Research

Research

systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data in order to answer a question, problem, issue, or increase understanding of a phenomenon we are interested or concerned about

empirical

this means evidence based

internal validity

the extent to which the investigator is able to control the different biases that may affect the study

ecological fallacy

the association observed between variables on an aggregate level does not necessarily represent the association that exists at an individual level

Hawthorne effect

phenomenon which is thought to occur when people observed during a research study temporarily change their behavior or performance

Placebo effect

phenomenon that occurs when a person believes that he or she is receiving real treatment and reports an improvement in his or her condition

External Validity

the extent to which the investigator is able to generalize the results of the study

results are very highly significant

meaning of p-value:

p <0.001

results are not significant

meaning of p-value:

p >0.05

Pure Research / Basic / Fundamental

Type of research whose purpose is the development of theories by discovering broad generalizations or principles

Applied Research

Type of research whose purpose is to improve a product or a process; testing theoretical concepts in actual problem situation;

Applied Research

Type of research whose purpose is to look for practical solution to existing problems

Action Research

Type of research whose purpose is to improve practices and at the same time, to improve those who try the practices; it is focused on the immediate application, not on the development of the theory, not upon general application

Quantitative Research

This type of research approach uses deductive reasoning where it forms general to specific conclusions

Qualitative Research

This type of research approach uses inductive reasoning where it forms specific to general conclusions

Basic research

Basic or Applied?

physical and chemical properties of foods, nutrient analysis, sensory characteristics of food and food products

PR: Likelihood

POR: Odds / probability of having the outccome

Prevalence Ratio vs Prevalence Odds Ratio

Research misconduct

it is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in professional scientific research

Fabrication, Falsification Plagiarism

3 Fs (elements of research misconduct)

Fabrication

type of research misconduct that involves making up of data or results

Falsification

type of research misconduct that involves manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes or changing or omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately

Plagiarism

type of research misconduct that involves the appropriation of another person’s ideas, processes, results, or words without giving appropriate credit or without proper permission

basic research

Basic or Applied?

research about nutritional genomics or metabolism

non-maleficence

basic ethical principle in health research:

means do no harm or do not put at risk of harm to anybody

beneficence

basic ethical principle in health research:

to do good; in benefit of others and to prevent or remove harm or risk of harm, do good, or provide a benefit

informed consent form

the translation of the study protocol from scientific language into lay person- local lay language so that they will understand what is the research and what are expected of them should they be part of the research study

consent

type of informed consent to be given if the research participant is:

adult participant

parental permission

type of informed consent to be given if the research participant is:

for children or minor, parent, or guardian must sign

assent

type of informed consent to be given if the research participant is:

0-17 years old

verbal

type of informed consent to be given if the research participant is:

when no sufficient time (only during emergencies)

short form

type of informed consent to be given if the research participant is:

for minimal risk studies, used when there is language barrier

Applied research

Basic or Applied?

research about the implementation of physical activity program for older persons to avoid physical disability

Descriptive cross-sectional research

What type of research does fnri uses to conduct the NNS?

it covers a representative part of the population and can generate measurements by age, physiologic status and sex by regional and urbanization areas in the country

Why does fnri uses descriptive cross-sectional research to conduct the NNS?

research problem

heart of the whole research process

AROSI

A: Analysis of needs and practice

R: Replication of previous research

O: Organized and systematic determination of research needs

S: Serendipity (eureka moment; by chance or coincidence)

I: Intellectual curiosity ( interest that springs from observations)

5 sources of research problems

food and nutrition research

defined as it integrate the effects of the physical and chemical qualities of food on the totality of nutrient intake and promotion of well-being as well as understand the impacts of various diets and related nutritional interventions underpinning health.

nutritional epidemiology

defined as the assessment of the diet and its relationship to disease etiology in populations. the study of dietary determinants of diseases

to contribute to the prevention of disease and improvement of public health

goal of nutritional epidemiology

design: objective, accurate,systematic, analysis of a determinate body of empirical data, in order to discover recurring relationships among phenomena.

method: technique for collecting data; choice of research method reflects decisions about the type of instruments or techniques to be used.

research design vs research method

theoretical: theory from which the research problem was derived in the case of experimental studies

conceptual: presents the relationship between the specific concepts for study

conceptual vs theoretical framework

validity: accuracy (measure what intends to measure)

reliability: stable and consistent results

validity vs reliability

1. can be tested empirically (verifiable)

2. significant ang problem

3. can fill research gap

4. feasibility

5. problem not too small in scope

6. current interest in the problem area

characteristic of a good research problem

Refinement, Reduction, Replacement

3 Rs principle of good scienc edesigned by scientist to improve animal welfare and scientific accuracy:

Refinement

finding ways of making animals lives better in labs, this can include toys for animals or better training for technicians

