Evaluating the Research Process

HCS/465

September 10, 2012

Introduction This paper is a descriptive review of the literature on breast cancer outcomes: 1990 through 2000. The research was done on fewer than 100 subjects in the United States and Western Europe. The results of this research also includes past projects of 1089 articles of which 230 were included. No single item was used to come to the conclusion of this article. A while ranges of research methodologies were used. The research used limited subjects which to me in some ways show that there is more in the particular are that needs to be studied.

Role of Literature review in this research article
The role of literature review in this research is justifying the proposed research activity. The literature review indicates how the project will be different from the one that has been published. The literature review also develops case argument for this proposed study based on the literature that has been reviewed. For example, in this article, the literature review states that patient participation and consumerism in health care decisions that occurred together with the growth in outcomes of care in the last three decades of the 2oth century set the stage for the development of measures that are patient based. These measures were for general breast cancer related issues. The literature also presents the results of Ware et al that presented results that validated a self report of a patient’s measure of general status from a health insurance experiment. This literature review analyses what has been written by other scholars about the subject and critiques it. Also, it identifies a research need, gap or problem that other literature has not solved and seeks ways of solving it. For example, this literature review reports that, despite recent development of quality of life measures for breast cancer, there has been slow and routine incorporation of quality of life outcomes. When these outcomes are used, the measurement has been poor. For example, it gives an instance of measurement of quality of life across numerous medical conditions. According to Gill and Feinstein, there are 159 different measures that were used in more than 70 studies. However, very few defined the target domain. Less than 20 percent included a patient rated quality of life (Mandelbatt et al, 2004). Less than 10 percent of the studies managed to elicit patient preferences for their health outcomes. This means that there is a clear need for an expanded research on the issue of practice based outcomes. This is the only thing that can make such measures to be clinically relevant. The measures are also feasible to collect. This literature review has also provided a rationale for carrying out the proposed study. It has identified relevant theories that can be used in this research. It has summarized and synthesized the research and theory. Finally, the literature review has provided a clear focus for the research question.
Ethical Considerations for collecting data There are a number of ethics that have been considered while collecting data in this research. The first ethical consideration is voluntary participation. The principle of voluntary participation in research ethics dictates that a subject should not be coerced to participate in the research process. In this research, all informants volunteered information without any form of coercion or force. The other ethical consideration is informed consent. Informed consent entails informing the people participating in the research process the procedures of the research and the risks involved, so that they can decide to take part in the research or not. It also involves informing them what the research is all about. This research has made that ethical consideration. The third ethical consideration while collecting data in research is minimizing the risk of harm. Ethical standards in data collection dictate that participants should not be put in a situation where there are harmful consequences. This harm can be physical, emotional or psychological. To reduce the risk of harm, there are two ethical principles that are applied. One of them is confidentiality. This involves assuring that the information they give will not be exposed to persons who are not directly involved in the research study. Exposing the information that has been volunteered by participants can have far reaching consequences that might result in emotional and psychological harm. The other ethical principle meant to minimize harm is anonymity. This principle ensures that the informants remain anonymous throughout the study. Sometimes, they should be anonymous even to the researchers themselves. This principle guarantees the informant privacy. By sticking to these two ethical standards the number of volunteers increased astronomically. During the research we brain stormed ways on how to increased participation while still using the best ethical standards available.
We conducted a qualitative review of the literature on breast cancer health outcomes across all phases of breast cancer care, including primary prevention, early detection, diagnosis, local treatment, adjuvant treatment, and treatment of metastatic disease, survivorship, and the dying experience (Mandelbatt et al, 2004). The decade long research analyzed using various methods in order to get valid and unbiased findings. The patients who volunteer their personal and private health care information were very happy when we shared the results and seen the joy of selflessness on their face knowing that they were doing this not just for themselves but for the many others who are fighting this deadly disease.
What the data is telling us in terms of statistical analysis
In terms of statistical analysis, the data in this research tells us that though there has been a dramatic rise in the volume of breast outcomes research, there are large gaps that still exist in certain phases of care, standards of measurement, populations and types of outcomes. The data highlights some cross cutting challenges and deficiencies. The data comments on the potential for ceiling effects in-order to influence results. Also, there is patience reference data paucity. According to the data collected, there is a significant gap in measurement of patient preference. The data further postulates that data measures are not transportable into effective economic analyses that help to calculate the cost per quality adjustment that is gained annually. The data indicates that more research is needed in order to develop standard approaches that are practical in numerous health care settings. The standards should also be valid and reliable and applicable to a broad range of cultures. The study focused a particle group even thou breast cancer is present in all races. This also shows that many answers are still unanswered because only a fraction of the population was studied and mainly the white population. It makes me wonder what better results we would have if we could have studied a larger population or a small country. Statistical significance of the findings
The findings are statistically significant because the statistical findings help in the formulation of conclusions and recommendations. When the data is interpreted and presented using various methods of data presentation, the researcher will able to get the statistical significance of the findings. This is the hallmark of the entire research process. The findings are used to generate conclusions and recommendations. The findings are also used to find out where there is a gap in research, to help future researchers address the problem. For example, in this research, the findings indicate that there is low patient preference for their health outcomes especially where breast cancer is concerned. Only 9 percent of the respondents indicated that there have preferences for their health outcomes. This kind of finding is vital for generation of a report that will help in charting the way forward.
Conclusion Matches Results
The conclusions of the research match the result of the study. This paper has concluded that there is a need to develop practices that are applicable in various health settings. These practices should also applicable to a broad, race and age groups and culturally diverse populations. The practices should also be informative for the design of interventions that can improve the quality of breast cancer services across the whole spectrum of health care. This conclusion is consistent with the results of the study that indicate that most studies and processes focus on white populations, especially those that speak dominant languages. Most of the studies had less than 10 percent of minority patients. Also, few studies focus on minority groups such as elderly women above the age of 65. However, the limited subject provided a narrow results and shows that more research is needed in the future.

References

Mandelbatt, J., Ammetta. C., Yabroff, R. (2004). Descriptive Review of the Literature on Breast Cancer Outcomes: 1990 through 2000. Oxford Jounals, 33, pp 8-44