BUS7B13 Research Methods Assignment Sample
ANALYSIS PORTFOLIO
Introduction
The following portfolio will be conducted in order to gather knowledge about the outcomes of the member’s participation in the health and wellbeing programmes that have been conducted in several wellness centres by considering the relationship between wellness, health and wellbeing of older Australians. In addition to that, the portfolio will be analysed through the means of mixed method and by taking relevant data from both qualitative and qualitative studies. The study will be executed to understand the relationship between health and wellness of the older generation in Australia and to understand the reason for which health and wellness is a priority for these individuals.
Part one: Quantitative data analysis
Participant demographics
Gender:
The quantitative study for the following portfolio has been conducted with both male and female genders and also some unknown genders were also a part of the study as well. In total 50 respondents were selected for the purpose of this portfolio and out of that number the presence of female participants was more than the male and unknown gender. It needs to be mentioned that amongst all the participants 4 were unknown gender, 9 were male gender and the rest of 37 participants were female gender. Therefore, from the statistics, it may be derived that women participants have been more likely to participate in such studies as females may arguably be more prone towards attending wellness centres in order to keep the individual’s health and wellbeing in check rather than men. It may be stated that mostly older and middle-aged women visit wellness centres owing to several facts and one of the reasons is the negative body image, which research states that is most prevalent amongst mid and women of late-life (Kilpela et al., 2021).
Age:
The study for the portfolio has been done by taking participants from mostly the older generation as the people with growing age become gravitated towards attending wellness centres in order to look after their mental as well as physical health. Various numbers of age groups were selected for the purpose of this portfolio and the most common age group was between the age of 65-74 and apart from that the age group of 75-84 were also quite prevalent. The most uncommon age group was 85 and over and it is also evident from the statistics that most people who attend the wellness centres belong to the age group of 65-74 and 75-84 and extremely few were above 80 to attend the wellness centres. Research states that a significant amount of literature is emerging regarding wellness law in Australia and to define wellness, it may be conceptualized as an aspect of human life that is free from any kind of psychological distress and having satisfaction in life (Crowe, 2020).
Years attendance at the OWN centre
From the statistics it has become explicitly clear that the participants have been attending the wellness centres for many years, however, there are few who have probably just joined one in comparison to the others. Surprisingly, the age group that has been associated with a smaller number of attendees, which is above 80 years of age, have been found to be attending the centres for many years and mostly for over more than 15 and 20 years. The other age groups have also been attending the wellness centres for many years, such as some are believed to be coming to centres for 12, 16, 13 and more. Some people under the age group of 65 have also visited the centres for just 1 year and some have even not completed a full year till now as well. Therefore, it may be stated that spending on the reason for joining the centres varies from one age group to another as to the number of years the individuals have attended and also upon the reasons for their joining as well.
Wellbeing – Most days I enjoy life…
In order to conduct this social research, the participants were also asked about whether or not the individuals enjoyed life on a daily basis to find insights about people’s mental well-being. Moreover, for also analysing the reasons for the reason many people have not agreed to enjoy life on most days. It needs to be mentioned that in order to execute a social-research properly, the most impactful questions need to be asked as research questions provide guidance regarding the research methods and designs (Bryman, 2007). There were a lot of variations in the answers that participants gave about whether or not the individuals enjoyed life on most days and while some strongly agreed to the fact others were unsure and some just disagreed to it. Mostly male participants were the ones to opine that the individuals felt unsure about enjoying life on most days, perhaps as a reason for not giving too much attention to wellbeing on a daily basis. The rest of the reaction was mixed and it indicates that people’s perceptions regarding enjoying life on a daily basis may be different or individuals who have disagreed are experiencing some mental distress as well.
Most people, especially, people belonging to the age group of 65-74 come to the wellness centres for exercise and activity, similar to the people of 75-84 years of age group, indicating that in old age people lean more towards exercising and looking after physical wellbeing. Some even come to meet new people, most specifically the people aged over 80 visit the wellness centres for having company and that suggests that in that age people become lonely and seek for other’s company.
