HBC201 Research Methods – Vaping in Singapore

Question 1

Case Study

Vaping has come under close public scrutiny in recent months, as there have been worrying signs of their popularity amongst youth as well as the emergence of drug-laced vapes known as Kpods. Vaping is associated with significant health risks—harmful chemicals in the vape can cause severe damage to the body including the lungs, heart, and brain. Addiction is also a major concern in the case of drug-laced variants of vapes.

A slew of new anti-vape measures has been implemented since September 2025, including harsher penalties for vape users and sellers, cessation and rehabilitation programmes, and designated locations for vape disposal.

The Ministry of Health and Health Sciences Authority have reported in a joint statement that 3,534 people have been caught for the possession and use of vapes in the months after these new measures were enforced. Additional amendments to vape laws will also be introduced in the first half of 2026, signalling the government’s anti-vape stance and the need to continue to strengthen the response to this public health crisis.

Source: Over 3,500 people caught for possession and use of vapes in last four months of 2025. (2026, February 3). The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/over-3500-people-caught-for-possession-and-use-of-vapes-in-last-four-months-of-2025

Suppose the Singapore government would like to find out more about vaping in Singapore. You are tasked to submit a research proposal that will elaborate on how you can apply relevant concepts and research methods to study the topic. Your proposal should be written as an essay and include the following five parts.

Title and Abstract of Research Proposal

Propose a title that fits your research proposal. Also, include an abstract that properly describes and summarises your proposed study. The abstract must not exceed 150 words.

• Both the title and abstract should be included in your total word count.
• The title should clearly indicate what your proposed study is about.

Question 2

Background and Literature Review

Examine relevant literature on an issue related to vaping in Singapore that you would like to study. Analyse the identified literature, examine the research methods used in the existing studies, and critique the strengths or weaknesses of these studies.

Following your literature review, you should propose a specific and clear research question that you would like to study. The research question should be about vaping in Singapore. You should also discuss the importance of the study you have proposed.

• You can choose to study any topic related to vaping in Singapore. The key is that you clearly describe the topic you would like to study based on your literature review. Examples of possible topics include the following: factors that may contribute to vape use in Singapore, consequences of vaping, impact of an initiative that aims to reduce vaping in Singapore, etc.
• For your literature review, you need to include at least five academic journal articles that are relevant to the topic of your choice. It is acceptable if one or more journal articles that you have selected are not done in Singapore. The key is that you should explain explicitly how the selected journal articles inform your proposed research.
• In your literature review, you should critically evaluate the strengths or weaknesses of the selected journal articles, rather than merely present the methods or findings of these previous studies in a descriptive manner. Based on your literature review, discuss the importance of the study you propose, such as how your proposed study addresses a specific limitation of the past studies, any theoretical or practical contribution(s) your research finding(s) may make, etc.

Question 3

Research Design

Apply relevant concepts and propose a research design to address your research question with respect to the following aspects:

1. Explain whether you plan to use a quantitative or qualitative method and why.
2. Briefly describe your proposed method and discuss critical elements in your research procedure.
3. Discuss possible threats to the validity of your research and explain how you will address these threats.

Guidance Notes:

• You should first explain whether you plan to use a quantitative or qualitative method. Provide at least two reasons to explain why you choose one method over another. If you choose to use both quantitative and qualitative methods, provide at least two reasons to justify your choice too.
• Next, discuss the critical elements in the research procedure. You are required to at least describe your sampling strategy, data collection method(s), and procedure of data collection.
• For sampling strategy, at a minimum specify the population your study targets (for example, youth aged 18 to 24), the number of participants you will recruit, and how you will recruit participants for your study.
• For data collection method(s), if you choose to use a quantitative method, you need to include the survey. If you choose to use a qualitative method, you need to include the interview (either semi-structured interview or focus group) questions. You should explain clearly whether you plan to develop the survey/interview questions from scratch, use existing survey/interview questions, or adapt existing survey/interview questions to study your research question. You need to include all survey or interview questions that you propose to use in the Appendix.
• Describe the procedure of administering the survey or conducting interviews.
• You should also discuss at least two possible concerns in the use of survey or interview method that may threaten the validity of your research. Explain how you will address these concerns.

