Reference no: EM133594282

Literature Review, Research Question and Hypotheses
First determine your project focus area.

NB : My project focus area is Tobacco Use

Once you have selected a topic area, specify what you would like to research. For example, if you select alcohol use, you may want to look at how alcohol impacts other areas of people's lives.

NB : I'm researching "Tobacco use among Male and Female in the USA" Does the type of nicotine administration tool influence the frequency of use within adolescents?

NB : I haven't developed any hypothesis yet about both Null and Alternative Hypothesis. I would like you to come up with hypotheses. Thank you for your help. Also, you can construct my research question to make it clear and understandable if how I wrote it doesn't seem clear.

Literature Review

A literature review provides an overview of previous research on a topic that critically evaluates, classifies, and compares what has already been published on a particular topic. It allows you, the researcher, to synthesize and place into context the research and scholarly literature relevant to the topic.

Typically, literature reviews are designed to accomplish two main goals: 1) provide your readers an overview of sources you have explored while researching a particular topic or idea; and 2) demonstrate how your research/topic fits into the larger field of study.

The purpose of this literature review is for you to better understand the existing scientific knowledge about your chosen research topic. You will compare, contrast and/or connect research findings, and use this information to identify an area of research that you feel needs to be explored more, and can be answered with the YRBSS data.

You will locate at least seven peer-reviewed public health journal articles within the last five years (2018-2023) about your focus area. The journal articles should reflect the topic and the study population. For example, research articles about drinking and adolescent males. You may want to locate research articles about drinking prevalence for adolescent males; the impacts of drinking such as sexual activity, usage of barrier methods and sexually transmitted infections.

Find, select and analyze the literature (Your role is to evaluate what you've read.)

- Skim the articles to get an idea of the purpose and content.

- Group the articles into categories and sub-categories

- Take notes: Define key terms, key statistics, identify useful quotes

- Identify relationships between studies, trends and patterns

- Note strengths and limitations of the research

- Identify gaps in the literature, what has not been answered.

Synthesis - THIS IS YOUR LITERATURE REVIEW WRITE UP

Objectives - Clearly describe the purpose of the literature review, and your objectives for completing the literature review.

Introduction - Give an overview of your topic and explain why it is an important public health issue, and describe the population you are studying.

Methods - Describe step-by-step how you conducted your literature review. The database you used, the types of journals (public health, medical, healthcare) and the years (2017-2023) of your search.

Discussion - The discussion contains the synthesis of the journal articles.

Describe the type of studies (design - cross-sectional, case-control, etc.) and the study populations.

Discuss and compare common trends and findings between studies.

Discuss the strengths and limitations of the studies.

Note any gaps in research and propose the research question(s).

A research question is the question around which you will center your research for the project.

The question should be:

- Clear: it provides enough specifics that one's audience can easily understand its purpose without needing additional explanation.

- Focused: it is narrow enough that it can be answered thoroughly in the space the writing task allows.

- Concise: it is expressed in the fewest possible words.

For example, the research question should be about an issue that you are genuinely curious and/or passionate about. For example, What are the potential consequences of the consumption of alcohol for male high school students aged 15-18 years old?

Formulate the hypotheses for the project. The hypotheses are related to your research questions but these are the statements that you will test using data analysis

You must have two sets of hypotheses (each set must have both the null and alternative hypotheses).

Examples:

Null Hypothesis: There is no association between sexual activity and drinking among male high school students aged 15 and 18.

Alternative Hypothesis: There is an association between sexual activity and drinking among male high school students aged 15 and 18.

Null Hypothesis: There is no association between condom use and drinking among male high school students aged 15 and 18.

Alternative Hypothesis: There is an association between condom use and drinking among male high school students aged 15 and 18.

Null Hypothesis: Male high school students aged 15 and 18 who drink are at the same risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection including HIV as male high school students aged 15 and 18 who don't drink.

Alternative Hypothesis: Male high school students aged 15 and 18 who drink are at higher risk of getting a sexually transmitted infection including HIV as male high school students aged 15 and 18 who don't drink.

Discuss how your research question and corresponding hypotheses may help to close the gap in research or add to existing knowledge.

Conclusion - It is important to summarize the main findings from the articles that you reviewed and to point out the information that you found particularly important in relation to your research topic.