Critique an Article

Introduction In order to benefit and fully understand what exactly a certain article is researching or auguring it needs to be analysed and critiqued to the point of understanding so to demonstrate this, the author of this material is going to analyse and critique the article, Factors influencing the food choices of Irish children and adolescents: a qualitative investigation. To achieve this in a well structured, well laid out piece of literature the author will use a checklist devised to critique a qualitative research study, in which it will be clear to recognise under appropriate headings.

To conclude this assignment the author will mention any difficulties or problems that occurred through out the assignment. Title The title is very short but clearly states what the article is about. Parahoo (2006) mentions that the title should indicate the exact area of study and mention the population from who the information was collected. The title also is very informative with regards to the research method used as it's clearly stated. Author As indicated on the article, the authors have well recognisable qualifications.

Amanda Fitzgerald is from School of Psychology, national University of Ireland, Galway, and is also corresponding author. Caroline Heary is also form School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway. Elizabeth Nixon is from School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and Collete Kelly is from the School Of Health Sciences, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland. Abstract There is an abstract as such but titled summary which acts as the same purpose, as Parahoo (2006) states that an abstract is a short summary of a study.

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The research problem being that there is relatively little research done to explore the factors that influence the food choices of children and adolescents form their point of view is mentioned in this summary. The methodology of this study uses focus group discussions of 29 young people, in different age groups, ages ranging from 9-10, 13-14 and 16-18 years. From these discussions an inductive thematic analysis identified three key factors influencing food choices.

Parahoo (2006) suggests that the abstract should mention the main findings which are referred to in this summary as, that their were developmental differences between children’s and adolescents perceptions of factors influencing food choice. Statement of the Phenomenon of Interest The phenomenon of interest is stated in the introduction as the author clearly mentions that this study was to understand the processes used to make food choices from the participants perspective.

The researcher has mentioned that few studies have set out to qualitatively examine young people's own views so this is an indication that the researcher wants to explore the participants own experiences through a qualitative method i. e. Focus groups. The philosophical underpinnings are clearly that the author has identified that few qualitatively studies have been carried out to examine the factors influencing the food choices of Irish children and adolescents from their own perspective. Also the researcher wants to access how they interact with others in the environment about food choices.

Purpose The purpose of this study was evident from the title and clearly explained in-depth through out the article. The purpose of this study was to explore differences between children’s and adolescents’ views regarding influences on their food choices. The researcher doesn't go too much into detail about how this research helps nurses but does mention that this study has useful implications for clinicians. Overall the use of the information obtained in this research would be of use to nursing in nutrional education for similar each groups in hospital.

Method The researcher obtained the information from the participants using semi-structured interviews to guide focus group discussions. The use of focus groups is very suitable in this qualitative study. Parahoo (2006) mentions that choosing focus groups as apposed to individual interviews helps to get more in-depth information from the participants' experience about a certain topic, it aids the researcher to get a wider view from all different experiences and leads participants to freely discuss and share their ideas.

The use of focus groups enabled all the participants to share their own experiences and opinions about the phenomenon. Sampling The researcher mentions the participants selected and states the ratio of males and females and gives the age groups. The location or venue isn't mentioned at all. Purposive sampling is indeed used and as Parahoo (2006) points out that researchers use this type of sampling as they select the most appropriate candidates to be able to answer the questions being asked.

The questions being asked were aimed at children and adolescents so the aged group selected was between 9-18 years, so they were suitable. Data Collection The data collected is focused on human experiences as the researcher mentions the use of focus groups which were semi-structured to guide the participants to share their own ideas. The focus group discussions were tape recorded, transcribed and double- checked for accuracy. Ethical approval was obtained from the research ethics committee and parents had to provide written consent as well as consent from the participants themselves.

The researcher didn’t mention if data saturation had occurred but did mention that following the inductive analysis procedure, categories emerged following repeated readings of the transcripts which identified key concepts. The researcher explains how the data was obtained using an inductive analysis procedure that were transcribed resulting in emerging categories. Data Analysis The focus group discussions were analysed separately and the researcher explains that an inductive thematic analysis was used and explains what this method does.

The researcher has remained true to data by using semi-structured interviews which are used in qualitative research and also by using direct quotes which in-riches the data. The researcher does not give direct headings and emphasis to the creditability, audibility and fittingness in the article but they are evident from reading the article. Credibility According to Parahoo (2006), credibility is when a study carried out shows the participants ideas from their perpespectives about the research.

The participants do recognise the experience as their own as they explain their answers using scenarios. Audibility Audibility refers to the data produced in a certain study that enables readers to understand the original methods and conclusions used in previous research ( Parahoo, 2006). The reader can follow the way the researcher has carried out the research as the researcher sticks to the qualitative method used to collect information from the participants, through semi-structured interviews.

The researcher does mention that the research process used is that of a qualitative process. Fittingness The findings can be applied to people outside the study as the researcher mentions that this study gives a detailed account of young people's food choices from their view points so this information can be used to help other people in understanding. The results can benefit parents along with health care workers, working with that age group, towards building nutrition among children and adolescents.

The researcher clearly states that the data in this research piece does support the compatible use of an integrated theoretical framework as its based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and ecological theory so young people's food choices can be explained, as the researcher wanted to understand how the participants engaged with others in their environment about food choices. Findings The reader can gather that the findings are broken down into three different categories, intra-individual factors, intra-familial factors and extra-familial factors. The researchers use of semi-structured interviews long with direct quotes containing scenarios made the data more rich. In the introduction great amount of detail is given to mention about other research and interventions. The researcher highlights that the results from this study helps in previous research. Also mentioned was that other research had found similar ideas among young people. Conclusions, Implications and Recommendations It provides a clear conclusion from the in-depth data received from young people about their perceptions of factors influencing their food choices and gives us an understanding of differences between the age groups preferences.

The researcher does state that the findings are useful in passing on information to nutrition education providers with regards to the factors that do effect children and adolescents food choices. As mentioned previously, its not out rightly stated in this study that the findings are made explicit to nurses but one could argue that the findings can be used by a registered nurse in providing nutritional care to this age group. Conclusion This article was very informative and the researcher did make clear from the very beginning, the research method used.

This research study was made more rich and descriptive through the use of direct quotes to describe scenarios. This research study had many strengths as well as limitations. The format in which the summary was presented wasn't very appropriate as its font size and style made it hard to read. Also the researcher failed to mention the exact location and venue where the focus groups took place, along with that, the ratio of girls to boys wasn’t equal, 13 boys to 16 girls.

No opt out option was mentioned to the participants. The researcher did use explanations very well as certain terms were defined but too much detail was given in the introduction and discussion. Also too much referencing was used in one paragraph in the introduction. Overall this assignment made me aware of the procedure and method involved in critiquing an article and helped me understand the research process in general.

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