Examining risk perception among men with a family history of prostate cancer

Running head: Research Methodology
Research Methodology
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Research Methodology
Reason for choosing the article
Prostate cancer is one of the diseases that have caused serious havocs within families.
This type of cancer has the capacity to interfere with individuals control of the urinary system as
well as erection difficulties. In the article by Mathew, et al. (2011) the risk perception among
men is examined taking into account the family history. Being that the article gives more
highlight in to an area which have been dark for long despite pausing an extremely dangerous
situation I found it justified to select and summarize the contents.
Research problem
In this article, the research is concentrated around exploring factors that have an impact
on the men’s risk perception considering their family history when it comes to prostate cancer.
Being that previous work have shown that family history has an impact on the risk level of an
individual, this study will focus on highlighting other factors that also contribute to the same
even though most men may have no idea about the same. This way it will be able to give more
information about this area and assist individuals take greater care so as to try prevent the
infection.
Research question
The main question that the research tries to answer is: What are the factors that influence
individual’s risk of prostate cancer infection taking account of their family history?
Research approach
The study applied semi-structured interviews among fifteen participants to collect the
necessary data. An interview was scheduled for about 30-45 minutes. Two interviewers
undertook the research either through face to face or over the phone communication type.
Afterwards the interview transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological
analysis. The Microsoft Office Word features such as table and bolding assisted in highlighting
and organizing the data for analysis.
Research design

Research Methodology
Qualitative method that provides more insight unlike quantitative is best used if both
cannot be used. It's about ideas, and those processes which does not need concrete hypothesis or
feedback that is structured statistically (Berg & Lune). It answers the questions of "where",
"when", "how" and "why". It is used to observe reactions, tone and facial expressions from the
research target (Given, 2008). It captures inconsistent data with a limited sample size.
Quantitative method is a research method that is based on user perception, task
performance and satisfaction. It answers the questions of "who" and "what" of user behavior. It's
mainly surveys and questionnaires. It measures satisfaction and usability scale.
In this study the design applied was the qualitative approach as it accounts fo0r the past
theories to analyze the current situation.
Research population and sample
For better prediction, research could aid in Finding the pattern and facilitate the trials and
public interventions of proper health culture and ways to aid and generally better healthy
lifestyle. This can be done using the least possible resources to treat each patient to full recovery
within the shortest time.
The health research process normally comprises of lab work and clinical research. The
key components include, Researchers ask research questions and select appropriate methods of
conducting the research whether qualitative or quantitative, both of which should not be biased
in any way. Data is then collected by the relevant methods selected by the researchers for
example questionnaires or experiment where relevant. The data is then managed and analyzed to
get the results in a way that is independent of any prior assumption and its interpretation.
Ethical approval
Research ethics especially in the health of prostate patients has lots of challenges.
Patients have ethical and legal privacy issues with their doctors. Information cannot be revealed
by the doctor because of the existing laws meant to protect patient’s privacy. For this reason,
information which could have aided a research may not be easily accessible (Matthew, et al.,
2011).