Scientific Method

Introduction

Type 2 diabetes is a serious disease, and nowadays numerous researches are conducted in order to find out the possible ways to cure it. In the article “Coffee and Caffeine Ameliorate Hyperglycemia, Fatty Liver and Inflammatory Adipocytokine Expression in Spontaneously Diabetic KK-Ay Mice” (2010), Japanese researchers described the experiment, which confirms the positive effect of coffee on the level of glucose in blood. However, the most essential thing is not the experiment itself, but the methods of scientific analysis because they help to evaluate the data and to make the necessary conclusions. The current paper aims at tracing the methods of scientific research.

The Steps of the Scientific Method

1. In the course of experiment, researchers have applied the analysis of metabolic parameters, insulin tolerance test, hepatic lipid analysis, RNA preparation, expression level analysis, and statistical analysis (Yamauchi et al., 2010). Those methods turned out to be valid tools on the way of getting trustworthy data. However, while discussing the scientific method, five steps should be mentioned. They include the following: purpose, research, hypothesis, procedure, analysis, and conclusion (Cameron, Craig, & Soutee, 2009, p. 4).

• The purpose of this experiment was finding out the effect of coffee on individuals who suffer from diabetes.
• The research included the already known data about the caffeine effect on human blood.
• Hypothesis: there exists a consideration that positive outcome of this experiment could be used in order to provide the proper disease treatment.
• Procedure: it included various methods of analysis and equal living conditions of all the experiment participants.
• Analysis: it has shown that coffee makes a positive effect on individuals suffering from diabetes, as it decreases the level of glucose.
• Conclusion: the results support the hypothesis and might be applied for the further researches in this sphere.

There is a consideration that before this research, scientists have learned about the positive effect of coffee on individuals who suffer from type 2 diabetes. They decided to test it on mice in order to find out whether this information could be applied for the diabetes treatment. While discussing the design of this experiment, it should be noted that mice that received coffee was a treatment group, and the second group, receiving no coffee was a control group. In order to get the valid results, the conditions, procedures, environment and diet were the same. The basic construct of this experiment were the dependent variables. It means that both groups experienced the same factors and conditions. For that reason, researchers can confidently confirm that the difference in glucose level was caused by coffee.

Criticism of the Research

This test applied really relevant subjects. The thing is that diabetes is one of the most significant diseases nowadays, which annually takes millions of human lives. Confirmation that coffee decreases the level of glucose, and thus, decreases the chances of getting type 2 diabetes might turn out to be the breakthrough in modern medicine. Moreover, this fact could affect the medication production. Of course, the group size was not large enough, and it would be much better to conduct the experiment with the bigger number of mice. The results are still astonishing and they provoke further researches. The methods applied were appropriate, as they provided the researchers with accurate and profound data. The potential bias in this experiment could be the changes in the measurement process. The thing is that there were no changes affecting the members of experiment, but there could be some changes which were made by mistake in the course of research.

The Relevance of This Type of Research

This research is significant because it confirmed that coffee consumption decreases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This test is relevant, as it shows that coffee could be used to prevent diabetes. Coffee is the favorite beverage of millions of people around the world, and researching its effect on human organism is really essential. Moreover, if this study confirms that coffee might prevent diabetes, further studies could be made in order to find out what effects it may have on people who already suffer from diabetes (Colbert, 2009, p. 44). Coffee might become the additional anti-diabetic drugs’ component. Coffee beans and coffee drink might be used to cure people who suffer from this disease.

For me, personally, this research is important because I consume around three cups of coffee a day. I would like to find out what kind of coffee should be consumed in order to prevent diabetes. It is understandable that coffee loaded with sugar and cream will not decrease the level of sugar in blood, but I am still interested in the proper limit of this drink. The thing is that coffee is generally perceived as the drink which might cause such disorders as increased blood pressure, arrhythmias, reduced sleep quality, and gastrointestinal disorders. For that reason, it is important to know the consumption limit, and when the positive effect of coffee ends.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be stated that this work analyzed not only the experiment and its results, but also the appropriateness of the methods which were applied by Japanese researchers. Moreover, an attempt was made to find out the possible hypothesis and determine the steps of this scientific research. In general, it might be stated that the experiment conducted by those scientists might be considered reliable, and the data, obtained as a result of it, are vital and trustworthy. The results of this experiment should be used in order to precede researches in this sphere. The thing is that the possible outcomes of such an experiment are the decrease in the number of people, who suffer from type 2 diabetes, and possible cure of this disease.