Introduction
Thesis: Unhealthy lifestyle habits are the main reason for the increasing rates of cardiovascular disease.
Research question: What are the causes of the increasing rates of cardiovascular disease?
Research aim: The aim of the research is to provide solutions to reduce the rates of cardiovascular disease.
Research objectives: The first research objective is to examine the risk factors for the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. The second research objective is to evaluate the impact of the increasing rates of cardiovascular disease on society.
Literature review
The literature review involves examining the perspectives of different scholars regarding cardiovascular disease.
Cardiovascular disease refers to the blockage of an individual’s blood vessels, which increases the possibility of suffering a heart attack (Hales, 2014, p. 495).
The rates of cardiovascular disease have been increasing over the years.
Research has shown that habits such as smoking and eating unhealthy foods can lead to cardiovascular disease (Handler and Coghlan, 2008, p. 123).
Studies have also shown that individuals need to exercise regularly to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (Arnoldi, 2004, p. 129).
Most people continue to ignore the advice of health and nutrition experts, which leads to high rates of cardiovascular disease in the society.
The cost of treating cardiovascular disease is very high (Skolnik, 2012, p. 286).
Research approach
The research uses a qualitative research approach.
Qualitative research is an exploratory mode of inquiry that seeks to gain insight into the causes of different issues (Crosby, et al., 2011, p. 161).
The empirical tools used in this qualitative research include interviews and the life stories of the research participants.
Epistemological approach underlying the qualitative perspective
Epistemology refers to the examination of knowledge to ensure its accuracy and validity (Greene, et al., 2016, p. 12).
The epistemological approach enables the researcher to justify the knowledge gained from the research.
This qualitative research study uses empiricism as an epistemological approach.
Empiricism is a theory that emphasizes the importance of experience and observation in the acquisition of knowledge (O'Brien, 2006, p. 26).
Setting
The researcher will use social media to find potential participants for the study.
The researcher will send the interviews to the study participants via email.
Follow-up interviews will be conducted in person in a private and neutral location to avoid intimidating the research participants.
Study population
The researcher will request a group of relatives and friends to participate in the study.
Recruitment of the participants will be done through email.
Familiarity with the research participants will be important because individuals might be reluctant to divulge details about their health to strangers.
The researcher expects to enlist 20-30 participants in the study.
Sampling strategy
The researcher will use a purposive sampling strategy.
Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling method that deliberately includes certain groups in the sample to facilitate the study (Kline, 2009, p. 68).
Individuals with cardiovascular disease will be deliberately included in the sample.
Individuals with cardiovascular disease because of genetic causes will be deliberately excluded from the sample.
Individuals below the age of 18 years will be deliberately excluded from the sample.
The sample will include healthy individuals to provide a point of comparison with the individuals with cardiovascular disease.
Proposal of a research design to address the question
The researcher will approach various individuals through social media channels and request their participation in the study.
The researcher will meet the individuals that accept the request in person to enroll them in the study.
The researcher will design an interview questionnaire that will seek to acquire information about the health and the lifestyle practices of the research participants.
The study participants will receive the interview questions through email.
Some of the interview questions will be open-ended to allow the research participants to provide as much information as possible.
The researcher will give the participants one week to respond to the interview questions.
The researcher will deal with each participant individually when conducting the follow-up interviews to maintain their privacy.
The data collected from the study will be subjected to a qualitative analysis.
The researcher will use initial coding to examine the similarities and differences in the data collected.
The researcher will then use pattern coding to identify patterns in the data, which will enable the researcher to link the causes and effects of cardiovascular disease.
Lastly, the researcher will triangulate the patterns to enable the understanding of the knowledge acquired from the study.
Ethical considerations associated with the research
The ethical considerations associated with the research arise primarily because it uses human subjects.
The research seeks to collect data about the health status and lifestyle practices of the participants, which raises the possibility of violating their privacy.
The researcher must maintain the confidentiality of the information provided by the research participants (Pera and Tonder, 2005, p. 154).
The researcher must inform the research participants about their rights pertaining to the study.
Examples of ethical considerations in the research include informed consent and research misconduct (Monette, et al., 2013, p. 54).
The researcher must receive informed consent from all the participants in the study.
An ethical risk may arise when seeking informed consent because the participants are friends and relatives of the researcher.
Research misconduct can arise when the researcher falsifies the results of the study for their own benefit (Lo, 2012, p. 113).
The researcher must not use the information collected in the study to manipulate their relationship with the research participants.
The researcher must gain ethical approval for the research from the relevant institution (Blaxter, 2010, p. 167).
Reflection on strengths and weaknesses of the approach
One strength of the qualitative research approach is it enables a detailed and in depth evaluation of issues and subjects (Hennink, et al., 2010, p. 130).
A second strength of the qualitative research approach is it can be used to describe and explain complex phenomena (Ritchie, et al., 2013, p. 56).
A third advantage is that the researcher knows what to expect in a qualitative research approach.
A fourth advantage of qualitative research approaches is that it can be adapted to account for changes in the research environment (Flick, et al., 2004, p. 9).
One weakness of the qualitative research approach is the possibility of the researcher’s biases to influence the study results (Johnson and Christensen, 2010, p. 430).
A second weakness of the qualitative research approach is it suffers from credibility issues because scientists have not universally accepted it (Seale, et al., 2006, p. 377).
A third weakness of the qualitative research approach is the results of qualitative studies cannot be easily generalized (Yin, 2015, p. 104).
Conclusion
A qualitative research approach can be used to examine the causes of the increasing rates of cardiovascular disease.
The research shows that cardiovascular disease can be avoided by exercising healthy lifestyle choices.
The research is important because cardiovascular disease places a strain on the health care system.
The strain arises because cardiovascular disease requires specialist treatment, which is very expensive.
Reference List
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