Research Journal 1

What was the process by which you narrowed down potential topics to two appropriate ones? And how were these decisions made on the basis of either class discussion, or our required, course textbook (Aveyard 2014), or both?

It was fairly easy for me to narrow down my potential topics. Being a very avid skier, I am very interested in climate change issues and their effects, so I knew that I wanted to do something in the environmental health realm. I have done a couple of papers on the effects of overall climate change before, so I wanted to change my topics and expand my horizons. I decided to get very specific, and instead of looking at the effect of emissions on the environment, I looked at the effects of emissions on humans. Naturally, the easiest place to see the effects of air quality is in the lungs, so that is where I looked.

What research question did you choose, and how are I can be sure you're making a reasoned, academic judgement on the basis of chapters 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?

My research question is, "What are the effects of air pollution on the lungs in areas with high amounts of natural or man made air pollution". I narrowed down the search by using keywords such as High Emissions, Lung Health, and pollution. 

What article (or articles) are you basing this question on, and what type of article is it (research, theory, policy, practice) (citation[s] in APA, please)? 

C A Pope, 3rd.  Respiratory disease associated with community air pollution and a steel mill, Utah Valley. American Journal of Public Health May 1989: Vol. 79, No. 5, pp. 623-628.

This is a research article.

A S Whittemore and E L Korn.  Asthma and air pollution in the Los Angeles area. American Journal of Public Health July 1980: Vol. 70, No. 7, pp. 687-696.

This is also a research article.

How can I be sure that the key vocabulary of the question corresponds not only to literature in the field, but also to chapter 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?

I am not really sure on this question. As the time goes on, and my research becomes more and more specific, I am positive that i will be able to answer this question. Due me being in the early stages of research still, this question is difficult to answer. 

Based on what your question is, what kind of literature are you going to need? Again, please explicitly reference the text (Aveyard 2014). What is your hierarchy of evidence?

1) Observational studies

2) Research

3) Qualitative and Quantitative evidence

4) Expert Opinions 

How exactly did you research question arise out of "practice"?

How do you define your key terms, and how do these definitions link to key journals in the field?

Air Pollution AND Lung Health

Lung Health AND Emission Standards

Lung Health AND Population Density

Public Health AND Emissions AND Lung Health

Natural Air Pollution AND Lung Health 

Public Health AND Natural Air Pollution

Air Pollution AND Asthmatics

Did anything unexpected happen? From you initial search, does it appear as though your research question will work? Or does the vocabulary and/or type of research sought need to be changed?

Something very unexpected did in fact happen. When I was originally looking for articles, I came upon one that stated there was no difference in the breathing abilities of asthmatics during the high pollution months of Denver. This went against most every other article in the database, so I am unsure what I should think of this. Although, they do admit some key failures to their study, and state more studies are required.

Any final thoughts?

More evidence is certainly required, and I am looking forward to diving deeper into this topic.