Contents
1.0 INTRODUCTION - 4 -- 2.0 RECIPIENTS FOR THE RESEARCH - 5 -
- 3.0 THE SUITABILITY OF THE RESEARCHER FOR THE RESEARCH - 5 -
- 3.1 SUITABILITY OF RESEARCHER IN RELATION TO RESEARCH TOPIC - 5 -
- 3.2 SUITABILITY OF RESEARCHER IN RELATION TO RESEARCH APPROACH - 6 -
- 4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW - 6 -
- 4.1 WHAT IS OBESITY? - 7 -
- 4.2 HOW CAN OBESITY BE MEASURED? - 7 -
- 4.3 WHAT ARE THE CAUSES FOR OBESITY? - 8 -
- 4.4 WHAT ARE THE AFFECTS OF BEING OBESE? - 9 -
- 4.5 WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO AVOID OBESITY AMONG CHILDREN? - 10 -
- 4.6 WHAT ROLE CAN VARIOUS SOCIAL ELEMENTS TAKE TO SPONSOR HEALTHY EATING HABITS AMONG CHILDREN? - 12 -
- 4.7 HOW TO DEVELOP AWARENESS AMONG YOUTH TOWARDS DEVELOPING HEALTHY LIFESTYLE - 13 -
- 5.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY - 14 -
- 5.1 FORMULATION OF RESEARCH PROCESS - 14 -
- 5.1.1 Research Problem - 15 -
- 5.1.2 Research Question - 15 -
- 5.1.3 Research Objectives - 16 -
- 5.1.4 Hypotheses - 16 -
- 5.2 LAYERS OF RESEARCH PROCESS - 17 -
- 5.2.1 Research Philosophy - 17 -
- 5.2.2 Research Approach - 18 -
- 5.2.3 Research Strategy - 19 -
- 5.2.4 Research Choice - 19 -
- 5.2.5 Time Horizon - 20 -
- 6.0 POPULATION AND SAMPLE - 20 -
- 6.1 DEFINE POPULATION - 21 -
- 6.2 DETERMINATION OF SAMPLING FRAME - 21 -
- 7.0 DATA COLLECTION, EDITING AND CODING - 21 -
- 7.1 SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION - 21 -
- 7.2 PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION - 22 -
- 7.2.1 In depth interview - 22 -
- 7.2.2 Data Quality Issues from Interview - 22 -
- 7.2.3 Self Administered Questionnaires - 22 -
- 7.3 CODING , DECODING AND ANALYSIS - 23 -
- 8.0 TIME, COST AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT - 24 -
- 9.0 IS THE RESEARCH NEW AND RELEVANT? - 25 -
- 10.0 APPENDICES - 26 -
- 10.1 APPENDIX ONE: ATTRIBUTES OF A GOOD RESEARCH TOPIC - 26 -
- 10.2 APPENDIX TWO: THE RESEARCH ‘ONION’ - 27 -
- 10.3 APPENDIX THREE: MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE APPROACHES TO RESEARCH - 28 -
- 10.4 APPENDIX FOUR: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH - 29 -
- 10.5 APPENDIX FIVE: CHECKLIST FOR EVALUATION OF SECONDARY DATA - 30 -
- 10.6 APPENDIX SIX: CHECKLIST TO OVERCOME DATA QUALITY ISSUES IN ID INTERVIEWS - 31 -
- 10.7 APPENDIX SEVEN: STEPS INVOLVED IN CODING QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE DATA - 32 -
- 10.8 APPENDIX EIGHT: GANTT CHART - 33 -
- 10.9 APPENDIX NINE: RESEARCH LOGBOOK - 34 -
- 11.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY - 35 -
- 11.1 BOOKS - 35 -
- 11.2 JOURNAL ARTICLES - 36 -
- 11.3 WEBSITES - 38 -
Description
Obesity is a global problem afflicting all age groups, bringing social and economic burdens. The direct economic costs of obesity have been assessed in several developed countries as being 2-7 percent of total health care costs (WHO, 2009). Overweight and obesity bring about not only physical problems, but are also associated with a number of psychosocial problems including body shape dissatisfaction and eating disorders. People with obesity are often confronted with social bias, prejudice and discrimination. Studies indicate the importance of developing healthy eating habits among people at a young age. Yet, there is steadily increasing obesity among young people. Indeed, it is estimated that at the turn of the twenty-first century there were over 155 million overweight children and young people in the world (Chan et al, 2009).
Excess weight in children is thought to be widely prevalent and to be increasing. An analysis of the data for children collected in the Health Survey for England in 1998 shows that, using international definitions of overweight and obesity, one child in 25 is obese and one child in five is overweight (including those that are obese). Between 1994 and 1998, the prevalence of overweight children grew from about 13 to 20%. The prevalence of excess bodyweight among children in England appears to be rising at an accelerating rate (Lobstein et al, 2005).
Obesity is increasingly emerging as a major public health problem for the Republic of Ireland, and is described by the World Health Organisation as a ‘global epidemic’. According to the National Task Force on Obesity (NTO) (2005), approximately 39% of Irish adults are overweight and 18% are obese. Annually, approximately 2,000 premature deaths are attributed to obesity, at an estimated cost, in economic terms, of 4billion euros to the State. The taskforce are very concerned that childhood obesity has become the most prevalent childhood disease in Europe. It is estimated that over 300,000 children on the island of Ireland are overweight and obese and this is projected to increase annually by 10,000. This clearly indicates that halting the rise in levels of overweight and obesity presents a major challenge.
This prompted the researcher to undertake the research in the following area.
The aim of researcher is to undertake a study concerning the Dublin youth’s attitude towards healthy eating.
The expressed research focus necessitates the following research question:
“What is attitude of Dublin youth towards healthy eating?”
