Title

The author of the article has used an interrogative title which means that the title of the research paper is the research question. A good title is essential as it captures the attention of readers and is likely to increase readership. The type of title used in this article is not inclusive enough because the details or findings of the study are not presented. Therefore, the title did not adequately provide information about the study (Marcus et al., 2012). The author could have alternatively used a declarative title as it gives a summary of the actual research as well as the results which is likely to increase the number of readers. It will be challenging to retrieve such an article from an indexing system because of the lack of uniqueness of words. A declarative title would have been more suitable as it contains words that are less contain hence the ease of finding it in search engines. Such a title would be ideal for casual readers, but if the author wants to maintain suspense throughout the paper, then descriptive titles are suitable. A descriptive title gives enough information about the study but not about the results. The title, however, did not contain words that were not necessary.

Abstract

An abstract communicates essential information contained in any document in the summary form and covers areas such as research study, methods, scope, results, conclusions and recommendation. Readers decide whether to continue to read a document or not depending on how well the abstract is written. In this research, the abstract is informational as it covers all these areas. The independent variable is the factor that is being tested while the dependent variable depends on the independent variable. The independent and dependent variable of the study is not specified in the abstract. The primary findings were mentioned in the abstract which includes the feeling of powerlessness and being lonely alienated and not having connections with others(Marcus et al., 2012). The abstract provided adequate information for a reader to decide whether the research was relevant to him/her because it summarized all main areas. The study is descriptive, and the researcher cannot control the variables. Such a study aims to present the situation just the way it is. The results are based on the response of the audience about what they believe affects mental health.

The Introduction

The problem was clearly defined, and the problem was significant enough to be investigated. In a particular year at least 25 percent of young adults experienced mental health problems(Marcus et al., 2012).  It was therefore significant to investigate the cause and come up with recommendations for the problem since those who are affected shy away from seeking help. The introduction section clearly defines the problem that is being investigated and all necessary facts.  The problem was deduced from social theories of mental health. The rate of young adults with mental health issues has been increasing, but they are not willing to share and get the necessary support from those around them. That is the reason why the problem was significant enough to establish the causes of mental distress, the effects and how they can be dealt with.

Literature Review

The literature review section is very crucial in every research as it presents prior literature on the research carried out systematically and thoroughly. The part should portray a clear understanding of the study topic, address the shortcomings that exist and that you look forward to addressing (Maier 2013, p. 3). The literature review logically leads to the methods of data collection, so the transition between the two sections was well thought about. The hypothesis and research questions are however not stated clearly, and findings cannot be anticipated from the literature presented. The literature reviewed is not extensive enough. The independent variable of the research is health information, and the dependent variable is the internet. Young adults in America prefer looking for information related to health on the internet as compared to visiting a physician. The awareness of mental health, therefore, is dependent on the ability to access the internet as people share their experiences there and connect with others.

The method (Procedure)

When conducting research, the data collection methods should be arranged in chronological order. One of the importance of organizing the techniques is to have a more appealing look and to help the reader easily relate the methodology and the findings (Kothari, 2004). Organizing methods in chronological order means starting from what was done first and what followed. In the document, the procedures are well described in chronological order as the author begins by explaining the first step that was used in obtaining the online blogs. The search engine used is also indicated, and all keyword used in searching for the information are provided. In the document, the process of data collection is sequential which makes it easy to repeat the study. Replication of the study means repeating an experiment or a procedure done to a larger group of subjects.

The research did not incorporate necessary treatments to hold unnecessary sources of error constant or control groups. When carrying out research, it is crucial to understand variability and how to eliminate systematic error, reduce random error and increase systematic variance(Rubin, and Babbie, 2016).  The number of hits in different posts cannot be the same which means that the scores will differ. The reason why different blogs cannot have the same number of hits is because a particular blogger may be famous than another(Marcus et al., 2012). He or she may have marketed his/her work enough to the extent that she receives more readers for her posts. In research, a systematic error may occur which means that there are other factors apart from dependent and independent variables that are causing the disparity. To avoid the error that arises from the factors the researcher should vary one element at a time and ensure that all other factors are held constant. The researcher made sure that irrelevant material was not used in research by retaining blogs on mental health only. The extraneous materials consisted of 5 percent of the total bogs assessed.

The method (Design)

The design used in research is the strategy that the researcher chooses to implement to address the research problem in an effective manner (Creswell, and Creswell, 2017). The design consists of components such as data collection technique, measurement, and evaluation of the data collected(Kothari, 2004). An explicit research design is clear, detailed and leaves no room for confusion.  The authors explained the methods that they used to collect data which was to search from blogs. The design was detailed as they have explained step by step how they carried out the exercise.

A population is a group of individuals or objects with similar characteristics that the researcher focuses on(Kothari, 2004). The authors of the study defined their population clearly which was blogs and not any other blog but those related to mental health. When it comes to sampling, however, the authors did not mention the design they used but have provided details of how they retrieved blogs from websites and the procedure they carried out to ensure they were left with those that were most relevant for the study. For the readers who lack knowledge in research methods, it will prove difficult to try and understand the design used (Marczyk, DeMatteo, and Festinger, 2017). When carrying out the research, it can be deduced from the explanation that they used stratified sampling whereby the blogs were divided into groups using age brackets. Blogs whose authors were aged between 18 to 25 years had the possibility of being used in the research. The authors could have done better by specifying the sampling method used and apply either control or comparison treatment to each sample. The procedures were assigned to the groups randomly since the sample was only chosen using the age limit.

