Nursing Research (Cosmetic Surgery): Probability and Statistics
Introduction
Cosmetic surgery is a specialty that deals with performing medical procedures towards improving a person’s appearance. It usually involves the facial and body areas. Ordinary cosmetic procedures done on the face comprise of face lifts, eyelid lift, and ear surgeries. On the other hand, it can be emphasized that a surgery done on the body includes breast lifts and enhancement, tummy tuck and liposuction. Therefore, these surgical procedures have a widespread implication in the modern world.
Problem Statement
Great number of women across the globe has taken to the cosmetic surgery in the recent past. This fact has prompted many researchers from different parts of the world to study and investigate the underlying reasons that have led women to choose cosmetic surgery. Like all other surgical procedures, cosmetic surgery is associated with risk and complications, and an individual should first consult and inquire on the doctor’s qualification, training, and experience. The risks posed include the procedure involved and anesthesia, infection, hemorrhage, immobilized muscles and emotional and psychological effects, which differ depending on the person and the procedures adopted (Chant, 2004). Thus, the question researchers ask themselves is what benefits do people derive from the cosmetic surgery? For instance, the question what drives women to the cosmetic surgery has been a worrying concern for many researchers across the world.
Literature Review
Creswell (2006) studied that reviewing from various sources of information with the aim of identifying any reported outcomes from the patients questioned by previous researchers. The study shows that many cosmetic production firms are being established today with arising increase in product advertising and promotion due to the ever-growing demand. Reports identified the reasons why women and men undergo surgery as their personal and internal battle within themselves to not necessarily be accepted by others but to accept themselves (Creswell, 2006). Researches revealed that the higher percent of all surgery patients were women with the major procedures being liposuction, nose reconstruction, breast lift and other less invasive procedures. The procedures underwent by men include nose reconstruction and Botox shots.
Theoretical Framework and Formulation of Hypothesis
Feminist Theory
Arguments have been established from the point of view of feminist theory that views cosmetic surgery as the most extreme form of force that publicly and secretly pushes women to adapt to the female ideals of beauty and youth. For instance, women know that they are constantly judged how they look. That is, their outer appearance is very important from the young age. It is common that throughout women’s adolescence their physical appearance is their main identity. Most females are into the model image from magazines, movies, television and books, looking for ways to be young and beautiful. Females who undergo the cosmetic surgery for the beauty purposes are usually said to be the victims of patriarchal ideology, in which their self-esteem is mainly based on their physical appearance (Cresswell, 2006).
Men’s Perspective
On the other hand, males have a smaller percentage among the patients undergoing the cosmetic surgery. However, the number has been observed to be growing. The reason to this is that males seek to mend their broken-down bodies and spirits. Motivation for these men to seek surgical procedures is presented as functional (Silverman, 2006). The existence of feminism and its power resulted in men losing in the shuffle. There are some ideals that men have decided to adhere to for them to be accepted, that is, the undergoing of cosmetic surgery. The researchers have formulated the following hypotheses:
- Age group determines the interest in cosmetic surgery;
- More women take the cosmetic surgery as compared to mens;
- Most males are opposed to the cosmetic surgery.
Collection of Data
Face-to-face Interview
This interview was conducted in the beginning of 2014. Interviews that were conducted at the participants’ residences involved 20 women and 20 men and constituted of the questions from a pre-set interview schedule. The questions asked were in line with their personal experience regarding the cosmetic surgery elected, how they ended up agreeing or disagreeing to undergo a cosmetic surgery, the feeling they had before and after having the surgery and even the reaction they got from their family regarding the surgery. A list of questions that the researcher had for them comprised of twenty five questions, which were asked to all of them. However, since the respondents did not have a similar experience, the researcher ended up asking questions that did not appear in the list. In this regard, the written consent forms were made available for the participants to sign as a symbol of them agreeing to take part in the research and a promise of their anonymity. Even if the recorded interview would be transcribed later, the researcher made it clear to the participants that they could terminate the interview if they felt the need to (Silverman, 2006). The participants were made aware of the availability of the final paper when the researcher finished writing it.
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Measurement
The researcher adopted an accurate level of measurement when undertaking the research, especially during the data collection. Besides, the researcher classified the targets as males and females, and precisely interviewed forty-eight women and twenty-two men. This indicates that the data in the above study depict the higher number of women as compared to the men who choose to undergo the cosmetic surgery (Reva & Saunders, 2008). The research aims at understanding and identifying the level of satisfaction regarding the outcome of these medical procedures amongst females and males. The researcher estimated success of these procedures paying more attention to the target group’s opinion regarding whether their needs were fulfilled. The researcher’s adoption of the ordinal scale of measuring outcome enhanced the ability to compare different perspectives, quantify positive outcomes and recognize individuals who were most likely not to benefit from these surgical procedures (Yin, 2009).
