A.

Research Design
This is a correlational cross-sectional study using a quantitative approach in gathering
information. According to (Bhandari, 2021) a correlational research design investigates
relationships between variables without the researcher controlling or manipulating any of
them. A correlation reflects the strength and/or direction of the relationship between two (or
more) variables. The direction of a correlation can be either positive or negative. Wherein
positive correlations will indicate that as the values associated with one variable go up, so
the values associated with the other variable will also go up, and negative correlations
indicate that as the values associated with one variable go up, the values associated with
the other variable go down (Brock, 2019). The researchers utilize correlational study design
in order to find out whether there is a significant relationship between the profile of the
respondents when they are group according to prevalence, predictors, and perceived risks.
On the other hand, Setia, M. (2016) defined cross sectional study design as a type of
observational study design. A cross-sectional study involves looking at data from a
population at one specific point in time The participants in this type of study are selected
based on particular variables of interest and in this research our variables of interest are
Socio-demographic profile (age, sex, highest educational attainment, employment status,
monthly family income), Health-related profile(medication currently taking) to asses the
prevalence of self medication in that variable. Researchers record the information that is
present in a population, but they do not manipulate variables (Cherry, 2019) Whereas,
Haegele & Hodge (2015) explains that quantitative research methods establish a research
design and to sample population generalization, it relies on research questions and
hypothesis testing, design controls and statistical manipulation and analysis. We utilize
quantitative research because our study is focuses gathering of numerical data and
generalizing it to explain a particular phenomenon.