Article critique Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critique - Article Example states where same-sex marriage is prohibited. Research Objective The authors aimed to examine the impact of pro-gay marriage policies, enacted in 2003 in Massachusetts, on health care use and expenditures among gays and bisexuals. They postulated that if same-sex marriage policies can reduce health problems among gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, then such policies may have implications on the health care use and expenditures of sexual minority men. It was clear that the authors were only interested in examining the effect of pro-gay marriage policies on the health care use and expenditures among gay and bisexual men. Theory/Framework Although the theoretical framework was not explicitly presented, it is apparent that the study was anchored on the notion that same-sex marriage policies could improve the physical and mental health conditions of gays, bisexuals, and lesbians. They postulated that same-sex marriage policies reduce structural forms of discrimination against gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, resulting in the reduction of health care use by such groups of individuals. Methods The authors employed quasi-natural experiment method to examine the impact of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts on the health care use and expenditures among sexual minority men. This research design lacks random assignment of participants to comparison groups. Similar to a true experiment, a quasi-experiment has a control group and a treatment group, but the members of these groups are not explicitly or randomly chosen by researchers. Rather, these groups naturally arise from an exogenous event. Through random selection, research participants have an equal chance of being assigned to either control group or treatment group. Thus, the resulting groups are statistically identical at baseline, on both observed and unobserved characteristics. Any changes in such characteristics can be attributed to the intervention made. However, this is not the case for quasi-experi ments. Since the control and treatment groups are not randomly selected, the quasi-experiment method faces threats to internal validity. That is, a causal link between the treatment and outcomes may not clearly establish. Independent and Dependent Variables The independent variable is the same-sex marriage policies while the dependent variable is the health care use and costs. The factors measured were sexual orientation, partnership status, and health care use and costs. However, the measures or instruments used were not properly referenced and their reliability was not even mentioned. Study Design The authors employed a quasi-experiment design, which has threats to internal validity because the participants were not randomly selected to be assigned in either control group or treatment group. Hence, the participants’ groups in the study may not statistically comparable at baseline. Consequently, any changes in the observed and unobserved characteristics of the participants m ay not absolutely be attributed to same-sex marriage policies. Quasi-experiments can be utilized in studies where many variables are involved because this research design can control extraneous variables and may infer cause-and-effect relationships. However, if there are differences between the control and t

Literature review one and two Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

One and two - Literature review Example The study focuses on the issues of child abuse on three main age groups that it, parents of children below 11 years, teenagers between 11 – 17 years and a group between 18- 24 years. The sample on these three groups included 2,160, 2,275, and 1,761 subjects respectively (Radford et al. 2011, p. 218). However, the study does not give details on the sampling techniques, which were used at arriving in the stated representative sample. However, the fact that all ages were represented indicates that the findings were objective and credible. This study was an improvement of previous studies, which lacked in terms of objective representative samples. In their definition, child maltreatment is concerned with physical, emotional, and psychological ill-treatment. It also referred exploitation of children by certain members of the society including their parents, close friends, and strangers. Physical maltreatment included hitting, kicking, spanking and slapping of their children. Issues of neglect were also said to cause emotional problems to children. Neglect included denying children parental love, access to quality education and healthcare, and failure to provide them with general basic needs (Children’s Taskforce, Department of Health 2012, p. 865). The study findings indicated that 1.2% of the children less than 11 years were severely punished. However, it appeared that severe punishment increased as the ages increased. For instance, in the 7.1% of the group between the ages brackets 11-19 had been severely punished (Radford et al. 2011, p.300). This increased to 11.5% in 17-24 age brackets. In addition to that, it was indicated that over 0.5% of the children under the age of 11 had been sexually abused. This would however rise to 4.8% in the age bracket 11-19. In the final bracket of 18 – 24, 11.3% of the subjects had been exposed