Epidemiology is basically study of variations in the occurrence of disease and why such variations should occur. Almost every disease shows some variation in its occurrence. Even when a disease occurs for the first time in a population, it affects some individuals and does not affect some other individuals. This variation in the occurrence of disease may be because of differences in age, sex, occupation, socioeconomic status, water supply, environmental conditions, behavior etc of the individuals. An important aspect of epidemiology is to carefully observe these variations in disease occurrence and then try to find out the reasons for these variations.
I focused on how different factors in society, biology and the environment shape communities and individuals over time. As I dove deeper in medical anthropology, I noticed that there was a common reoccurring pattern of combining both anthropology and epidemiology to describe health problems within societal populations. I became fascinated with epidemiology because of the fact that disease can be affected by factors both on a macro and micro scale. In my field of applied anthropology, the reasons behind causal factors of disease are heavily studied to understand the population in a holistic fashion. The methodology and data collection techniques I learned as an anthropologist would give me a unique approach as an epidemiologist by helping me brainstorm ways to combat a disease by looking at a cultures ethnomedical system as well as historical and contemporary data in order to present a more clear and complete picture as to the cause of the distribution pattern.
Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of disease in human populations. It is a foundational science in public health in which its results will help clarify diseases causation, etiological hypotheses evaluation and serves as basis for public health programs implementation and evaluation. Epidemiological data can also be integrated with information from other disciplines such as genetics and industrial hygiene for a better understanding and provides evidence to support postulated theories in the area. Ethics is being defined as moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity. It is a branch of philosophy that deals with the distinctions between right and wrong, explaining moral consequences
The participants of this study were given materials about medical research, evidence and comparative effectiveness research. The participants came from diverse background, balanced education materials and giving participants an opportunity to all have a discussion. They believed that doctors have a responsibility to discuss evidence with patients and to be aware of evidence based guidelines from professional medical societies. When patients are educated and have an understanding of medical evidence there will be an impact on their decision making. Participants believed that the evidence is imperfect, which is changing over time.
Again it was limited to the researchers’ capabilities and resources. Specifically, this study purposely to enhanced the patients’ disease-related knowledge, involvement and self-care ability. The research objectives were answerable, and they chose to obtain them by testing null hypothesis. The hypothesis was testable and can help to explain the problem. 30 patients were randomly selected to complete the study and they seperated into two groups of control and experimental.
Thus, epidemiology has a core role in evaluating the effectiveness of measures that prevent and treat diseases and health problems among different communities (21, 22). Examples of such work include the study of Reath and Carey (28) which evaluate the early detection of breast and cervical cancer in indigenous community. Also, the study of Exner, Dries (29) which focuses on the difference in response to drug treatment among black and white communities with heart failure give a good example of using community concept to evaluate treatments. Epidemiology largely deals with descriptions and comparisons of group of people that vary widely in their genetic- make up, behaviors and environments (22). For example, McBean, Li (30) conducted multi- ethnic epidemiological study to determine the differences in diabetes prevalence, incidence and mortality among the elderly of four racial/ethnic groups: whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians, where Feskanich, Ziegler (31) conducted their study to examine and compare the gender- based association between lung cancer risk and fruits and vegetables consumption.
Many issues have also been raised in regards of the acceptance of this technology. Concerns from ethical issues to lack of knowledge on the effects genetic engineering could have. One major concern is that once an altered gene is placed in an organism, the process cannot be reversed. Public reaction to the use of DNA in genetic engineering has been mixed. The production of medicines through the use of genetically altered organisms has generally been welcomed.
By using genetic modification scientists can make pharmaceuticals more effective than the existing versions of the medicine. There are already improved versions of insulin for
Typically, group research employing randomization will initially possess higher external validity than studies that do not use random selection/assignment. The threats that adversely affect an external validity study are: An interaction between how the subjects were selected and the treatment can occur. If subjects are not randomly selected from a population, then their particular characteristics may bias their performance and the study's results may not be applicable to the population or to another group that more accurately represents the characteristics of the population. Pretesting subjects in a study may cause them to react more/less strongly to the treatment than they would have had they not experienced the pretest. Setting: The performance of subjects in some studies is more a product or reaction to the experimental setting than it is to the independent variable.
However, this method need not be first hand; the researcher can observe the previously recorded interactions and apply this method to study it. The whole purpose of this type of a method of research is that it gives us clues and hints to the other layers of reality (Interpreting Quality Data; pg 234; Description) However, without any meaning to the words, any type of a research on anyone does not hold significance. The whole point of ethnography is that the researcher gets an insight of how the things work and why people do what they do. The acquired content is the research done on the subject which helps the researchers to understand how people act in a certain social situation(Jane Stokes; Chapter 4; Pg 114). But as mentioned previously, the researchers will fail at relating the subjects’ actions to any social PHENOMENA without knowing the meanings and the history of the cultural