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Methodological Details (methodological + detail)
Selected AbstractsAvoidable burden of disease: conceptual and methodological issues in substance abuse epidemiologyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 4 2006Jürgen Rehm Abstract Determining the proportion of avoidable disease burden attributable to substance use is important for both policy development and intervention implementation. Current epidemiological theory has in principle provided a method to estimate avoidable burden of disease and the available statistical tools can provide first rough estimates. The method described in this paper, and its statistical procedures, are exemplified to estimate avoidable burden of tobacco-related disease in Canada. However, further effort is needed to find solutions in the methodological details, namely exposure measurement, risk factor multidimensionality, estimation of changes in exposure distribution over time, and estimation of risk relationships from multiple exposures changing over time with multiple endpoints (causal webs). The impetus to begin refining methods to obtain better starting points for estimating avoidable burden of disease is obvious and should be carried through in order to see real changes through evidence-based policy and intervention. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Searching for the Intervention in Intervention Research ReportsJOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 1 2008Vicki S. Conn Purpose: Precisely described interventions in nursing research reports are essential as a foundation for nursing practice and to facilitate future research. The purpose of this project was to characterize the intervention descriptions in nursing intervention research reports. Design and Methods: Quantitative content analysis was used to analyze intervention descriptions in reports published in English-language general nursing journals during 2005. Normative analysis was used to examine reports for details related to intervention content and delivery. Physical unit analysis was used to compare relative amounts of article space devoted to intervention description vs. other methodological details. Findings: Results were tabulated for 141 research articles published in 27 journals. Analysis indicated incomplete reporting of intervention details in many articles. Dose and dosing frequency were rarely completely defined. Delivery setting and interventionist were frequently not indicated, and the professional credentials of nurse interventionists were often unclear. While descriptions of interventions involving substances or devices were typically detailed, the specifics of psychological, educational, behavioral, and systems-level interventions were often lacking. Intervention descriptions averaged 7.27% of total article space, whereas nonintervention methodological descriptions averaged 20.74% of space. Of studies examined, only 38 (27.0%) reported enough detail to potentially replicate the study or translate the intervention into practice. Conclusions: Intervention descriptions in general nursing journals lack sufficient detail to provide the evidence basis for practice. [source] Decomposition dynamics in mixed-species leaf litterOIKOS, Issue 2 2004Tracy B. Gartner Literature on plant leaf litter decomposition is substantial, but only in recent years have potential interactions among leaves of different species during decomposition been examined. We review emerging research on patterns of mass loss, changes in nutrient concentration, and decomposer abundance and activity when leaves of different species are decaying in mixtures. Approximately 30 papers have been published that directly examine decomposition in leaf mixtures as well as in all component species decaying alone. From these litter-mix experiments, it is clear that decomposition patterns are not always predictable from single-species dynamics. (Characteristics of decomposition in litter-mixes that deviate from responses predicted from decomposition of single-species litters alone are designated "non-additive"; "additive" responses in mixes are predictable from component species decaying alone.) Non-additive patterns of mass loss were observed in 67% of tested mixtures; mass loss is often (though not always) increased when litters of different species are mixed. Observed mass loss in some mixtures is as much as 65% more extensive than expected from decomposition of single-species litter, but more often mass loss in mixtures exceeds expected decay by 20% or less. Nutrient transfer among leaves of different species is striking, with 76% of the mixtures showing non-additive dynamics of nutrient concentrations. Non-additive patterns in the abundance and activity of decomposers were observed in 55% and 65% of leaf mixes, respectively. We discuss some methodological details that likely contribute to conflicting results among mixed-litter studies to date. Enough information is available to begin formulating mechanistic hypotheses to explain patterns in litter-mix experiments. Emerging patterns in the mixed-litter decomposition literature have implications for relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function (in this case, the function being decomposition), and for potential mechanisms through which invasive plant species could alter carbon and nutrient dynamics in ecosystems. [source] The methodological potential of focus groups in population geographyPOPULATION, SPACE AND PLACE (PREVIOUSLY:-INT JOURNAL OF POPULATION GEOGRAPHY), Issue 2 2006Emily Skop Abstract Within population geography, the last decade has seen an explosion in qualitative work in terms of the types of work, the topics addressed, and the potential theoretical consequences. Yet focus groups have received less attention as an alternative method. This paper highlights the particular promises, challenges, and practicality of doing focus group research in population geography. I begin by addressing how this research method answers ongoing pleas within the subdiscipline for non-essentialist ways of thinking about taken-for-granted social categories and labels. I then outline two other promising outcomes of this method, including the potential for unique and spontaneous group interactions, and the potential for the empowerment of participants. I use the rest of the paper to provide a review of some of the methodological details of focus group research, with the idea of encouraging more population geographers to engage with this method. Throughout, I contend that focus groups have the capability to further our understanding of population processes, and to connect population geography research to ongoing debates within the broader discipline. Observations stem from an extensive review of existing focus group research, along with my own focus group research conducted with residents living in multiracial suburban communities. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Fauna habitat modelling and mapping: A review and case study in the Lower Hunter Central Coast region of NSWAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 7 2005BRENDAN A. WINTLE Abstract Habitat models are now broadly used in conservation planning on public lands. If implemented correctly, habitat modelling is a transparent and repeatable technique for describing and mapping biodiversity values, and its application in peri-urban and agricultural landscape planning is likely to expand rapidly. Conservation planning in such landscapes must be robust to the scrutiny that arises when biodiversity constraints are placed on developers and private landholders. A standardized modelling and model evaluation method based on widely accepted techniques will improve the robustness of conservation plans. We review current habitat modelling and model evaluation methods and provide a habitat modelling case study in the New South Wales central coast region that we hope will serve as a methodological template for conservation planners. We make recommendations on modelling methods that are appropriate when presence-absence and presence-only survey data are available and provide methodological details and a website with data and training material for modellers. Our aim is to provide practical guidelines that preserve methodological rigour and result in defendable habitat models and maps. The case study was undertaken in a rapidly developing area with substantial biodiversity values under urbanization pressure. Habitat maps for seven priority fauna species were developed using logistic regression models of species-habitat relationships and a bootstrapping methodology was used to evaluate model predictions. The modelled species were the koala, tiger quoll, squirrel glider, yellow-bellied glider, masked owl, powerful owl and sooty owl. Models ranked sites adequately in terms of habitat suitability and provided predictions of sufficient reliability for the purpose of identifying preliminary conservation priority areas. However, they are subject to multiple uncertainties and should not be viewed as a completely accurate representation of the distribution of species habitat. We recommend the use of model prediction in an adaptive framework whereby models are iteratively updated and refined as new data become available. [source] | |||||||||||||