Connection Between Sexual Activity And Urinary Incontinence Article

Connection Between Sexual Activity And Urinary Incontinence - Article Example While the authors effectively considered marital status and age to be important determinants of sexual activity among older women, they failed to include other factors including family structure and the socioeconomic conditions. The authors seem to assume the old women to be lonely nesters or solitary survivors. Also, the socioeconomic background of the women has completely been ignored. These factors should have been analyzed in order to come down to a more relevant and sound conclusion. Not only these, but the ten item questionnaire seems to have provided a limitation as it restricted the participants to respond to a fixed set of responses eliminating the scope of probing. According to one definition, a primary source is a written matter which is authentic (Princeton University, n.pag.). Primary sources also include peer reviewed articles in journals that present a study on a new subject rather than the commenting and assessing the findings of a previous research. Under such condit ions, the journal article is a primary source as the authors have carried out a research by employing a particular methodology, structure, and so on. Instead of translating and explaining available knowledge, the authors have made an effort to conduct a study by using a suitable questionnaire (quantitative method) of gathering data. Such data has then been tested for validity and reliability by making it go through a series of statistical tests. The questionnaire used in order to conduct the research has been International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form and by statistically analyzing the data acquired from the participants’ response; a conclusion has been drawn that defines the relationship between UI and sexual activity. The research has employed a purely quantitative methodology for collecting data. As mentioned, the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICIQ) has been used to evaluate the impact of symptoms experienced as a result of UI on the lives of older women. Although the questionnaire is very simple and provides extensive information regarding the variables under study, however, the fact that it is a quantitative from of research limits the responses to a fixed set of preset answers. As a result, the participant’s are not able to provide any other relevant information apart from the items present in the questionnaire. Qualitative methodology including semi-structured interviews could generate more relevant and specific responses from the participants. While I thought that other determinants of sexual activity should have been considered, a research reports age and the individual’s score from the ICIQ short form to be the best forecasters of UI (Timmermans, Falez, Melot, and Wespes, n.pag.). Therefore, the use of a quantitative method particularly the ICIQ-SF score was essential in predicting UI although its effectiveness in finding the relationship between sexual activity and UI is questionable. The authors have used various peer reviewed journal articles as sources. However, the data obtained from their research using the ICIQ short form has been the most important in coming down to the conclusion. While the authors have backed up their claims using references from journal articles, the role of the data provided from the ICIQ questionnaire response has been critical. Throughout the research, a discussion using the data obtained from the questionnaire has been used and further clarified using support from journal articles. Various tables present in the research demonstrate that statistical testing