The method (Sample)

A sampling method is a procedure used in research to sample population. A sample is used as a representation of the entire population and is used in the actual study. The authors have clearly described the size and demographics of the sample (Buckland et al., 2017). Eight bloggers were selected, and 524 posts were sampled of which 244 were text pages. The posts were reviewed and analyzed to answer the research question which was what young people say about mental health. The sample was characterized by age and gender whereby the posts selected for the study were those whose authors were between ages 18 to 25. This sample is significant to the study because it contains blogs whose authors are youths. No respondent was given an incentive to participate in the study since authors used the internet which is a secondary method of data collection.

The method (Instrumentation)

Instrumentation is the development and use of research instruments to gather relevant data on the study. The main research instruments used in research are questionnaires, observation, and interviews(Wilkinson, and Birmingham, 2003).In the study, the authors have not clearly described the type of instrument they usedto collect the data. What they have done is merely explaining the process they used which is an evaluation of mental health blogs written by youths aged between 18 to 25 years. In research, validity refers to how well instruments are used to support what the study is expected to confirm (Abawi, 2013). The authors ensured that they complied with all ethical issues as the study was reviewed by the board of York University (Marcus et al., 2012). The authors used public information only so the blogs that required username and password were not considered for the study. The authors obtained the consent of the authors of the blogs they used in the study. The blogs which contained personal information of the author were eliminated to maintain anonymity.

To ensure that the data collected was significance in the study the authors ensured that they sorted the blogs and used only those that were significant to the study(Marcus et al., 2012). Blogs that were not related to mental health or were not related to the youth were not considered were concluding the study. The authors, however, failed to explicitly list all the instruments used in the research and the reader is left to read and figure out which instrument the authors have applied in the study.

The Results (Measurement)

In this section key findings of the research should be arranged under conceptual categories. One way of presenting the finds is by starting with a result and then explaining it (Papadimitriou et al., 2012). This is beneficial especially in a study with findings which are all significant. After analyzing the findings, it is wise to write a short conclusion for the findings section. In this study, the authors have done quite well as they have listed each response obtained from the blogs and explained it. They have organized the section into two categories and listed all the responses in each group. The authors incorporated a table and a chart to explain the findings of the study. The table was comprehensive as it contained crucial details of the results of the blogs analyzed.

The Discussion

The conclusions were related to the study question which seeks to find out what the young people think about mental health(Marcus et al., 2012). The conclusions were derived from the findings of the study and the impact of the lack of mental health are outlined. The authors also addressed the limitations of the study one of them being that the participants did not represent al young adults who have concerns about their mental health.

The References

Majority of the references used in the study are current apart from a few who are relatively old so they might not be much relevant to the study(Marcus et al., 2012). All the references are relevant to the study although the majority of them are not in the text yet they appear in the reference list. The reference is also not formatted either alphabetically or from the earliest to the current.

My opinion

In my opinion, the authors have done pretty well in the study as they have used relevant literature to address the study question. However, they could have done better by clearly indicating the research instruments they used as well ensuring that they proper provide in-text citations of all the references listed in the reference list. I have learned from the article that young adults who experience mental health challenges do not take the initiative of seeking help from professionals, but they instead look for information from the internet.

References

Abawi, K. (2013). [Online] Gfmer.ch. Available at: https://www.gfmer.ch/SRH-Course-2012/Geneva-Workshop/pdf/Data-collection-instruments-Abawi-2013.pdf [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019].

Buckland, S.T., Rexstad, E.A., Marques, T.A. and Oedekoven, C.S., 2017. Erratum: Distance Sampling: Methods and Applications. Distance Sampling: Methods and Applications (pp. E1-E1). Springer, Cham.

Creswell, J.W. and Creswell, J.D., 2017. Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Sage publications.

Kothari, C.R., 2004. Research Methodology: Methods and techniques. New Age International.

Maier, H.R., 2013. What constitutes a good literature review and why does its quality matter?.Environmental Modelling and Software, 43, pp.3-4.

Marcus, M.A., Westra, H.A., Eastwood, J.D., Barnes, K.L. and Mobilizing Minds Research Group, 2012. What are young adults saying about mental health? An analysis of Internet blogs. Journal of medical Internet research, 14(1).

Marczyk, G., DeMatteo, D. and Festinger, D., 2017. Essentials of research design and methodology. John Wiley.

Papadimitriou, D., Fàbrega, L., Vilà, P., Careglio, D. and Demeester, P. (2012). Measurement-based Research: Methodology, Experiments, and Tools. [Online] Sigcomm.org. Available at: http://www.sigcomm.org/sites/default/files/ccr/papers/2012/October/2378956-2378968.pdf [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019].

Rubin, A. and Babbie, E.R., 2016. Empowerment Series: Research methods for social work. Cengage Learning.

Wilkinson, P. and Birmingham, P. (2003). [Online] Pbi.mercubuana-yogya.ac.id. Available at: http://pbi.mercubuana-yogya.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/using_research_instruments_.pdf [Accessed 11 Feb. 2019].

Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?