Research Questions and Literature Reviews

Research Questions and Literature Reviews
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Research Questions and Literature Reviews
Abstinence-only education promotes the idea that adolescents should postpone sexual activity until they are married to reduce the risks of teenage pregnancy and acquiring infections that are transmitted sexually (Ary et al., 2010). Sex-education, on the other hand, would teach the teenagers safe sexual practices such as proper choice and application of contraceptives. Proponents of abstinence argue that educating adolescents on how to have safe sex would lead to an increased incidence of sexual activity (Ary et al., 2010).
When compared to other developed countries, the US has a higher rate of teenage pregnancy which can be attributed to the general absence of education on contraceptive methods (Ary et al., 2010). In Europe, the society is more open about sex and such education is driven by the aim of promoting responsible behavior (Ary et al., 2010). The American curricula, which is focused on abstinence may be counterproductive since it has the propensity of perpetuating misinformation or inadequate information about reproduction (Ary et al., 2010). In this case, since Ebony did not heed to advice on abstinence, education on various methods of birth control and their proper use would have prevented her from getting pregnant.
When conducting a study, a research question serves to establish the relationship between variables or to show the overall aim of the study (Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011).

Literature review, as its name suggests, involves reviewing what other researchers have done in this area. The aim of the research, therefore, is to build upon the body of knowledge that already exists (Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011). Reviewing previous relevant literature has the benefit of guiding a researcher into choosing a research methodology that has been proven to be useful. Secondly, the literature review helps a researcher to put their question in perspective and thus avoid conducting research that is too broad for it to be thorough. As such, it is more appropriate to conduct a thorough review of previous literature before forming a research question (Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011).
Other consequences of forming a research question before conducting a thorough literature review would include the likelihood of a researcher finding out later that there already was a study on the same topic. Additionally, a researcher would lack the advantage of learning from, and avoiding, the mistakes that occurred in previous studies (Stanger-Hall & Hall, 2011).

References
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C, Sorensen, C., & Razavieh, A. (2010). Introduction to research in education. Cengage Learning.
Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-only education and teen pregnancy rates:
why we need comprehensive sex education in the US. PloS one, 6(10), e24658.