Research Methods MPH/DE YR 1 - 7204
Instructor: Danstan Bagenda
Name: _______________
Research Methods Assignment
Due on Wed, March 3rd 2010
Send back via my email: emailme@danstan.com
1. An MPH student conducts a study and finds that married people report greater levels
of happiness than non-married people.
Here is how she conducts her study: She puts an ad in the monitor newspaper. The ads says that
she is seeking volunteers for her study, and that she is looking for married people and nonmarried people to participate. She pays participants 10,000 Uganda Shs each. She has them
answer a series about question about their happiness. Her data show that married people, on
average, had higher happiness scores than non-married people. A Red Pepper newspaper
reporter reads about the study in the African Health Scientist journal and writes a newspaper
article entitled “Get married! It will make you happier.”
Answer the following questions providing brief answers NOT more than one paragraph
long.
a. What is wrong with the newspaper reporter’s title? Explain your answer [5
marks].
b. Describe i) ONE strength [3 marks] and ii) ONE weakness of this study
[3 marks].
c. What would you (an informed MPH student) conclude about the researcher’s
study on marriage and happiness [Answer should be in a paragraph of not
more than 120 words! ] [5 marks]
d. i) Propose a hypothetical study to properly test the question: “Does marriage
cause happiness?” (i.e. propose a suitable study design - in not more than
1 paragraph!) [5 marks]
ii) Would a researcher be able to conduct this study? Why or why not?
[Answer should be in a paragraph of not more than 150 words! ] [3
marks]