UQUMRC Workshop about proposal writing

1. Principles of Research
Dr. Hassan Shaibah
hsshaibah@uqu.edu.sa

2. What is Research ?

3. Research is not
•A term that might evoke a panic
reaction.
•A mysterious process difficult to
understand & conduct
•without connections with health care
careers.

4. How students sees it

5. Research is :
• A process that has determined almost everything
that is practiced now and in the future
• An opportunity to explore, understand, and explain
• A process that can lead to improving healthcare
• Equals Curiosity. “ daily informal researches”
Questions & Answers”
• Is a part of daily healthcare professional working
routine directly or indirectly .

6. Types of Researches
• Experimental: manipulation of variables.
double blind group assignments “ response to
intervention”
• Clinical : done is clinical setting. e.g
randomized control trials.
• Descriptive : describe a group, a situations, or
individuals. case studies, surveys,
observation cohort.
• Laboratory: done is lab. setting. e.g basic
science research

7. “Research Journey”

8. Develop
a
Select a Define a Researc
Topic problem h
questio
n
Revise
Answer found in the
literature Literat
Problem
Solved ure
Review
No answer
Data Design
Data
analysi Methodo
collections logy
s
Dissemination
Interpret •Poster
ation •Publication
Results conclusio •Presentation
n

9. Research is continuous

10. First step
Select a topic
Select a topic
• Working environment (clinical observation,
problem or challenges).
• Special topic of interest (medical condition of
self or family member)
• Prior studies. Literature (unanswered
studies
question, and how to take it further)
• Study replication for novice to confirm
previous studies and to generalize if results
can be applied to other contexts.

11. Please Note topic is
• Existing knowledge about specific
essential to determine to research need to be
done.
• Preliminary literature review is needed to
examine current information and help refine
the research question.
• Research project that done without literature
search might add nothing to the current
knowledge and will be a waste of time,effort
and money.
Thus research problem need to be refined by
literature search to determine what is
known.

12. Research problem &
Question
• start with a general problem & brainstorm to
refine into a specific focused research
question.
• Identifying the problem is not an easy task
• what is the question to be answered?
• keep it simple and very defined problem.
• its unlikely that you will make a research
shattering discovery. But each investigation
can add a small pice of knowledge

13. To refine the problem ask
these question
•How to improve the problem?
•What is known ( in the literature)?
•What is not known ?
•What information of data is needed to
improve the problem ?

14. Example 1
A nurse noticed an
unusual number of
postoperative
infection on patients
needing post operative
ventilation.

15. Purpose of the study ?
Reason for the infection & to minimize
the number of infected patients

16. Questions to ask ?
• What DATA do we need ? ( medical records, survey
data from, patients and staff)
• What Variables to consider:
• Patient related ( Age- type of procedure-
population ( gender- ethnic group ...etc)
• Surgical team related ( sterilization, surgical
skills, antibiotics)
• What ethical issues need to be addressed ?
• Do we need consents from patients, and IRB ?
• Do we need any financial support ? “Grant”

17. Possible Research questions
• Are there any
procedural differences
between infected and
non infected ?
• Are there demographic
differences between
infected and non
• Are there care
differences?

18. Example 2
A Research problem

19. Possible Research
questions ?
• Information about number of graduate who do
not practice ( male & female)?
• How many practiced & stopped?
• How many never practiced?
• What are the reasons that made them stop?
• Does type of profession have an impact on
decision?
• What are the other factors that impact their
decision ( age, marital status, financial,

20. What makes a good
Research Question
• Is it specific enough?
• Does it answer something new or add to the
field of knowledge or is just replication ?
• Does it build on previous researches? e.g test
a theory.
• Is it feasible? e.g can you do it? how much
time, money, staff & interments do you need?
• Is it ethical?

21. Develop a Research Question

22. Definition of a Literature Review
• A survey of articles, books and other
sources (e.g. dissertations, conference
proceedings) relevant to a particular
issue, area of research, or theory.
• A short description & critical evaluation
of work critical to the topic ( strength
and weakness)

23. Successful Literature
Review :
• Gives overview of the
available literature on
the study topic
• Helps to determine
what is known &
unknown about topic
• Allow the you identify
area of controversy
• Formulate questions
requiring further
research

24. Common medical database

25. Reference