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The article, “Four decades of obesity trends among non-Hispanic whites and blacks in the United States: Analyzing the influences of educational inequalities in obesity and population improvements in education”, authored by Yu (2016) reports the findings of a study carried out to investigate the relationship between education, race, and obesity in the US. Although the researcher did not give an explicit research question, it is evident that he intended to answer the following questions:
Q1: Does the level of education influence the probability of contracting obesity?
Q2: Is there any relationship between obesity and a person’s racial background?
To exhaustively answer the listed research questions, the author conducts a quantitative research to analyze the available data regarding the prevalence of obesity among people from different racial backgrounds with varying levels of education. Data regarding the participants’ probability of contracting obesity were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). On the other hand, information concerning the participant’s age and race was obtained from the 1970 Census and 2010 American Community Survey.
Objectives (Hypothesis)
The primary objective of the reported study was to investigate the connection between education achievements and obesity. The secondary objective of the research was to examine the link between a person’s race and the risk of contracting obesity. Therefore, although the hypothesis is not stated, it may be concluded that the study was designed to test whether there is a direct or an indirect relationship between a person’s level of education, race, and obesity.
By employing quantitative research techniques, the study found that the number of people suffering from obesity in the US grew from 15.7% to 38.8% between 1970 and 2010 (Yu, 2016). Non-college graduates accounted for a great percentage of the new obesity cases compared to the college graduates. Therefore, education is directly related to obesity where people with high education levels have a lower risk of contracting the condition. However, for black males, no relationship between the level of education and obesity was realized. Regarding the race, whites were more likely to contract obesity relative to their black counterparts.
Evaluation of the Research Methods
Generally, researchers include a literature review section in which they examine the previous works of regarding the topic of study. A literature review is important in a research since it helps researchers to develop the framework on which to base their studies (Bernard & Bernard, 2012). Additionally, it helps them to develop the research hypothesis, not to mention the role it plays in painting a clearer picture to the reader about the importance of the current study. For the present article, the researcher did not include a literature review section. This omission is one of the major limitations of the article. However, the author reviews several articles on the topic in the introduction and results discussion sections.
To determine the relevance of a study to the current issues, it is important to consider the period in which the research was carried and the age of the data used for the research. For this study, it may be argued that the research is current since it uses data as old as 2010 and 2012 (Yu, 2016). Additionally, the resources that the author uses confirm that he is conversant with the current issues regarding obesity as a health matter. The majority of articles that appear in the reference list section were authored within the past 10 years. This observation is indicative of the fact that the article was greatly shaped by the current issues.
The currently reviewed study adopted a descriptive research method to explore the assumed hypothesis to answer the research questions. Bernard and Bernard (2012) define descriptive statistics as a kind of research approach that involves describing quantitative data regarding a specific population. The study reported in this article describes obesity trends in America with reference to the population’s race and the level of education.
The sample used for this study was drawn from the non-Hispanic and black population residing in the US. The sampled population was comprised of persons aged between 25 and 74 years (Yu, 2016). The inclusion of the entire population of the US based on the census report makes the sampling appropriate for the research. However, as much as the sample size is big enough to produce reliable data, the results obtained cannot be generalized to represent the condition in other countries. The view is informed by the fact that the sampled population was limited to the Hispanic whites and the blacks residing in the US. It is important to capture other communities across the world that need to be studied in reference to obesity.
As stated above, the study used data from the census, implying that it represented all the communities residing in the country. Therefore, the results obtained from the study are highly representative of the situation in the US in its entirety. The country’s policymakers may use the results as the basis for making future policies to combat obesity (Yu, 2016). However, the results cannot be used in other countries since obesity is largely attributed to the distinct lifestyles of a community. In other words, lifestyles in the US may vary from those of other countries, implying that policymakers from other countries may need to conduct their research, as opposed to relying on the current one.
The study has several limitations that may have negatively influenced the validity and reliability of the results provided. The primary limitation of the research is that it relied on secondary data, which was obtained from government census data and NHANES (Yu, 2016). Overreliance on secondary data is a major limitation since errors from such sources may be transferred to the current research. The results would have been more reliable and accurate if primary data was used. The researcher would have conducted a mixed-methods approach in which both qualitative and quantitative data would have been used (Bernard & Bernard, 2012). Additionally, data should have been collected from the participants by the researcher himself, as opposed to relying on published data.
One of the major strengths of the article is that it presents the results of the study in a clear and coherent manner to ensure that the reader grasps every theme. The article starts by briefing the reader about its contents in the abstract section. The abstract is brief, although it covers every aspect of the study. A reader without much time to go through the entire article may read the abstract and gain an insight of the entire study. Additionally, the language used by the author is simple and understandable to the reader. Therefore, the article is clear and straightforward.
In my view, the current study does not seal all the gaps in knowledge regarding obesity. In this regard, other researchers in the healthcare field may still conduct similar studies in the future to increase the knowledge regarding the risk factors for obesity. The current research establishes a framework on which future research could be based. Firstly, it confirms the hypothesis that there exists a link between a person’s level of education and the risk of contracting obesity (Yu, 2016). Secondly, it confirms the hypothesis that obesity and race are closely related. Therefore, future researchers will seek to investigate the mechanisms surrounding the stated relationships.
Conclusion
The currently reviewed article reports the findings of a research carried out to investigate the relationship between obesity, race, and education levels. The study adopts a descriptive research approach to examine the topic. The sampled population was made up of non-Hispanic whites and blacks from the United States. The data pertaining to the population was obtained from the US government’s census records and NHANES. The study is highly reliable since it not only used a big sample population but also outsourced data from reliable government sources. However, the results would have been more consistent if the researcher used primary data instead of secondary one. Future researchers need to explore the topic with reference to other countries, as opposed to limiting the research to the US. As a result, such future study may be viewed as sealing the current gap of generalizability since it will have captured the situation in several regions, hence giving the reader a chance to tell the exact link between obesity, race, and education levels.
References
Bernard, H. R., & Bernard, H. R. (2012). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. London, England: Sage.
Yu, Y. (2016). Four decades of obesity trends among non-Hispanic whites and blacks in the United States: Analyzing the influences of educational inequalities in obesity and population improvements in education. PloS One, 11(11), 1-12.
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