Part two: Qualitative data analysis
The social and physical aspects of joining Older Women’s Network (OWN)
From the interviews conducted with two participants at the Acaria wellness centre, two various kinds of responses have been extracted regarding the women’s view about joining the wellness centre. Interviews A is of 66 years of age and interview V is of 81 years of age and both the women’s reasons for joining the wellness centre are quite different. Interview A has stated that the individual comes to the centre for activities whereas interviewee V visits the place for meeting new people, as evident from the statistics that people above the age of 80 come to such wellness centres to find company. Interview A has also stated in the interview that along with the aspect of exercise the wellness centres are great places for conducting social activities as well and the individual also thinks that the social aspect is a big part of mental and physical wellness as well. Interviewee V at the Acaria centre has stated that the individual comes to the wellness centre and engages in different physical activities, such as playing tennis. However, one of the things that the individual enjoys quite significantly at the wellness centre is meeting other women of different nationalities and age groups and also joining those individuals to do several things. In accordance with research, it has come to light that woman are more prone to feeling lonely in comparison to men and also women having poor health conditions are also at risk of feeling lonely oftentimes (Pyle and Evans, 2018).
It needs to be mentioned that both the women’s answers were similar when it came to answering the question about whether or not wellbeing is intertwined with wellness. Both the interview stated that wellness is different from wellbeing as it is more about thinking about one’s physical and mental health and one needs to take care of it by engaging in various activities. Although research states that wellness and wellbeing are two parts of a penny and wellness is an intrinsic part of wellbeing, however, it also states that wellness is also the culmination of various steps towards having a positive health (Mishra, 2018).
Developing friendship and companionship after joining OWN
Both the interviewees, named as interviewee C and P belong to different age groups, as interview C is of 68 years of age and interview P is of 74 years of age. After being asked about the things that interview C prefers about the wellness centre, the individual replied that it provides an opportunity for people of that age to develop new friendships with like-minded people. According to research, developing a sense of companionship with an individual’s close people is known to have provided significant results and left positive effects on the wellbeing of a person in the later years of life (LIFE, 2020). The interviewee has also opined that before joining the wellness centre, it was all about work for interviewee C and thus, the individual did not get much time to make any friends. Henceforth, after retirement interviewee C has joined the Correa wellness centre and has been able to make friends with many ladies involved in the place. It is evident from the interview that the lady really enjoys being at the wellness centre and also cherishes the experience, specifically the one in which the individual took all the others on a bus trip. Similarly, the interview conducted with another participant, namely interview P at the Correa centre somewhat showed a similar type of result.
The aspect of friendship is one of the sole reasons for which the individual keeps coming back to the OWN network as all the women engage in multiple fun activities, such as going to the movies and more. Similar to the other interviewee, P has also stated that the individual used to work for 4 days a week and might have not had the privilege of making many friends. However, after joining OWN and going on that bus trip really helped interview P to become more social with all ladies. Moreover, the compassionate nature of the women who are part of the OWN and the way everyone cheers one another has resonated with interview P to a great extent and improved the individual’s mental wellbeing as well. It needs to be mentioned that spending time within greenspaces or nature has also an affirmative correlation with the concept of mental wellbeing too, however, owing to growing urbanization people do not have much access to such places nowadays (Houlden et al., 2018).
The concept of wellbeing and the things that attract the women to the OWN
The last interview was carried out with two participants from Waratah wellness centre and both the individuals have been named as interviewee C and M for the purpose of the interview. Similar to the other two interviews, both the participants have been selected from different age groups meaning interviewee C is 60 years and falls in the age group of under 65, while M is aged 75, belonging to the age group of 75-84. Interview C has mentioned that, according to the individual, wellness is about feeling happy, excited about different things, as after coming to a certain age older people do not usually have those feelings quite often. Interview M has opined that wellness is about acquiring a lifestyle in which one is able to feel comfortable and have a calming mind and also has mentioned that wellness is not different to wellbeing, as it is a state of mind. Apart from the concept of wellness and wellbeing, both the participants had somewhat a similar perception towards the OWN and also shared quite a similar answer as well. The common aspect that makes both the participants keep coming back to the wellness centre is the people and the sense of unity and companionship with the other women visiting the place.
