For your public health research topic, (High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents) what data collection methods would best suit your needs? What challenges or bias may you face if you decide to conduct personal interviews? What would you do to avoid the bias as an interviewer?
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Sample Answer
Data Collection Methods for Research on High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents
Data Collection Methods:
1. Surveys and Questionnaires: Distributing surveys or questionnaires to children, adolescents, and their parents/guardians can provide valuable information about lifestyle factors, family history, and health behaviors related to high blood pressure.
2. Medical Records Review: Accessing medical records from healthcare facilities to gather data on blood pressure measurements, diagnoses, treatments, and outcomes in children and adolescents with high blood pressure.
3. Physical Examinations: Conducting physical examinations, including blood pressure measurements, to assess the prevalence of high blood pressure in children and adolescents within a research setting.
4. Focus Group Discussions: Organizing focus group discussions with children, adolescents, parents, healthcare providers, and educators to gain insights into perceptions, attitudes, and challenges related to high blood pressure management.
5. Observational Studies: Observing children and adolescents in various settings to understand lifestyle factors, dietary habits, physical activity levels, and environmental influences contributing to high blood pressure.
Challenges and Bias in Personal Interviews:
1. Social Desirability Bias: Respondents may provide answers that they believe are socially acceptable rather than truthful, leading to inaccurate data on behaviors or practices related to high blood pressure.
2. Interviewer Bias: Interviewers’ personal beliefs, attitudes, or communication styles may influence respondents’ answers and impact the quality and reliability of the data collected.
3. Response Bias: Respondents may provide inconsistent or unreliable information due to memory lapses, misunderstandings, or reluctance to disclose sensitive details about their health status or lifestyle choices.
4. Limited Understanding: Children and adolescents may have limited understanding of high blood pressure, making it challenging to provide accurate responses during personal interviews.
Strategies to Avoid Bias as an Interviewer:
1. Establish Trust and Rapport: Create a comfortable and non-judgmental environment to build trust with respondents and encourage open communication during the interview process.
2. Use Neutral Language: Frame questions in a neutral and non-leading manner to avoid biasing respondents’ answers or influencing their responses based on the interviewer’s assumptions.
3. Ensure Confidentiality: Assure respondents of the confidentiality of their responses to encourage honest and accurate feedback without fear of judgment or repercussions.
4. Provide Clear Instructions: Offer clear instructions and explanations to ensure that respondents understand the purpose of the interview, the questions being asked, and how their responses will be used in the research.
5. Use Structured Interview Guides: Develop structured interview guides with standardized questions to maintain consistency across interviews and minimize the potential for interviewer bias in data collection.
By implementing these strategies and being mindful of potential biases during personal interviews, researchers can enhance the validity and reliability of data collected on high blood pressure in children and adolescents, contributing to more robust public health research outcomes.
