week six

Draft your introduction to the methods section.

Write your research question at the top of the post. You may upload your draft as an MS Word attachment, but be sure to copy and paste the text into the message box as well.

The goal of methodology in a research proposal is to outline the design strategies used to identify participants or subjects in the study, how you propose to collect data, and how you plan to analyze data.

The purpose of the introduction to the methods section is to provide an overview of your design strategy and to explain how your design strategies will help you to answer the proposed research question.

In your introductory paragraphs to the draft of Chapter 3: Methodology of your integrative project, you will write out your research question. If your research question is quantitative, you will also write out your hypothesis or hypotheses. In addition, you will explain how the research question is part of a logical progression, having emerged from the research problem or the identified gap in the literature as you reviewed the literature for your Unit 4 assignment.

What is the Relationship between Obesity and Cognitive Development for College students?

Chapter 3 – Methodology

Rebecca Andrade

Identifying the Relationship between Obesity and Cognitive Development for College Students

The Problem with Obesity

Introduction

Obesity is a life threatening condition that is a result of unhealthy habits. A lot of these bad habits start at a young age and will continue into adulthood to make these habits more of a lifestyle for the individual. In the United States, obesity rate is increasing especially the younger population. As a result, this can lead to life threatening health problems such as such as high cholesterol, heart failure, and diabetes (Scudder, Khan, Lambourne, Drollette, Herrmann, Betts, & Hillman. 2015). There is also evidence from Restivo, McKinnon, Frey, Hall, Syed, & Taylor (2017), stating that obesity has a direct link to mental illness such as depression that impact the function in the frontal lobe. Since this has been identified it can be inferred that obesity can have negative a negative impact on the brain and its function. The problem that needs to be identified is that obesity has an impact on college students which is impacting their cognitive development as they continue their education. College students can have a difficult time adjusting to a new lifestyle living without parents, having control of their school schedule, and eating a balanced diet. Unfortunately, for most students they tend to select food that is quick, east to access, and tasty. But most of the time those foods are unhealthy choices that can cause obesity when consumed more often. Students who have healthier food choices are overall more satisfied with their day and school than kids who don’t have healthier choices (Burgermaster, Gray, Tipton, Contento, & Koch, 2017). When children consume unhealthy foods it can lead to poor behaviors and grades in the class room resulting to fewer students wanting to do well in school. This can impact internal motivation as well. If a student is doing poor it can decrease their self- esteem, leading to a decrease in overall self-efficacy (Aschbrenner, Naslund, Shevenell, Mueser, & Bartels, 2016). This can contribute to the decreased desire to attend and finish school for a lot of young adults and could possibly affect the employment rate. This study will have great significance to psychologists, educators, and students because of the great results it will obtain. Seeing the link between obesity and cognitive development will push society to implement more health promoting programs for students to help them do well in school and have a healthier lifestyle. The solution is to identify the link to obesity and cognitive development and identify ways to reduce the likelihood of obesity in college students to promote healthier lifestyles. What is the Relationship between Obesity and Cognitive Development for College students?

Hypothesis

The best way to approach this research question is to use a quantitative research approach since this type of questions has the ability to be measured and statistically analyzed. The Null hypothesis is that there is no correlation between obesity and lower test scores. The Alternative Hypothesis is that there is a correlation between obesity and lower test scores. The ideal conclusion is to reject the null hypothesis, therefore supporting the alternative hypothesis. For this to be quantitatively measured and analyzed there must be a comparison between students who are obese to the students who are leaner. The independent variable will be obesity. The obesity of the person can be calculated based on a combination of body fat percentages, unhealthy habits, and physical activity. The dependent variable will be the grades the student receives in their courses. At this point, the grades each student receives can be compared against other students to identify a correlation.

Target Population

For this hypothesis to be tested there must be a good population of participants to assess. Using a large group of college students would be the best scenario. Students must answer a questionnaire regarding their health to ensure they are fully able to participate.

Procedure

Students will fill out a formal survey regarding standard questions about their health to indicate which group they will be placed in when statistically analyzing the data. The student’s scores will then be kept and compared with other student in that class. A statistical analysis will compare the grades of the test and then analyzed with the students health questionnaire.

Analysis

The analysis of the data should be done with little to no error coming from the researchers collecting the data and information. This creative topic can open new doors for researchers, psychologists, and students alike based on what the findings will reveal. With the correlation between obesity and cognitive development measurable it will promote more of a healthier lifestyle for people to abide by, especially learners.

· Rebecca Andrade

References

1) Aschbrenner, K. A., Naslund, J. A., Shevenell, M., Mueser, K. T., & Bartels, S. J. (2016). Feasibility of behavioral weight loss treatment enhanced with peer support and mobile health technology for individuals with serious mental illness. Psychiatric Quarterly, 87(3), 401-415. doi:10.1007/s11126-015-9395-x

2) Burgermaster, M., Gray, H. L., Tipton, E., Contento, I., & Koch, P. (2017). Testing an integrated model of program implementation: The Food, Health & Choices school-based childhood obesity prevention intervention process evaluation. Prevention Science, 18(1), 71-82. doi:10.1007/s11121-016-0736-2

3) Restivo, M. R., McKinnon, M. C., Frey, B. N., Hall, G. B., Syed, W., & Taylor, V. H. (2017). The impact of obesity on neuropsychological functioning in adults with and without major depressive disorder. Plos ONE, 12(5)

4) Scudder, M. R., Khan, N. A., Lambourne, K., Drollette, E. S., Herrmann, S. D., Betts, J. L., & ... Hillman, C. H. (2015). Cognitive control in preadolescent children with risk factors for metabolic syndrome. Health Psychology, 34(3), 243-252. doi:10.1037/hea0000114

Response Guidelines

Offer substantive comments and detailed constructive feedback to one of your follow learners. Please respond to a new peer for each discussion.

Do the expected results make sense to you? Make suggestions based on your own thoughts on your peer's work.

Learning Components

This activity will help you achieve the following learning components:

· Analyze the functions, responsibilities, and ethics required of a psychology professional.

· Develop an evidence-based research proposal.

· Distinguish the general characteristics of the quantitative approach from the general characteristics of the qualitative approach.

· Uses current APA format and style in scholarly writing.

· Use the lexicon of the discipline.

Resources