Research Journal #1

What was the process by which you narrowed down potential topics to two appropriate ones? 
And how were these decisions made on the basis of either class discussion, or our required, course textbook (Aveyard 2014), or both?

I wanted to look into a health topic that does not get as much attention in the media but that is very important. I also wanted to choose a topic that spans the majority of life stages versus one or two. I decided to look into childhood trauma and how this influences brain development as well as social behavior rather than PTSD in veterans because I thought it would be easier to narrow down a question as well as articles. Going into the impacts of childhood trauma would allow me to focus more on one track rather than going in multiple directions.

What research question did you choose, and how can I be sure you're making a reasoned, academic judgement on the basis of chapters 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)? 

Research Question: How does having experienced trauma during childhood influence the development of the brain with age and what differences can be seen in the processing and reaction to specific tasks and situations? Are individuals who have experienced childhood trauma more likely to develop social or emotional disorders and if so what disorders are most likely to occur? 

What article (or articles) are you basing this question on, and what type of article is it (research, theory, policy, practice) (citation[s] in APA, please)? 

 The two images on the left are from the article “The Biological Effects of Childhood Trauma” which discusses how experiencing trauma in childhood increases the risks of social and mental disorders. The article also discusses how childhood trauma changes the way the brain responds to situations as well as the physical development with age.
This article references different studies done on humans of various ages as well as animals to observe the way their brains respond to situations as well as their normal or average concentration of various hormones.

De Bellis, MD, MPH, M. D., & Zisk A.B., A. (2014). “The Biological Effects of Childhood Trauma”. National Institutes of Health, 1-39. doi:10.1016/j.chc.2014.01.002.



Another article I used is "Association of childhood trauma with cognitive function in healthy adults: a pilot study". This article is a research article that compares how different tasks of the brain are impacted in adulthood having experienced childhood trauma. Adults who had experienced childhood trauma filled out questionnaires and their results demonstrate increased risk/rate of depression and anxiety among other things.

Majer, M., Nater, U. M., Lin, J. S., Capuron, L., & Reeves, W. C. (2010). Association of childhood trauma with cognitive function in healthy adults: a pilot study. BMC Neurology, 10(1). doi:10.1186/1471-2377-10-61

How can I be sure that the key vocabulary of the question corresponds not only to literature in the field, but also to chapter 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)? 

With my research topic I was able to find that studies would be most beneficial because most of understanding the impacts of childhood trauma is through observation. Questionnaires can be completed, individuals can be tested and observed on their reactions to different situations, brain scans can be conducted, etc. but you can't force someone to experience childhood trauma and compare the before and after. Research articles are going to benefit me the most because they study to answer similar questions I am hoping to find an answer to.

Based on what your question is, what kind of literature are you going to need? Again, please explicitly reference the text (Aveyard 2014). What is your hierarchy of evidence? 

In the order of most to least importance going downward (cf. pg. 70 Aveyard): 

• Observational studies
• Studies observing the brain (scans and/or physical size proportions)
• Expert opinion
• Comparisons with those who didn't experience childhood trauma
• Variation in ages studied

How exactly did you research question arise out of "practice"? 
How do you define your key terms, and how do these definitions link to key journals in the field?

childhood trauma AND brain development
childhood trauma AND brain development AND adolescence
brain development
adolescence
adolescence AND PTSD
teen
adulthood
depression
Michael D. De Bellis
cohort study

Did anything unexpected happen? From you initial search, does it appear as though your research question will work? Or does the vocabulary and/or type of research sought need to be changed? 

When searching for articles I was surprised to see how low the number of articles that initially displayed was compared to typical topics and I was also surprised to find multiple articles that had been cited around 45-70 times. So far it seems that my initial research question will work with the articles I have been finding because the topic is so specific to begin with that most of the research that has been done deals with brain development and social behavior influenced by experiencing childhood trauma. 

Any final thoughts? 

I might need to make a few changes to my research questions depending on the information I continue to gather with future articles. Still trying to figure out evidence hierarchy.