Article 1 – Quantitative Research / Article 2 – Qualitative Research
Complete article citation / Manlove, J, Terry-Humen, E, Ikramullah,, E, & Holcombe, E. (2008). Sexual and reproductive health behaviors among teen and young adult men: a descriptive portrait. Child Trends, 34. / Satelli, J, & Melnikas, A. (2010). Teen fertility in transition: recent and historic trends in the united states. Annual Review of Public Health, 31. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.29.020907.090830
Introduction to the Study:
What is being studied?
·  Identify the Research Question(s) and/or Hypotheses
·  How clear are the questions?
·  How are variables defined? / There has been more research done for women’s sexual health than men’s. This article gives better insights into men’s reproductive behaviors and motivations. It has well defined variables, such as ages and race, and presents clear questions. / The focus is on trends of teen births, and marital trends. An important question is why have trends changed in the past 50 years (women are having sex earlier, yet getting married later). It is important to note that since the 1950s, contraceptive use steadily increased until 2003, when it has seemed to have deteriorated.
Who is being studied?
·  How are subjects chosen?
·  How many are studied?
·  Who are they?
·  What sampling procedure is used (if applicable)? / This article used a sample of 2,059 men who were between the ages of 15 and 24 in 2002 for our analyses, including 1,121 teens (aged 15-19) and 938 young adults (aged 20-24). / This study focuses on high school aged women of different races from 2003. Data was taken from surveys such as National Survey of Family
Growth and Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Literature Review:
What do others say about the subject?
·  Does the literature review provide enough background for this research?
·  Is a case made for the research? / I think that there is definitely enough background information for the research presented in this article. The authors say that it is possible to have more targeted intervention approaches focusing on male involvement in sexual understandings. / Both state and national levels should address teen pregnancy rates in the United by taking steps in promoting things such as promoting contraceptive use through sex education and health services. The United States should learn much about reducing teen fertility by examining the success of Western European countries.
Method for data collection: / Article 1 – Quantitative Research / Article 2 – Qualitative Research
How is the research being done?
·  What research method is being used?
·  How is data collected?
·  How clear are the procedures for others to use? / It uses surveys and sampled different populations for different information. Data are from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. There is limited information on how the data was actually collected, so it would be difficult to repeat this exact study. / These studies used demographic decomposition method sand nationally representative data sets such as the NSFG or the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) of high-school students. The NSFG is a household survey using face-to-face interviewing of families among women of reproductive age, including teens ages 15–19. The YRBS is a paper-and-pencil survey of public and private high-school students in grades 9–12.
Presentation of Findings:
What are the results of the study?
·  How are findings displayed?
·  How are results presented in a manner that’s easy to understand? / The findings are displayed in graphs. The information is very clear and easy to understand because all parts are labeled and given titles. Findings are shown in a graph and then a brief conclusion is drawn and written in paragraph form on the last page. / The findings are in paragraph form but with numbers such as percent increases and decreases.
Discussion of Results:
What is discovered?
·  How are explanations provided for findings?
·  What recommendations are provided or implications for practice and future research? / Health providers, policy makers, and parents should realize that young men are concerned with their own sexual health, and more education should be provided to them. / We must gain a better understanding of the factors driving differences among the 50 states in levels of teen pregnancy. We should more closely examine racial and ethnic differences in sexual behaviors and teen birth rates. We also need to gain a better understanding of the role of public policies in influencing trends and differences.
Final Reflection:
·  What did you learn from these articles that might further your RING research?
·  How do your own affiliations, beliefs or values shape your review and critique of these articles? / This article really focused on men’s sexual health and behavior. It is a gender defined article, only focusing on the male gender’s behaviors based on age. I think it is helpful to focus on men’s health for our research. I like that the authors make it clear that these teenagers are concerned about their health, but are sometimes simply lacking the education. / This article is important because it focuses on WHY trends are changing. It asks important questions such as “Does the recent increase in teen pregnancy have to do with public policy, education, or changing cultural ideas?” I think this is important to our research because we are focusing on how teenagers are using condoms on our campus. Possibly studying these trends will give us more insight into the condom usage.