By the end of this unit you should:
Read.
Although it seems an unlikely topic to be published in a top-tier medical journal, the following abstract was published in the British Medical Journal, one of the world's leading medical journals (Park et al., 2016).
Read the abstract to understand the general meaning or the gist.
Objective: To determine which factors influence whether Santa Claus will visit children in hospital on Christmas Day.
Design: Design Retrospective observational study.
Setting: Paediatric wards in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Participants: 186 members of staff who worked on the paediatric wards (n=186) during Christmas 2015.
Main outcome measures: Presence or absence of Santa Claus on the paediatric ward during Christmas 2015. This was correlated with rates of absenteeism from primary school, conviction rates in young people (aged 10-17 years), distance from hospital to North Pole (closest city or town to the hospital in kilometres, as the reindeer flies), and contextual socioeconomic deprivation (index of multiple deprivation).
Results: Santa Claus visited most of the paediatric wards in all four countries: 89% in England, 100% in Northern Ireland, 93% in Scotland, and 92% in Wales. The odds of him not visiting, however, were significantly higher for paediatric wards in areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation in England (odds ratio 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.04 to 1.71) in England, 1.23 (1.00 to 1.54) in the UK). In contrast, there was no correlation with school absenteeism, conviction rates, or distance to the North Pole.
Conclusion: The results of this study dispel the traditional belief that Santa Claus rewards children based on how nice or naughty they have been in the previous year. Santa Claus is less likely to visit children in hospitals in the most deprived areas. Potential solutions include a review of Santa’s contract or employment of local Santas in poorly represented regions.
Read the abstract above and then answer the questions below.
The abstract below uses only four headings: Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion
Read the abstract below and notice how multiple headings have been grouped together under Method.
Purpose: To determine which factors influence whether Santa Claus will visit children in hospital on Christmas Day.
Method: Design Retrospective observational study conducted in paediatric wards in the United Kingdom with 186 members of staff (n=186) during Christmas 2015.
Results: Santa Claus visited most of the paediatric wards in all four countries: 89% in England, 100% in Northern Ireland, 93% in Scotland, and 92% in Wales. The odds of him not visiting, however, were significantly higher for paediatric wards in areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation in England (odds ratio 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.04 to 1.71) in England, 1.23 (1.00 to 1.54) in the UK). In contrast, there was no correlation with school absenteeism, conviction rates, or distance to the North Pole.
Discussion: The results of this study dispel the traditional belief that Santa Claus rewards children based on how nice or naughty they have been in the previous year. Santa Claus is less likely to visit children in hospitals in the most deprived areas. Potential solutions include a review of Santa’s contract or employment of local Santas in poorly represented regions.
The abstract below is written without headings.
Find the differences between this abstract and the short structured abstract above.
This research aims to determine which factors influence whether Santa Claus visits children in hospital on Christmas Day. A design retrospective observational study was conducted in paediatric wards in the United Kingdom with 186 members of staff (n=186) during Christmas 2015. We found that Santa Claus visited most of the paediatric wards in all four countries: 89% in England, 100% in Northern Ireland, 93% in Scotland, and 92% in Wales. The odds of him not visiting, however, were significantly higher for paediatric wards in areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation in England (odds ratio 1.31 (95% confidence interval 1.04 to 1.71) in England, 1.23 (1.00 to 1.54) in the UK). In contrast, there was no correlation with school absenteeism, conviction rates, or distance to the North Pole. The results of this study dispel the traditional belief that Santa Claus rewards children based on how nice or naughty they have been in the previous year. Santa Claus is less likely to visit children in hospitals in the most deprived areas. Potential solutions include a review of Santa’s contract or employment of local Santas in poorly represented regions.
Read.
Abstract are evaluated differently based on the venue, but in general, readers and reviewers want to know what your research contributes to the research field. The contribution is often evaluated based on four criteria
When your read abstracts check if the following four criteria are met.