies (White, 2003). Much of the general information in the paper was included in the introductory parts of the various sections (QuickStats: Number of Deaths from 10 Leading Causes—National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2010, 2013). After which more specific information was included within the content of the paragraphs focusing on the thesis statement of the paper. In the reference to the general paper flow, much of the information search that was sourced at the start of the paper, related to the health impacts and risks of smoking (Levy, Mabry, Graham, Orlean & Abrams, 2010). This was then narrowed to the impacts of cigarette smoking and associated statistics at the global and then national level. The search then narrowed down to CABG relative to its meaning and why it is a crucial procedure, in relation to the health of a smoker (Twyman, Bonevski, Paul, & Bryant, 2014). The search then narrowed towards research paradigms and in this case with reference to the positivist and critical theories with close reference to how they impact developing research geared towards establishing the best strategies to assist smokers quit smoking and commit for more than six months (Vine, 2009). This paper called for a focused search criteria to better bring the right content to the argument (Levy, Mabry, Graham, Orleans & Abrams, 2010). As such several research papers were evaluated to build on the thesis of the paper.
According to Durkin, Beiner and Wakefield (2009), there are some disparities relative to the antismoking campaigns. There are different types of mass media that are used in the campaign against smoking. On average the smokers are exposed to more than 200 antismoking adverts within a two year period (Durkin, Biener, & Wakefield, 2009). These same sentiments are also echoed by McVey and Stapleton. In their research they bring out the fact that, it is possible to have the adverts have some subtle impact in helping the smoker to quit smoking (Durkin, Biener, & Wakefield, 2009). This is a common trend among most of the researches that have been conducted with reference to getting to understand the basic elements that are involved in persuading the smokers to get rid of their bad habit and salvage their health (Koop, C., Richmond & Steinfeld, 2004). One of the basic aspects that come out even in the adverts that are geared towards enhancing the adverts is the educational part (McVey, 2000). Getting the smokers to understand that, smoking is a harmful habit and one that leads to detrimental health risks plays a crucial role. A review of the research shows that most of the adverts have employed the element of sensation in their approach (Koh, Oppenheimer, Massin-Short, Emmons, Geller & Viswanath, 2010). This means that, most of the adverts employ the element of educating the smokers on the dangers that are associated with the habit. Ideally, as Durkin, Biener and Wakefield state in their research, adverts have resulted to employing tactics such as emotional and evocative ads, which contain personalized stories on the effects that smoking has (Durkin, Biener, & Wakefield, 2009). In addition to helping the smokers interact with actual stories about people that have suffered from the habit, the ads also use the promise of the benefits that can be accrued from cessation (Bennasar Veny et al., 2011). As such, relative to the effectiveness of the ads that show how bad smoking is for human health, it is the element of broadcasting aspects that smokers can easily understand that better improves the impacts on the same. It is also crucial to note that most of the research that is directed at the ads also indicates the need for specificity (Koop, Richmond & Steinfeld, 2004). This means that the ads have to be directed a specific group other than just placing an ad that is supposed to speak reason to all the smokers (McVey, 2000). Ideally this means that the ad has to be very specific about who it is that they are targeting such as women, teenagers or men. Helping the smokers best understand the various impacts that the habit has on their health is more effective that simply indicating that smoking is harmful (Emedicine.medscape.com, (2016). As such, educational campaigns play a better role at helping the smokers to quit smoking and even sustain that trend for more than six months (Netemeyer, Andrews, & Burton, 2005). This is an aspect that is best founded in the critical theory.
