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Final submission:
Instructions
It is time to submit your final project. Throughout the course you have been applying the specific skills covered in the course to your article analysis. For this task, create a polished paper that incorporates all the feedback you received from your peers and your instructor throughout the course. Be sure to add the limitations and conclusions sections to your final project.
Check to ensure your final submission addresses all the required elements as listed in the Final Project Guidelines and Rubric document.
Article: Lee, S., Dwyer, J., Paul, E., Clarke, D. Treleaven, S., & Roseby, R. (2019).
Difference by age and sex in adolescent suicide.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 43 (3).
Feedback:
Key Findings: Results of the Research- States the results of the research but does not determine the statistical significance
Key Findings: Difference in the Results- Describes the differences in the results between the groups in the study but does not support description with exemplary examples from the study
Difference by age and sex in Adolescent suicide
Jaimie K. Ropp
Southern New Hampshire University Prof. John Hart
13 March 2022
1.The purpose of the study/ research questions/hypothesis
The purpose of the study was to compare demographic and psychosocial characteristics of completed suicide between younger and older adolescents and by sex. The study answered the following research questions:
?What is the difference in the prevalence of suicide between young and older
adolescents?
?What is the prevalence of suicide with sex?
?What are the causes of suicide among young adolescents?
?What are the causes of suicide among older Adolescents?
The study was based on the hypothesis that older and younger adolescent suicide differs with age and sex. The hypothesis tested here, H0 there is no association between the suicide cases reported and sex/age, versus the alternative hypothesis Ha There is association between the suicide cases reported and sex/age.
2.The study design
An observational study design was used in the study. The study procedure involved a retrospective review of suicide reports at the Coroners Court of Victoria (CCOVs) for 10 years (Lee et al). The data’s appropriateness shall be examined under the objectives and research questions to ensure that they perfectly fit the study. The primary data main source would be derived from designed questionnaire surveys because all these issues shall be addressed through the open-ended questions in the questionnaire surveys and respondents shall be expected to give their opinion based on an agreement scale.
3.Method
A retrospective cohort study design method was used to collect data from past event records. The data source (CCOVs) was used due to its reliability and ease of access. A longer period (10 years) was used to enhance validity and to help identify any changing trends. In addition to this, there was need to collect first hand information among students on their perceptions on the differences between sex and gender when it comes to suicide. From this perspective, research questionnaire surveys with the research questions framed to give perceptions were administered randomly among the target audience and feedback was collected. In essence, the used the slovin?s formula to construct a manageable sample size because the sample size can either be less than 30 or greater than 30. Thus, since the target
population N was 1150 participants, the Slovin?s formula, n = N/(1?), where n is the sample size, N is the population size and e is the margin of error to be decided by the researcher, was used and n was 72 participants. In addition, the margin of error was kept absolutely at 10% to maintain the reliability of the questionnaire survey results.
4.Quantitative and categorical data
The quantitative data collected from the study include time, e.g., between 2006 and 2015, sample size, e.g., 273 completed suicide. The categorical data included age (older and younger adults) and sex (male and female). Here, the data was collected using retrospective cohort study design method and administration of questionnaire survey. Since data from retrospective cohort study design method is obtained from records of the suicide events that have happened in the framed time, it was also important to seek relevance of this information by interviewing those affected indirectly by the suicide occurrences. This is the number that made the target audience (N) for the study from which the sample size was taken. For instance, on the Obligation to Authority scale, this data from the questionnaire survey came from questions that were assessed with a five-point Likert response category, ranging from 1 (?strongly disagree?) to 5 (?strongly agree?).
5.Data Analysis plan
Data obtained from the records (retrospective cohort) was recorded in Microsoft excel spreadsheet and transferred to the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for analysis.
In this case, the main aim was to look for relationships between the years and the frequency of suicide cases based on sex and ages and thus it was appropriate. Here, moving averages were prepared to determine trends in suicide cases across these years depending on the age and sex of the victims. On the other hand, for the perception part of the survey, data was recorded in Excel and transferred to SPSS for descriptive and inferential statistics. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was run to give an insight on the hypotheses and such descriptive statistics parameters as standard deviation, and Chi-square tests to assess the level for association between the suicide cases reported and sex and age. For these reasons, SPSS was the most appropriate data analysis method since it was easier finding correlations between the independent and dependent variables.
6.Weaknesses of data collection method
The data quality obtained from the external sources to CCOV may be affected by potential variability in the causes of deaths. For example, data obtained from families and friends to the police may be subjective due to the emotional complexities of bereavement with cultural and religious overlay. It was also difficult to identify the stressor period; hence difficult to determine the impact of stress on the suicide case. Sometimes, the survey method of collecting data results to lack of control of the entire study. However, this was maintained by controlling the margin error at 10%.
References
Lee, S., Dwyer, J., Paul, E., Clarke, D. Treleaven, S., & Roseby, R. (2019). Difference by age And sex in adolescent suicide. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health,
43(3).
