Proposed Research Methodology: HIV
Proposed Research Methodology This assignment involves proposing methodology for conducting further research on the relationship between your selected disease (HIV) and risk factor(s). In approximately 2–3 pages, describe the methodology that you would use for conducting further research on your research question. Your proposed methodology should include the following components (use subheadings for each section): 1.Approved research question: Is there any effective means of HIV treatment and prevention among adolescents and young adults who are at risk of succumbing from the increasing HIV infections? 2.Description of your proposed study design (including a rationale) 3.Description of study population (including any criteria for subjects or cases/controls) 4.Description of sample size and sampling method. Include alpha error, statistical power, and effect size used to estimate sample size. Provide support for your effect size and sampling method. 5.Description of data sources or data collection methods 6.Description of independent and dependent variables. Include a table which contains the variable and the variable type (e.g. dichotomous, ordinal, categorical, continuous) 7.Description of analytic methods (including a rationale). Describe which specific bivariate and multivariate analysis methods will be used for which specific variables. Include a table which contains the analytic method, the variables that will be included, and the variable types. Aschengrau A, Seage GR (2003). Chapter 6: Overview of Epidemiologic Study Designs. Essentials of Epidemiology in Public Health, Boston: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://publichealth(dot)jbpub(dot)com/aschengrau/Aschengrau06.pdf Beasley, J. M., Coronado, G. D., Livaudais, J., Angeles-llerenas, A., Ortega-olvera, C., Romieu, I., . . . Torres-mejía, G. (2010). Alcohol and risk of breast cancer in mexican women. Cancer Causes & Control, 21(6), 863-70. doi: http://dx(dot)doi(dot)org/10.1007/s10552-010-9513-. Retrieved from Proquest Central. Cohen J (1992). A Power Primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155-159. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://web(dot)vu(dot)lt/fsf/d.noreika/files/2011/10/Cohen-J-1992-A-power-primer-kokio-reikia-imties-dyd%C5%BEio.pdf Delucchi KL (2004). Sample Size Estimation in Research With Dependent Measures and Dichotomous Outcomes. American Journal of Public Health, 94(3), 372-377. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://www(dot)ajph(dot)org/cgi/content/full/94/3/372 Larsson HJ, Eaton WW, Madsen KM, Vestergaard M, Olesen AV, Agerbo E, Schendel D, Thorsen P, & Mortensen PB. (2005). Risk Factors for Autism: Perinatal Factors, Parental Psychiatric History, and Socioeconomic Status. American Journal of Epidemiology, 161(10), 916-25; discussion 926-8. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://aje(dot)oxfordjournals(dot)org/content/161/10/916.full.pdf+html Mann CJ (2003). Observational research methods. Research design II: cohort, cross sectional, and case-control studies, 20:54-60. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://emj(dot)bmj(dot)com/cgi/content/full/20/1/54 UCLA. Statistical Computing Seminars. Introduction to Power Analysis. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://www(dot)ats(dot)ucla(dot)edu/stat/seminars/Intro_power/default.htm Additional Reading John Concato, Nirav Shah, & Ralph I Horwitz. (2000). Randomized, controlled trials, observational studies, and the hierarchy of research designs. The New England Journal of Medicine, 342(25), 1887-92. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://www(dot)nejm(dot)org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM200006223422507 UCSF. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (2006). Power and Sample Size Programs. Retrieved May 28, 2012, at: http://www(dot)epibiostat(dot)ucsf(dot)edu/biostat/sampsize.html Vassar Stats. Calculator for Phi Coefficient of Association. Retrieved November 4, 2013, at: http://faculty(dot)vassar(dot)edu/lowry/tab2x2.html
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Proposed Research Methodology
Introduction
Adolescents are increasingly susceptible to the negative outcomes associated with risky sexual behavior. This is true especially to those adolescents that have an early debut to sexual intercourse, multiple partners that they engage sexually engage, or having unprotected sex. This is because such behaviors increase the susceptibility to and contraction of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV (Walcott, Meyers, & Landau, 2008). In many regions globally, the incidences of new HIV infections have been concentrated among the adolescents aged 15-24 years old. For example, in 2006, adolescents accounted for approximately 40% of new HIV infections. This, therefore, indicates the need for an effective treatment approach for such adolescents who are increasingly at risk of the increasing rates of HIV infections (Kibombo, Neema, & Ahmed, 2007). This paper is a proposed research methodology aimed at finding out the existence of a means of effectively preventing and treating HIV among adolescents and young adults who currently are at a higher risk of succumbing from the high rates of HIV infections.
Research Question
Is there any effective means of HIV treatment and prevention among adolescents and young adults who are at risk of succumbing from the increasing HIV infections?
Proposed Study Design & Rationale
This research will employ a retrospective cohort study design that will begin in January 2015 within ten public hospitals that handle adolescent and young adult HIV cases. Here past records on the treatment and prevention approaches used on the population of interest will be reviewed. This will be done to determine their success and failure hence the presence/absence of an effective approach of preventing and treating HIV among adolescents and young adults. The approach eliminates the use of unethical mandatory trials for the group. Moreover, it is time saving and allows the analysis of multiple outcomes as will be applied in the study. Finally, it is an inexpensive approach for conducting research (Mann, 2003).
Study Population
The population to be studied will include only those patient aged between 15 to 23 years and are HIV seropositive during the period of the study. The controls will include the next/nearest attendees of the given age bracket regardless of the gender that seen in the same hospitals in the same month and within a year. This will take into consideration their age and the case-to-control ratio will be one to one.
Sample Size and Sampling Method
A random sampling method will be employed in this study on two levels. Where, first, for the selection of the public hospitals to be part of the study, a stratified random sampling will be utilized and after the selection of the hospital, simple random sampling will be employed to select a sample from the study population of interest. The study’s null hypothesis will be that there are no effective means of preventing and treating HIV among adolescents and young adults with increased susceptibility to succumbing from the increased risk of HIV infection. However, if this is rejected while the results indicate the opposite, a type 1 error will occur, and this will be controlled by setting the alpha value at 0.05 or a CL of 95%. For statistical power, a population sample of approximately 500 patients will be used to ensure generalizability of the results. This implies that the size of the group has a significant effect...