Justification of Chosen Approach
Smoking is a very addictive habit and as such one that causes the patients significant struggle to drop. While cessation is associated with regaining health benefits of a healthy body, there are difficulties associated with the same (Nhlbi.nih.gov, 2016). This means that the approach that is used to assist the smokers has to be efficient to guarantee results. This is especially the case if the smokers have to make it past the sixth month on their cessation efforts (Bennasar Veny et al., 2011). One of the approaches that can be employed in the quest to assist the smokers to quit the habit and hold to their efforts for a period exceeding six months, is through exposing them antismoking adverts. Relative to the rate at which the adverts are shown to the smokers and the message offered through the adverts, it is likely that this will assist the more smokers to quit smoking (Uppal, Shahab, Britton, & Ratschen, 2013). This is an approach that relies on the positivist paradigm (Aston, 2016). This is a research paradigm that conforms to the idea that the world and social functions follow a set of rules that are unchanging (Warren, Alberg, Kraft & Cummings, 2014). This also relates to the aspect of cause and effect, where in this case smoking causes the victims health detriment (Schwartz, 2016). Ideally, there is a direct correlation between the causes and the effects of the actions taken (Zawahir et al., 2012). In this case, there is a direct link between the effects and the act of smoking. At the same time, when it comes to the cessation program, there is a direct link between the antismoking adverts and the success of smokers dropping the habit for more than six months (Clancy, Zwar, & Richmond, 2013). The design of this approach is rather straight forward, as it basically involves the establishment of the number of people that are smoking before the study and after the adverts are aired. This case compares the data within the time frame to assess if indeed there is a significant number of smokers that desist from their habit and commit to the same six months after (Krejci, 2000). The aspect of the smokers dropping the habit have to, thus, be related to the antismoking adverts. This is an approach that focuses on the direct correlation between smoking and the health impacts and at the same time the success of getting patients who have undergone CABG surgery to quit smoking for more than six months (Tahlil, Woodman, Coveney, & Ward, 2013). As such, this is a paradigm that is mostly is mostly used to evaluate the direct relations by drawing on the cause and effect approach (Power, 2002). The approach largely relies on a design, where a sample smokers who have undergone CABG surgery in a given population are established and later on after a set of adverts are aired, the figure is taken (The Cancer Council, 2016). The changes in the number of people that drop the habit are then established and expressed as a percentage of the total to be compared with the previous percentage at the start of the research (Qrca.org, 2016).
The other approach that is also crucial to the discussion is on educating the smokers on the dangers of smoking (Qualres.org, 2016). This is a more direct approach to the problem, where the smokers are made to understand how smoke inhalation interacts with their body (Aston, 2016). Further, the smokers are made always of the dangers of smoking relative to existing health conditions related to the same (, 2016). The focus of the educational approach also incorporates the impact of smoking on the social, cultural and economic aspects of the society (Power, 2002). This is relative to the fact that, smoking not only affects the health of the smoker but also that of other bystanders, their families, friends and even the economy relative to the health care bills, loss of skilled labor in the market and the costs associated with the same from a wider perspective. This is an approach that largely relies on the non-positivist paradigm and specifically the critical theory (Vine, 2009). This is a theory that largely indicates in the case, the need to get the smokers to understand the impact of their habit on the health and other aspects in the society (Qualres.org, 2016). As such, the educational approach will assist the smokers to better understand how the smoke from the cigarettes and the various compounds in the smoke affect that their health (Vine, 2009). Further the approach includes the impacts on the society, socially, culturally and economically. This gives the smokers more to rely on when it comes to quitting and committing to their efforts for more than six months (Jansen, 2010). This is an approach that heavily relies on the instincts of the human mind toward interpreting fear, developing reason and practicing restraint (Healton & Nelson, 2004). This is especially the case when considering the patients under consideration are those that have in the recent past, undergone the CABG surgery associated with coronary heart disease, which is caused by smoking (Aroesty, 2016). This is in light of the fact that, smoking is the leading cause of coronary heart disease and the CABG is the main procedure for the treatment and management of the same (Patient, 2016). The design of the approach is largely associated with determining the change in attitude among the smokers that are interviewed. By drawing on a sample of the population that is taken through the educational program right before and after and assessing their shift in terms of the perception they hold of smoking and cessation, the researchers are able to make inferences on the success of the program (Bennasar Veny et al., 2011).
To further ensure that the research is much more focused rather than being a general paper, the focus will be one female smoker. In light of narrowing the research further, the participants will be selected randomly from a local university. In light of the quantitative approach, the research paradigm in focus is associated with the cause and effects of the smoking habit (Pechmann, 2000). This is relative to the fact that, the participants chosen will have undergone the CABG surgery to treat coronary heart disease (The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, 2015). The research will try to establish the success rate of the antismoking adverts. The adverts in question will hold a warning on the impact of smoking on the human health (Aston, 2016). This is different from the qualitative approach that will try and educate participants on the dangers of smoking (Esrc.ac.uk, 2016).
The site selected is the most appropriate for the research relative to the fact that, the institutions are within the proximity of the researchers for data collection and management of the research activities (Netemeyer, Andrews & Burton, 2005). This will also reduce the cost relative to the logistics involved, where access is guaranteed, especially for the qualitative research approach (Jansen, 2010). this is relative to the fact that, participants can easily be invited to participate in the university fraternity without much hindrances from the authorities other than getting written permission to carry out the research in the university from the research department. The quantitative approach howeve...