Reduction

using as few animals as possible to get good results

Replacement

using non-animal alternatives wherever they exist

hypothesis

is a tentative guess or answer to the research problem

1. Basis of the statistical test

2. establish framework with which to approach the problem

3. determine sample size

3 important of hypothesis testing

Null hypothesis

type of hypothesis where in it states no difference, no relationship, no effect

Alternative hypothesis

type of hypothesis where in it states that there is a difference, relationship, or effect

one tailed test

type of alternative hypothesis that proves that there is an increase or decrease in a parameter; and it states DIRECTION

two tailed test

type of alternative hypothesis that proves that there is the parameter is EQUAL and it states NO DIRECTION

quantitative and qualitative

types of data variable

continuous variable

type of variable that can assume both whole number and fraction; infinite / could go on forever

discrete variable

type of variable that can assume integral value or whole numbers; finite / countable

discrete

continuous or discrete?

number of family members or number of overweight children

continuous

continuous or discrete?

age, height, weight, cost of food, allowance for food

continuous

continuous or discrete?

iq score, knowledge score

Independent variable

this type of variable also known as the factor or the cause of an event; AKA EXPLANATORY variable; and the type to be manipulated in an experimental study

dependent variable

this type of variable also known as the factor whose value is affected with the change in the independent variable; AKA OUTCOME, RESPONSE, OR CRITERION variable; and the type to be manipulated in an experimental study

Intervening variable

this type of variable is a factor or event that acts a MEDIATOR between the independent and dependent variables ; aka intermediate or process variable

Confounding Variable

type of variable that obscures the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. ; aka mediating / moderating variable

nominal (uses categories to describe)

ordinal (uses ranking/ordering)

interval (with order and the difference bt values is known)

ratio (whole numbers of decimals with true zero points)

Scales of measurement of data

Validity

defined as the ability to measure what it intends to measure

Criterion validity

testing validity of a new method compared with a reference method or another that has greater degree of demonstrated or face validity;

Reproducibility or reliability

defined as the ability of the method to produce the same estimate on TWO OR MORE occasions, assuming that nothing has changed in the interim

Age specific mortality

refers to the number of deaths PER AGE and SEX group divided by the average population of the same age and sex group

Infant mortality rate

this is defined as the number of deaths below one year divided by the number of live births

Maternal mortality rate

this is defined as the number of deaths among women directly due to pregnancy, labor, and puerperium over total live births

Morbidity rate

number of reported cases of a given disease present at the a given time per 100,000 population

incidence rate

refers to the frequency of occurrence or assessment of a particular disease during a year or a given period of time in which it occurs in relation to the population or group who are actually ill with a particular disease or infection within the total population

prevalence rate

proportion of population or group who are actually ill with a particular disease or infection within the total population

observational design

type of quantitative research design that collect information by observation.

descriptive studies

type of quantitative research design that observe event or condition in the population without interruption or manipulation

case report

type of descriptive study that describes the cause or outcome of a case

cross-sectional studies

type of descriptive study aka survey; describes the condition of a representative portion of a population

correlational study

type of descriptive study that determines whether one variable changes with increase or decrease in another variable;

ecological study

a form of correlational study that measures exposure rates of a disease or a condition at a community level rather than the individual

analytical studies

tests a hypothesis on a risk factor and health condition or disease

case

defined as a specific outcome; with the presence of the disease or the condition of interest or a complication

control

must mirror the population where the cases come from (source population); must be representative of the exposure distribution in the study population.

case-control

retrospective observational study that compare the past exposure of people with the disease (cases) with the people without the disease (control)

case-control study

this type of study is used when the disease is rare, when the study population is dynamic, disease has long latency period, and when studying multiple health effects (disease) stemming from a single exposure

case-control study

this type of study uses odds ratio as the measure of association

cohort

is a well-defined group of individuals who share a common characteristic or experience

cohort study

this is prospective observational study and mainly used to test hypothesis such as follow-up studies, incidence studies, prospective studies, longitudinal studies

cohort study

this type of study uses risk ratio as the measure of association

prospective cohort

type of cohort study known to be a forward-looking study where in the subjects are divided into those with or without exposure or characteristics and the outcome is determined by the group ; looking into the future

retrospective cohort

type of cohort study known to be a backward-looking study researcher did not observe the exposure but the outcome is known ; looking into the past

ecological study

French paradox; this is when french people have high intakes of wine and saturated fats but the prevalence of heart disease is low; possible explanations can be from the resveratrol from grapes.

french paradox is an example of what type of research?

prospective cohort study

type of study to be used in this situation:

normal and low birthweight babies are followed up every three months to determine growth attained at two years

retrospective cohort study

type of study to be used in this situation:

during the world-war II, a food embargo in the Netherlands limited the food supply to the dutch people. One of the affected groups were the pregnant women. After the war, data were collected from birth records among women subjected to hunger during pregnancy.

experimental design

design that is considered the most accurate form of experimental research

experimental or intervention study

a design that gives intervention which is randomly assigned to either group with similar characteristics and the effect of the outcome is measured

randomized control trial

an intervention study characterized by prospective random assignment of subjects in an experimental and control group

pre-test or post-test design

observation or measurement of study variables done before and after giving an intervention

repeated measures design

similar to the pre-test posttest design but there are more than two observations for each subjects

factorial design

contains two or more independent variables (factors)