An appropriate setting for this type of research would be a practitioner’s office. The two types of intervention require specific resources for implementation. The medication approach calls for a qualified physician to have the necessary tools for the diagnosis of the child and subsequent treatment. Meanwhile, parental education consists of seminars that will encompass educative materials. In both contexts, a medical facility, such as a medium-sized pediatrician’s office has all the necessary resources. Sampling may either occur at a pediatrician or a general population location such as a school to avoid bias since children treated at a doctor may already experience potential health issues.
The sample for this research study should consist of children and young people aged 2 to 20 years old. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) and most studies on the subject consider this age group when evaluating childhood obesity. Furthermore, the body mass index (BMI), a popular screening tool used for obesity, is modified to accommodate the fact that children may constantly be growing, at different rates and stages of development.
Based on their BMI measurement or diagnosis by a qualified physician, all children in the sample should be qualified as having obesity. The sampling strategy used will be convenience sampling, where individuals who fit the parameters are selected after parents give consent and they can be easily reached. The results may not be heterogeneous, but it provides a bigger sample size in this case (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016).
The study should follow a quasi-experimental design. This is most appropriate since it would be unfeasible and unethical to consider a non-medical intervention for children that are currently on medication, as it may endanger their health. Therefore, children in the group with parents receiving lifestyle education, cannot be on medication to control obesity-related factors. A quasi-experimental design targets a specific population but avoids random assignment. Although, it may compromise validity, for research of this level and size it would be most effective.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). Childhood obesity facts. Web.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Assessing prevalence and trends in obesity: Navigating the evidence. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.