Moreover, the researcher identified the level of satisfaction and physical appearance measures to evaluate opinions on the outcomes of these procedures founded on the validity, reliability, feasibility, and sensitivity to the inconsistency of these measures. However, the assessment of these measures was done using the Facial Appearance Sorting Test and the Physical Appearance Rating Scale (Reva & Saunders, 2008). The researcher’s studies regarding physical appearance were based on the information provided in the literature review, where psychological assessment of patients provided both positive and negative effects. The researcher developed different methods of assessing these measures.
| Scale | Respondent | Rank |
| Very good | 26 | 2 |
| Good | 17 | 4 |
| Moderate | 28 | 1 |
| Poor | 20 | 3 |
Measures of Central Tendency
Focusing on the measures of central tendency, the moderate scale (28) represents the mean of the above data. Assumptions of the measures of central tendency lie on the normal distribution of data. The ranking above provides the ordinal levels of measurement of the central tendency. Very good, good, moderate, and poor scales are ranked as 2nd, 4th, 1st, and 3rd, respectively.
Measures of central tendency, such as mean, mode, and median, have various strengths. They include but are not limited to the following advantages: simple to interpret, help to represent data effectively, and represent large size data. Moreover, the data used are easy to calculate. However, they suffer the following limitations: large tables require more class intervals, which make it difficult to analyze large volumes of data. They portray inadequate information. Measures of central tendency contain inadequate data that can be used to measure various parameters like standard deviation, measure of association, and measure of dispersion (Reva & Saunders, 2008).
A certain number of people tend to be interested in cosmetic surgery rating it as good due to the fact that the modern world is gradually but slowly accepting this mode of surgery (Gibson & Kenrick, 1998). Traditionally people could excuse themselves from this type of surgery because they cannot deal with the stigma the surgery would cost them afterwards, given the negative opinion of society. However, even in this modern world some people still keep information about surgery to themselves and to the trusted few to avoid dealing with the mere stigma in the society today. The modern society has accepted the practice and professionals would advise on the surgery to the willing clients. For example, doctors do advice celebrities and other clients to undergo this cosmetic surgery (Nachmias, & Nachmias, 1996).
Some people are indifferent to the topic of whether to go for this surgery or to forego. This is coupled by the worries on the side effects of this surgery in the long term. Although they concur that when it comes to combating body disorders, for example, obesity or heart disease, it is to be supported. Heart diseases are the major issue worldwide and efforts of victims to control this disease have been ongoing. Frequent exercises and correct nutrition take long to control this disease and could take a lifetime, therefore an option for a faster way is figured out by people with economic demand to solve the problem via an operation, known as bypass surgery (Dillavou, & Kahn, 2003). In addition, some people found cosmetic surgery to be very relevant, especially when taking account of one’s personality (Creswell, 2007). Personality has influence on a person’s decision on whether to have a cosmetic surgery. This argument relates to various celebrities who have gone surgery for aesthetic views. Glamour is always in the limelight, and this begets fame. As a result, fans watch every step of celebrities and investigate every aspect of life lived by celebrities through social networks, entertainment blogs, and reality TV shows (Tolmie, Muijs, & McAteer, 2012).
Data Analysis and Hypothesis Testing
| Column1 | Column3 | Column5 | Column7 | Column9 | Column10 | Column11 |
| Age Group | Observed Frequency(O) | Probability | Expected Frequency (p*n) | O-E | (O-E)^2 | (O-E)^2/E |
| 10_19 | 20 | 0.025 | 21.5 | -1.5 | 2.25 | 0.1047 |
| 20-29 | 142 | 0.1359 | 135.9 | 6.1 | 37.21 | 0.2738 |
| 30-39 | 310 | 0.3413 | 341.3 | -31.3 | 979.59 | 2.8705 |
| 40-49 | 370 | 0.3413 | 341.3 | 28.7 | 823.69 | 2.4134 |
| 50-59 | 128 | 0.1359 | 135.9 | -7.9 | 62.41 | 0.4592 |
| 60-70 | 30 | 0.0215 | 21.5 | 8.5 | 72.25 | 3.3605 |
| 1000 | 9.4821 |
H0 (Null Hypothesis): different age groups benefit differently from cosmetic surgery.
Ha (Alternative Hypothesis): different age group do not benefit differently from cosmetic surgery.
at a degree of freedom (D.O.F) = n – 1 = 6 – 1 = 5 at α = 0.05 ( level of significance),
where n is the number of samples, that is, the age groups;
where = 11.070
= 9.4821,
where is the theoretical value of chi square and H0: null hypothesis
is the calculated value of chi square.
Ha: alternative hypothesis (Reva & Saunders, 2008)
In sum, in testing the hypothesis, the researcher used chi square for evaluating goodness fit concerning the analyzed data. Drawing up conclusions from the analyzed data, it is seen that chi square is tabulated; that is, its drawing from the chi square tables is greater than the chi square calculated. Focusing on the statistical analysis, it is necessary to accept the null hypothesis, which states that different age groups benefit differently from cosmetic surgery. This is mainly concerning women who take to the cosmetic surgery for beauty reasons.
