Introduction
The researcher may classify data into two types when developing a nursing intervention to encourage healthy eating habits among teenagers. The sources of information consist of primary and secondary data. Primary data refers to first-hand data, which is collected from the field to resolve a problem at hand. The researcher will employ some of the methods that will aid the collection of primary data.
The observation method encompasses what the researcher observes and records as desired information about the subject (eating habits). The researcher examines a person’s eating habits and waits for the outcome of such activity to the health of the individual. Interview method as advanced by Frederikson, et al (19) gives the notion that the research will have different persons to ask them questions relating to their eating habits.
Analysis
The questionnaire method will involve a standard list of questions relating to the subject (eating habits). The data is collected by sending the questionnaire to the respondents requesting them to return the questionnaires after they have answered the questions. The use of the Sampling Method supports the notion that few people chosen from the entire population will give information representing the whole population.
The data from the samples will become the results obtained on the basis that the few persons being representatives of the entire population. The researcher has a diary of subjects to keep a personal account of daily events, feelings, discussions, and interactions, hence use diary methods. Role-play and simulation method imply that persons eating habits will be considered to play to a role. Again, such habits are significant in observing the role-play, after which interviewees are asked to rate behavior, report feelings, and predict further events. A case study will be an in-depth study of one person, group, or event. This technique is simply a description of individuals.
Secondary data refers to data, which is collected by other researchers and recorded in various archives. Some of the sources of secondary data include; reports by various health organizations, journals, and periodicals, publications by the private and individual researchers, publications by research institutions, and universities.
Addressing the gender determinants of healthy eating habits where another researcher used the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey as an instrument to collect and analyze data related to six health-status categories, including dietary behaviors of HBCU students (Fennell, 297). The research results unveil the effect and responsiveness of women to lose weight as compared to men. However, the focus on health status is significant in this endeavor. For example, the body mass index is better than sticking to a particular eating habit for students. The eating habits bring a notion of socio-demographic features among the gender class, which illustrates the distinction in the health status of students.
The number of females foregoes breakfast is more by three times as compared to males. This is because females neither have the time nor are hungry during the morning (Shaw, 1998). Nutrition education enhances health diets since it imparts immense knowledge to individuals about nutrition. However, a quasi-experimental study of high school students indicated that although nutrition education improves knowledge of nutrition, it does not significantly influence the food choices (Anderson et al., 21).
Conclusion
Middle-class people have better health diets as compared to low-class people. Considerations that underlie choices of foodstuffs may explain this class difference in eating habits. Qualitative studies on food beliefs show that lower-class mothers consider health less frequently in their choice of food. On the other hand, mothers take preferences of family members and expenses into account more often than their middle-class counterparts do.
Works Cited
Anderson, Terry. The effectiveness of nutrition instruction on student nutrition knowledge and food choices. J. Family Consumer Sci. Educ., 19: 31-37, 2001.
Fennell, Raymond. Health behaviors of students attending historically black colleges and universities. Sage publishers: London, p. 109-117, 1997.
Frederikson, James. Unacknowledged casualties of the Vietnam War and experiences of partners of New Zealand veterans, Qualitative Health Research, 6(1): 49-70, 2000.
Shaw, Mary. An Australian study on Adolescent breakfast skipping. National Library Australia: Australia, p. 351-861, 1998.