Research planning Flashcards
RESEARCH PLANNING
Preparation of Research Protocol/Proposal
reviewed by ethics committees and funding bodies
meets ethical and methodological considerations
asks right questions (to advance theory and practice in health sciences)
Literature review
usefull in writting prposal- in intro talk about a few references
1 to give background and justify research
identifies gaps in knowledge
identifies research questions/problems
- Formulation of research aims and hypotheses
- Research strategy and methodological details
descriptive or experimental strategies (eg. descriptive – collecting information on health needs of a community)
Ethical or economic constraints
Sources of Research Questions
depends partly on researcher’s background and experience
to identify important questions and solvable problems
influenced by researcher’s health care setting (lab, hospital, community clinic, etc)
involves extensive library/literature work - reading, analyzing related research, thinking through issues
Formulation of Research Questions
- hypotheses deduced from existing theories
- hypotheses suggested by clinical observations and insights (eg. Semmelweiss and germ theory)
- ?s from previous research that was inconclusive, invalid, incomplete
- ?s on effectiveness of current treatment or assessment technique
- solutions to pressing problems in health science
Justification of Research Questions
public (or private) funds – must explain how will contribute to knowledge or practice
pure/basic researcg-> knowledge
Applied research-> practice
literature review – provides context
Formulation of Aims or Hypotheses
hypotheses – propositions about relationships between variables or differences between groups
aims/objectives – don’t necessarily have hypothesis (eg. assess health needs of community)
sometimes qualitative research
Formulation of Aims or Hypotheses
both – need to define observable (empirical) referents, and decide how to measure (operational definition of variable)
Eg 1. coronary disease
= periodic pain in chest and upper arm (angina)
= blocking of coronary blood flow
= sudden death
functional food X (relative to drug Y) will:
decrease incidents of angina
coronary flow
death due to coronary disease
Eg. 2 – Effects of preoperative teaching on postoperative pain
define variables:
preoperative teaching = relaxation method as described by …
pain = amount of analgesic patient needed after surgery
= self-report on 10 point scale
hypothesis – patients taught relaxation will (relative to those not taught)
have lower vital signs
experience less pain
be discharged from hospital sooner
Research Strategies
established procedures for designing and executing research
experimental or quasi-experimental
single case research
surveys (questionnaires)
qualitative field research (observing in the fied
Non-experimental
define population
select cases to study
observe or study to -> data
Experimental
define population
select sample
assign to treatment or non-treatment group (generally chance or random)
treat
observe and compare
differences could be due to other factors (sources of error)
try to eliminate errors through experimental control
Quasi-experimental – tightly structured non-experimental strategies- non random!!
Ethical Considerations
play role in planning and execution
eg. high fat diet – unethical to assign to people
- observe groups who have chosen high fat diet
- conduct study with animals (with ethics review)
judged ethical by extent to which conforms to conventions (ethics committee)
Ethical Considerations
sometimes controversial – even if judged ethical by some, may not be considered moral by others
eg. animal experimentation
reasonable steps to limit suffering?
sufficiently advance biological and medical sciences?
other options?
in vitro?
Central issues:
1 benefits subjects?, Investigators?, Society?
2 informed consent – necessary for human studies
explain risks, possible benefits
special care needed when ability to understand limited (age, disability, drugs, etc)
3 protection of participants – researcher must minimize chance of long-term deleterious effects
enforceable constraints exist on animal experimentation
4minimizing discomfort – minimize short- term pain, anxiety, discomfort
5 privacy – protect identity of participants to avoid embarrassment, stigmatization
6 community value – must respect cultural or community values
7. conservation of resources – ensure time, effort, money not wasted on poorly planned/designed investigations
Economic Considerations
availability of resources influences research scope and strategy
project must be economically feasible
sometimes expensive (eg. development of new drugs)
economic issues – availability of:
1. participants sufficient n to address question
- equipment – some equipment/technologies 3. expensive
expertise – means to acquire if needed
(eg. specialized techniques, clinical treatments/measurements) - time – generally takes much longer than inexperienced researcher might expect (breakdowns, loss of subjects, collaborator busy, Murphy’s law)
Planning Steps
to summarise
identify research problem
review relevant literature to justify and give context
formulate research aims or hypotheses
design experiment,
- considering: relevant variables, suitable strategies, ethical restraints, cost
