Research Journal 2

What is your topic? Or what are your key words thus far?

My topic is the correlation between smoking and depression and which factor causes the other. The main research method is a cross sectional study. This type of research is a key component in attaining reliable data.

What is your research question? Have you decided to change it at all? And, if you have, how do I know that the way in which this question is formulated is appropriate to conduct a literature review with a systematic approach? 

My research question is: Upon finding evidence that smoking and depression do in fact have a correlation, is an individual who has already began smoking just as likely to develop depression as an individual who is already developed depression to begin smoking? I have not decided to change it at all. It offers a good debate and the has been multiple research studies done that offer insight to the answer to my question.

And what are the definitions on which it depends?

Smoking- the use of tobacco for an extended and consistent period of time

Depression- severe decline in mood, loss of interest in daily activities, and impairment of everyday life lasting longer than two weeks

There specific requirements for each term dictate what evidence can be used.

What is your hierarchy of evidence? And how do I know you going about finding the most appropriate evidence/method for your research question?

Hierarchy of evidence (Aveyard pg. 96)

1. Cross Sectional Studies (surveys and questionnaires)

2. Systematic Review

3. Qualitative approach

4. Professional Opinion

5. Anecdotal Opinion

Based on the fact that the research question is comparing two factors and finding a correlation, it is a cohort and case control study. By knowing the type of question that it is, I can find the right type of literature to go along with my question.

How do I know that the remit of the method itself is selecting the research, rather than just you on a whim? + 1 thing you found interesting + how you imagine using the source

Article 1

Wu, L. T., & Anthony, J. C. (1999). Tobacco smoking and depressed mood in late childhood and early adolescence. American Journal of Public Health, 89(12), 1837-1840. doi:10.2105/ajph.89.12.1837

This article is directly relevant to my topic because it addresses the causation of both factors. This means that the results show that smoking can lead to depression, but depression may not lead to smoking. It is a cross sectional study, which is appropriate for this type of research question. This article will be very useful in the results section of my paper. I thought that this article was interesting because it targets a specific age group, which would be adolescents and childhood. You wouldn't think that smoking and depression would be prevalent in this age category, but it is. Because it is the youngest age group that my articles are investigating, I will most likely use this article first to present data.

Article 2

Patton, G. C., Hibbert, M., Rosier, M. J., Carlin, J. B., Caust, J., & Bowes, G. (1996). Is smoking associated with depression and anxiety in teenagers? American Journal of Public Health, 86(2), 225-230. doi:10.2105/ajph.86.2.225

This article also directly provides evidence to answer my research question. This studies findings are the same as my first article’s findings. This evidence just further proves that there is a correlation. This article is also cross sectional. Having multiple articles that are the same type of literature and support the same theory will help me to prove that the answer to my research question is correct. These children are slightly older than the last article's subjects. It will be useful to see how the data changes between the different age categories. This article is the most relevant to me and my age group since I am still a teenager. This makes the information more relevant to my person life.

Article 3

Hall, S. M., Tsoh, J. Y., Prochaska, J. J., Eisendrath, S., Rossi, J. S., Redding, C. A., . . . Gorecki, J. A. (2006). Treatment for Cigarette Smoking Among Depressed Mental Health Outpatients: A Randomized Clinical Trial. American Journal of Public Health, 96(10), 1808-1814. doi:10.2105/ajph.2005.080382

This article looks specifically at smoking making existing depression worse. Although it doesn’t directly answer my research question, the data collected from this study is related to the research done in the previous articles. It is closely related so it will still add valuable information to my research paper. This article is more focused on how an individual who is already depressed and smoking can alleviate some depression symptoms if smoking is stopped. This is may be somewhat backwards from the previous articles’ direction of gathering data, the data is still relevant. The results of this study were consistent with the others, despite the slight change in starting point of the subjects.

Article 4

Pérez-Stable, E. J., Marín, G., Marín, B. V., & Katz, M. H. (1990). Depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking among Latinos in San Francisco. American Journal of Public Health, 80(12), 1500-1502. doi:10.2105/ajph.80.12.1500

This article explores the correlation between depression and smoking among a specific group of people. Although other articles relate teenagers and this one is a different group of people, the data will be useful to compare whether each group is more at risk than the other. Although my research question doesn’t focus on a specific group, any data for any age group will be beneficial to proving that there is a correlation to smoking and depression. It is interesting to see that the same two factors effect nearly everyone the same despite the fact that some individuals belong to different age groups and geographical areas. 

Article 5

Patton, G. C., Carlin, J. B., Coffey, C., Wolfe, R., Hibbert, M., & Bowes, G. (1998). Depression, anxiety, and smoking initiation: a prospective study over 3 years. American Journal of Public Health, 88(10), 1518-1522. doi:10.2105/ajph.88.10.1518

This study included many other factors, rather than just the two of smoking and depression. It also took into account if their peers smoked, if they diet, and how active they are. Although this study takes into account these other factors, it is still based upon smoking being the main cause of worsening or developing depression. This is a cohort and cross sectional study method. The changes in behavior are studies and surveyed over the course of a few years. Because all of my sources are this type of study, my results will be more reliable because of the consistency. This article will add more detail to the methods section of my paper. There will be more factors that could potentially influence the results section of my paper. 

Anything else interesting happen?

I am glad that I was able to find many articles that directly relate to my topic and answer my research question. All of my sources come from a reliable journal with professionals who publish their findings. It is good that all of my sources are the same type of research method, which would be cohort and cross sectional.