Humanitarian organizations are increasingly interested in ensuring that their time and energy are invested in the most efficient and effective manner possible. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has led the way with this approach and has donated a large amount of money to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) with this goal in mind.
Go to the IHME website (www.healthdata.org). Evaluate the website and work with the information to answer the following questions:
What is the IHME’s mission?
Review the topics listed under the “About” tab. What is the overall mission of IHME? Do you believe this mission is reasonable? Explain.
How is IHME funded? Could the funding source(s) influence the IHME’s mission? Explain.
Select the “News” link under the “News & Events” tab and look over the titles shown. Choose two of the articles and read each. Identify each article by name and complete the following evaluation for each:
Is this a primary, secondary, or tertiary information source? Justify your answer.
Identify the authors of the article. Do their credentials qualify them as suitable information sources?
Identify a claim made in the article. Does the article give supporting evidence for this claim? If so, identify the evidence.
Based on your evaluation of the article you examined, do you feel that the news coverage is consistent with the IHME’s stated goals? Explain.
Select the “Research Articles” link under the “Results” tab. Look over the titles and choose two or more articles to evaluate. For each article, answer a-g:
What type of article is this—primary research, a review article, or an opinion piece (editorial or blog)? How do you know?
How does this differ from the news article you read?
Is this a primary, secondary, or tertiary information source? Justify your answer.
Identify the authors of the article. Do their credentials qualify them as suitable information sources?
Try to access the actual article: Click on the “Read the article” link above the list of authors. (You may then have to click on another link to access the “Full Text” or a PDF of the article.) Is the full article available for you to read?
The full article may or may not be available for you to read. Explain what steps you would take to access the article if a full copy is not available from this website. (Do this even if the full article is available for the article you chose.)
How useful are these research articles? Do they help fulfill the mission of the IHME? Explain.
Find an additional case study online at http://www.macmillanhighered.com/launchpad/saes2e