Validity In Health Research

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How does validity plays into health research? Validity, in a nutshell, refers to the measurement of what we really think we are measuring.1 The journal, “Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Overall Cancer Risk in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition,” contains both internal and external validity and several potential threats to both types of validity. Internal validity (credibility) is the approximate truth of inference regarding cause-effect or causal relationship, and external validity is the degree to which the conclusion of a study holds the other person, in other places, and of other times.2 It is very clear as to the distinction of each measurements; hence, this shall be guide in dissecting this article. I shall …show more content…
As far as research conclusions go, the researchers fail to indicate whether the findings support or do not support the hypothesis or a clear explanation of its meaning to the research questions.2 There is no recommendations for further research and a discussion of a new research question. Consequently, they fail to restate the problem, the procedures used,2 and a clear and concise discussion of the research outcome. The content is somewhat conflicting with the discussion in the article. The article stated confounders as low alcohol intake, low to no tobacco, and higher levels of physical activities, may have contributed to the lower risk of cancer. However, the conclusion suggested otherwise. In addition, the first sentences stated that there is a modest cancer preventative effect of high intake of fruits . . . then stated in the later sentences that the observed association of cancer risk with fruits . . . was very weak. This entire conclusion needs to be rewritten for cohesion and …show more content…
I would first identify all of the potential issues as mentioned herein, and then I will decide on the most convent study design to minimize those problems and overall cost. I would choose the case-control observational study design to conduct this same hypothesis. This type of study is often used in epidemiological research to find whether there is an association between the risk factor or outcome.4 In the selection process of the article in question, the researchers have excluded all the participants, n = 23,633, who were diagnosis with cancer. This is a very important cohort for this type of study. However, in the case-control study design, the patients with cancer will be included in the selection process. Next, I'll select enough participants without the disease (control) to a ratio or 2:1, control to case,4 or better, and make sure they are a good homogeneous representative of each other. This would allow me to clearly confirm if any association exists or not. Even though this is a retrospective study design, it can be shorter in duration, it is cost effective, it can have smaller sample size, and it has great retention rates. However, it does have some challenges centered mainly on bias such as misclassification bias, selection bias, and recall bias.4 Nevertheless, it would be my study design to address this