Question 4

Ethical Issues

Recognise and appreciate at least two ethical issues in your proposed study that concern research participants. Discuss action(s) you will take to address each issue, to ensure that your proposed study will be conducted ethically.

• The two ethical issues that concern research participants (for example, protection of participants’ autonomy) should be discussed specifically in the context of your proposed study.

Question 5

Limitations of Research

Discuss at least two limitations of your proposed study in understanding the chosen topic about vaping in Singapore.

• Examples of possible limitations you can discuss include: the planned sampling strategy, limitations in the chosen data collection method(s), etc. The discussion should focus on limitations of the chosen methodology to address the research question of your proposal and should be limitations that cannot be resolved in your proposed study.

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Proposed title

Factors affecting the use of vape within Singaporean young adults.

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is on analysing the factors that impact the use of vape within young adults in Singapore. The specific areas of interest include peer influence, perceived health risks, accessibility and attitude towards vaping. The methodology proposed to carry out the research is a quantitative cross sectional survey among Singaporean residents in the age group of 18 to 24. There will be a sample of 300 participants being expected to participate in the research and they will be selected using purposive and convenience sampling. The study will address the existing literature gaps by identifying the factors responsible for vape use among Singaporean young adults, and will assist policy makers and health agencies in designing target prevention and cessation interventions for young adults.

Background and literature review

The focus of the research is on examining why young adults in Singapore continue to vape even after strict restriction and increasing anti-vape measures.
The important literature areas being focussed in the given study are peer influence, perceived health risks, accessibility, attitude towards vaping and addiction/ dependence. The analysis of the literature findings indicates that peer use and social norms are important predictors of vaping initiation. The lower perceived harm is directly related to greater willingness to vape. The literature also indicates that the ease of obtaining vaping products also encourages its continued use. In relation to attitude, the findings indicate that the positive perception towards vaping is directly related with stronger intention to use. Finally the nicotine dependence can make cessation difficult even when the users are aware of the health risks.
The findings from the previous studies clearly indicate the individual and social predictors, and many of them rely on cross sectional self reported data. This particular aspect limits the conclusion and may require recall or social desirability bias. The studies that are carried outside Singapore also have limited relevance because of the distinctive regulatory environment in Singapore.

Research gap

The main research gap is to identify how peer influence, perceived health risk, accessibility and attitude interact with vaping behaviour within young Singaporeans.

Research question

The research question to study is what factors among peer influence, perceived health risk, accessibility and attitude interact with vaping behaviour among younger adults aged 18-24 in Singapore?

Research Design

The method suitable to carry out the research is quantitative survey because it helps in measuring the relationship between several factors and vaping behaviour across a large sample. It is also suitable because it provides comparable numerical data that can identify the factors that have strongest association with vaping.
Method and procedure – the target population is Singapore residents aged 18-24 and a sample of 300 participants will be considered. Purposive and convenience sampling will be utilised in recruiting participants through universities, polytechnics and online Singapore based channels. The participants will get an information sheet and consent form before accessing the survey. The responses will be collected online for a fixed period of time and they will be analysed using descriptive statistics and regression tests.

Validity threats

The major validity threats would be social desirability bias whereby participants may under report illegal vape use. This will be controlled by utilising anonymous questionnaires whereby no personal information would be collected. Another threat is sampling bias, as online convenience sampling may lead to over-representing digitally active young adults. This will be controlled by recruiting participants through multiple channels including different demographic groups.

Ethical issues

Ethical issues that will be monitored are confidentiality and privacy by ensuring that no personal information would be collected during the survey process. There will be informed consent obtained from the participant before allowing them to participate.

Limitations

The application of cross sectional design is the major limitation because the study focuses on identifying the relationship between peer influence, attitude and vaping, but it cannot establish that these factors cause vaping behaviour. Another limitation is self reported behaviour as participants may conceal or underestimate their vaping as it is prohibited and anonymity cannot completely eliminate it.

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