On a broader note, the friendship combined with being in the presence of other women’s company is one of the many reasons for which the wellness centres are valuable to many women of older age. Apart from the people’s and social aspect, the physical activities are also a primary contributor to the fact that the wellness centres attract so many visitors. It is due to the fact that people of old age also get the chance to participate in various physical activities as well, along with having a social life. Research has suggested that the prevalence of social capital, as determined by the size of social network and the extent to which an individual participates in community work are also some of the predictors of wellness too (Hodgkin et al., 2018).
Findings and conclusion
Quantitative
According to the first respondent, there is a difference between wellbeing and wellness which is quite difficult to express however, it may be stated that wellbeing is something untouchable and may be felt only. On the other hand, wellness is associated with physical activity and it is tangible and the respondent feels that due to lack of financial support people do not get access to these things.
According to the second respondent, Older Women’s Network (OWN) provides wellbeing and wellness through interactions with participants from several countries where various types of physical activities and meeting people become helpful. Furthermore, it may be opined that maintaining optimum health my be done through maintaining fitness and wellbeing (Bart et al., 2018).
According to the third respondent, OWN has provided a lot of friends and these friendships are extremely valuable as these friendships provide company and it has helped the respondent in maintaining a good physical as well as mental health. The respondent comes to OWN for participating in various activities which become essential in maintaining wellbeing.
The fourth respondent opines that OWN is one of the best places to work and this clearly shows the positive environment which OWN provides to its members. Apart from this, the respondent also feels that wellbeing is associated with nurturing and taking care of people and for this reason, OWN is an excellent place.
According to the views of the fifth respondent, OWN provides an excellent sense of belonging which is loved by all and it also provides excellent opportunities to get involved in various activities which create a lovely bond among the members. The respondent also feels that wellbeing is associated with feeling happy and feeling excited about different things and OWN definitely provides an environment of wellbeing.
According to the last respondent, there exists a strong relationship between the respondent and the instructor of OWN which is extremely helpful and it provides a comfortable environment. The respondent has also stated that the activities done in OWN are great and a strong friendship among the members is also great.
Qualitative
The total number of respondents in the portfolio counts to 50 in which both male and female participants were present and the number of female participants were more than male and unknown gender. Apart from this, it may be added that the number of participants of the unknown gender amounts to 4, the number of male respondents were 9 and the rest of the 37 respondents were female. On the other hand, it needs to be implied that sample size directly impacts the data analysis process and using statistical data impacts the data analysis process by obtaining accurate results (Longest, 2019). However, it may be added that 18 respondents agreed, 14 respondents were unsure and 18 respondents disagreed to wellbeing which clearly provides a better perspective. In a concluding remark, it needs to be opined that half of the respondents have agreed while another half of the respondents have disagreed and 14 respondents were unsure about their opinion which makes it clear that there is wide difference in opinions among the respondents.
References
Bart, R., Ishak, W.W., Ganjian, S., Jaffer, K.Y., Abdelmesseh, M., Hanna, S., Gohar, Y., Azar, G., Vanle, B., Dang, J. and Danovitch, I., 2018. The assessment and measurement of wellness in the clinical medical setting: a systematic review. Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 15(09-10), p.14.
Crowe, J., 2020. What is wellness? The role of human values. Alternative Law Journal, 45(4), pp.261-265.
Hodgkin, S.P., Warburton, J. and Hancock, S., 2018. Predicting wellness among rural older Australian a cross-sectional study. Rural & Remote Health, 18(3).
Houlden, V., Weich, S., Porto de Albuquerque, J., Jarvis, S. and Rees, K., 2018. The relationship between greenspace and the mental wellbeing of adults: A systematic review. PloS one, 13(9), p.e0203000.
Kilpela, L.S., Verzijl, C.L. and Becker, C.B., 2021. Body image in older women: a mediator of BMI and wellness behaviors. Journal of women & aging, 33(3), pp.298-311.
LIFE, H.M.I.L., 2020. COMPANIONSHIP WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS IN LATER LIFE. Innovation in Aging, 4(S1).
Longest, K.C., 2019. Using Stata for quantitative analysis. SAGE Publications.
Mishra, S., 2018. Wellness and wellbeing: Step towards a healthy community. International Journal of Home Science, 4(3), pp.213-215.
Pyle, E. and Evans, D., 2018. Loneliness-what characteristics and circumstances are associated with feeling lonely. Office for National Statistics.
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