Critique of Research Article on Music Festival Attendees' Illicit Drug Use

Running head: NURSING
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Research Article: Day, N., Criss J., Gujral, S. K., John-Leader, F., Johnson, J., & Pit, S.
(2018). Music festival attendees' illicit drug use, knowledge and practices regarding drug
content and purity: A cross-sectional survey. Harm Reduction Journal, 15(1),1-7. doi:
10.1186/s12954-017-0205-7
Introduction:
This paper intends to critique the research article titled: Music festival attendees' illicit
drug use, knowledge and practices regarding drug content and purity: A cross-sectional
survey. The paper would critically develop an in depth understanding about the research
paper and at the same time critically appraise its quality in terms of the strength and
weaknesses. In addition to this, the paper would also shed light on the experience of the
researcher and align the findings in relation to the case study of Emily. Further, the paper
would also critically discuss the barrier and facilitator in relation to consideration of the
scholarly journals included within the research. In addition to this, the research paper would
also discuss the implication of the finding in relation to the drug checking service for the
prevention of drug abuse among the younger generation.
Authorship:
The research paper considered for the critique has been authored by Day et al. (2018).
The authors are highly qualified and have pursued their degree in Public Health Research
from the University of Western Sydney, University of Sydney and University of NSW
respectively. The authors of the research study, expertise in the domain of public health and
comparative data analysis. Therefore, the authenticity and credibility of the authors to
conduct the research cannot be denied. In addition to this, the authors have clearly stated that
the research was not a product of conflicting interests. However, it should be noted in this

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context, the research paper does not convey appropriate information in relation to the
research funding.
Research Question and aims:
The purpose of the research study can be explained as the evaluation of public
perception in relation to drug checking. In this regard, it can be said that the team of
researchers have evaluated a novel issue as drug checking has never been conducted in a
music concert in Australia. Therefore, it can be mentioned that the paper intends to
disseminate awareness about drug checking that is basically a harm reduction strategy so as
to minimise the prevalence of drug abuse in Australia (Saitz et al., 2014). However, it should
be noted in this regard that the paper lacks a clear and defined research question and concise
research objectives. According to McCusker and Gunaydin (2015), a high impact research
paper must have clearly defined research question and objectives.
Research Design:
The paper considers quantitative data in the form of statistical data and qualitative
data in the form of observed data. The research study is a primary research study that was
conducted by a group of researchers. The research design chosen can be considered as
appropriate as it helped in evaluating the perception and knowledge of the people in relation
to drug testing. This was determined with the help of the observed qualitative data collected
from the research. At the same time, the statistical data helped in estimating the prevalence of
drug abuse and also helped in deriving potential relationship between the different qualitative
parameters considered (Brannen, 2017).
Research Method:
The researchers used survey as the research method. The considered data included a
total of 642 participants based on random sampling aged between 18 to 30 years who had