Is there readily available data?

Your topic of choice in the third manuscript (melanoma in athletes) is very relevant, as we can
already notice that many studies have focused on this topic (please see the list of reference links
below).
However, there are many intricate factors we have to consider when choosing our specific point
of focus in this research:
 Is there readily available data?
 Can we actually involve research subjects and would it pose ethical issues? Since this is a
medical-related theme
 If there are not many experimental studies available, should we go with the exploratory
methods (investigating research questions that have not previously been studied in
depth)?
 An experimental method would have us collect data on a sample and use statistical
techniques to find out whether a hypothesis is valid or not. Such as assessing the
number of cases of melanoma among outdoor and indoor athletes. Our first
manuscript was very experimental because we collected data, analyzed it, and
presented quantitative results. What if then that quantitative data is not available or
that collecting such data would involve extensive efforts on your part? I think that this
would lead us to the exploratory approach
 An exploratory approach would have us collect basic data through interviews and
information from published resources and present it in a more qualitative format than
a quantitative format. Otherwise, we could use a mixed methods approach that
combines information from expert interviewees and data collected from a real sample
of athletes.

Bottomline

Option 1: Before we move ahead to the proposal part of this project, do you think that we could
actually collect or simulate data using a sample of athletes? Is it possible to collect cases of
melanoma in two groups of athletes during a study period (group 1 – outdoor athletes) (group 2 –
indoor athletes)? If this is possible, we could move ahead with a randomized control trial and
move ahead to choose a study setting and population.
Option 2: If the first option is not possible, we could use a qualitative technique that provides
basic information about our topic of interest using already published research and opinions of
expert interviewees.
Please, what is your opinion on this? I think this is where we should start.

References

1.
http://ssu.ac.ir/cms/fileadmin/user_upload/Moavenatha/MBehdashti/Pishgiri_Bimariha/3
_skin/Outdoor-sports-and-skin-cancer_2008_Clinics-in-Dermatology.pdf

2. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/jsc/2014/248198/
3. https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/26111934/5251805.pdf