Research Question
In End-Stage Renal Disease, the kidneys remove a large amount of water and waste than required from the body. In the U.S., the majority of the ESRD victims are high blood pressure and diabetes patients. These two diseases greatly lead to kidney failure in the end. Pathology is so extensive that the normally resilient kidneys finally reach a point where they no longer function. The seriousness of the condition makes it crucial to evaluate the effectiveness of peer-led intervention programs in treating the condition. This research paper seeks to answer the research question, “ How effective are peer-led intervention programs to improve adherence with fluid restriction in ESRD patients?”.
Research Design
When selecting a research design, a good criterion to use is the extent to which the design controls for threats to validity. In other words, a researcher wants a design that will give true and accurate information and avoid confounding factors that might invalidate the study. At a minimum, the researchers want a design that will allow them to know that an intervention made a difference in a certain setting, that is, a design with high internal validity. For this research, I will use a time series design.
How research design minimizes internal validity barriers
Time-series design involves multiple observations of patients and their progress during the peer-led intervention. Time series design involves recording data on the progress of patients at uniform intervals. This means checking up on the patients for a given period at a regular time interval. Complications arise in time-series design from the fact that successive observations from a time series often display serial correlation. This means that the Pearson correlation coefficient between observations a distance k apart in time is non-zero, at least for some values of k. There are three methods used in time-series designs: a graphical analysis, which attempts to make a subjective allowance for any serial correlation.
A regression analysis, which assumes that the serial correlation in the regression residuals is small enough to be ignored, and an analysis based on a time series that considers serial correlation. Time-series design reduces threats to internal validity in a study because there are many close interrupted observations made to the patient. The formal analysis of an interrupted time series is most straightforward when the assumptions of a regression model seem realistic.
Time Series Design
I will use a time series design in this research; participants will be adults between the age of 20 to 50 years from all ethnic backgrounds. This is because responses and opinions vary across different age groups. Using all ethnic background also increases the validity of the responses I receive. I will collect data from the sample population in different points in time. This will assist evaluate the trend of peer-led interventions and their effectiveness over time. I will also look for official data to use in conjunction with the design. This will serve as a basis for making opinions on the trends of peer-led intervention programs. I will make use of different variables so as to make inferences on their relationships in the study.
In conclusion, the study will use a time series design to reduce internal validity barriers. There will be a comparison of different variables to ascertain their relationships. Participants will also undergo evaluations at interval times; this is to help access the trend of peer-led intervention programs over time.