STEPS IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH

research question

is a statement that identifies the phenomenon to be studied. This could be gathered from theory, literature or experience. Among these, literature is the most important component.

Research Title

remember that it should express the main message of the research topic; be relevant; short; clearly and precisely formulated; exciting; and appealing.

research objective

it must be applicable to the situation; achievable; not be ambiguous; and harmonious with societal and institutional goals and constrains.

general objective

is like a generic statement which describes in broad terms what the study wishes to accomplish.

specific objective

identify in greater detail and in measurable terms the aims of the research project. It breaks down what needs to be accomplished into smaller, logical components, concrete, and attainable results that can be measured and are readily identified when they have been reached.

LITERATURE REVIEW

process of knowing more about previous studies done related to the research to be conducted

Theoretical framework

theory from which the research problem was derived in the case of EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES, or to which it is linked (for survey studies

Conceptual Framework

presents the relationship between the specific concepts for study.

Hypothesis

an educational guess about the outcome of the study to answer. “What is really being studied?”

It is a specific statement of prediction that describes in concrete (rather than

theoretical) terms what you expect in the study; not all studies have

hypotheses (e.g. exploratory study)

Non directional hypothesis

Ho: There will be no significant difference in the prevalence of

malnutrition among schoolchildren before and after the nutrition education.

Ha: There will be a significant difference in the prevalence of malnutrition

among schoolchildren before and after the nutrition education.

Directional hypothesis

Ho: The mean score of schoolchildren in the nutrition education in the

control group is ≤ 75%.

Ha: The mean score of schoolchildren in the nutrition education in the

control group is ≤ 75%.

Alternative Hypothesis

hypothesis that you support

Null Hypothesis

statement of no relationship or the otherwise

remaining outcome of the alternative hypothesis

Research Design

provides a framework for the collection and analysis of data.

also known as the plan of attack for a particular study

Descriptive studies

describe occurrence of outcome

Analytic studies

describe association between exposure and outcome

Experimental

clinical trials

Observational

is a non-experimental type of study because there is no individual intervention. The treatment and exposures occur in a “noncontrolled” environment. Individuals can be observed prospectively, retrospectively, or currently.

Cross sectional

information collected about one point in time

Longitudinal

could be retrospective or prospective

Prospective Study

looks forward, looks to the future, examines future events, follows a

condition, concern or disease into the future, e.g. cohort study

Retrospective Study

‘to look back”, looks back in time to study events that have

already occurred, e.g. case-control study

Quantitative Research

used to generate numerical data or data that can be transformed into usable statistics.

It also generalizes results from a larger sample population.

It uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research collection methods are much more structured.

The collection methods include various forms of surveys and systematic observations.

Descriptive epidemiology

aims to describe the characteristics of the distribution of disease

Case study

is empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its reallife context and provide a detailed and intensive analysis of one case, e.g. a single community school, family, person, event, or organization

Comparative design

compares two or more cases which can show circumstances in which a particular theory will or will not hold. The characteristics are identical to those of crosssectional design, because the comparative design is essentially two or more cross-sectional studies carried out at the same point in time.

Ecological studies

aim to generate etiologic hypothesis and to evaluate effectiveness of

population interventions.

Exploratory

compares outcomes/disease among several groups within a group at different points in time

Ecologic comparison

frequencies of the exposure and the outcomes/disease are determined per group and comparison is made among several groups and uses correlation coefficient

Ecologic trend

assessment of trend over time; frequency of the exposure and/or outcome/disease at different points during the study period within a group or among several group.

Survey research

comprises a cross-sectional design in relation to which data are collected predominantly by questionnaire or by structured interview on more than one case and at a single point in time in order to collect a body of quantitative or quantifiable data in connection with two or more variables (usually many more than two), which are then examined to detect patterns of association.

Cross-sectional

Status of a various groups at a given point in time; measures occurrence of disease/outcome by time, place, and person (TPP or PPT).

Longitudinal

Status of a given group (same) at various points in time or in more than one occasion

Correlational

Relationships between variables,

Case report

is the most elementary study design in the literature.

It describes the experience of a single case or a group of patients with similar diagnosis based on sporadic discoveries of a unique, unusual or unexpected clinical observation. It provides first clues in recognition of disease and identifies risk factors or effects of exposure.

Case Series

is an extension of the case report.

It is a series of clinical observations sharing most of similarities. These events usually have been observed over a set period of time (such as one year) and are identified from one reporting source (e.g. a hospital).

Cross-sectional study

An observation study in which the relationship between exposure and disease are determined at the same point in time in a given population.

Both exposure and (disease) outcome are determined simultaneously for each subject

Descriptive

component – explore the ‘what’, ‘when’, and ‘where’ of a disease

Analytical

component – provides information about the presence and strength

of association between the disease and the study variable thus this type of study

permits the testing of a hypothesis and describe as to ‘why’ the disease is

occurring.

Reliability and Measurement

Validity are not connected to the design as such, peplicability, will be high as long as the researcher specifies all the procedures

Internal

Validity is weak, because co-relations are much more likely to be found

than causality

External

Validity will be strong if the sample is truly random

Ecological

Validity may be compromised by the instruments used.

Case-control study

is a retrospective observational study that compare the past exposure of people with the disease (cases) with the people without the disease (controls).

case

is defined as a specific outcome i.e. presence of the disease or condition of

interest or a complication.

control

must mirror the population where the cases come from

Group Matching

consists of selecting the controls in such a manner that the proportion of control with a certain characteristics is identical to the proportion of cases with the same characteristics

Individual Matching

When for each case selected, a control is selected who is similar to the case in terms of the specific variable/s, e.g., 45-year old case, 45-year old control.

This is preferred in hospital population.

Cohort Study

is a prospective observational study and mainly used to test hypothesis such as follow up studies, incidence studies, prospective studies, longitudinal studies, panel studies. This uses risk ratio as the measure of association.

cohort

is a well-defined group of individuals who share a common characteristics

or experience.

Development research

“the systematic study of designing, developing and evaluating instructional programs, processes and products that must meet the criteria of internal consistency and effectiveness”

General normative research

produces theory of practice for a professional activity, such as a design, which can consist of recommendations, rules, standards, algorithms, advices or other tools for improving the object of study

Normative case study

purports to find out methods to ameliorate physically the object, for example by reducing known human problems in the daily lives and work processes of people, by developing an activity or a new product.

Evaluation Research

is a type of study that uses standard social research methods for

evaluative purposes, as a specific research methodology, and as an assessment

process that employs special techniques unique to the evaluation of social programs.

Methodological

is designed to establish valid and reliable instrument to measure a

specific concept. Also called reliability and validity study.

Qualitative Research

is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations, provide insights and dive deeper into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.

Secondary Analysis

involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research rather than primary research, where data is collected from, for example, research subjects or experiments.

Meta-analysis

is statistical technique for combining the findings from a number of independent studies of similar design, to produce an overall estimate of effect which incorporates the information provided by all studies.

Systematic Review

is defined as “a review of the evidence on a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically.

Reviews

A critical account of present understanding; a meta-analysis is a quantitative

method of review.

Historical Research

accessing both primary (e.g. witnesses) or secondary (e.g.

literature) sources to document past events;

Historical Analysis

is an attempt to establish facts in order to arrive at conclusions concerning past events or predict future events. This is employed by researchers who are interested in reporting events and/or conditions that occurred in the past.

Philosophical Research

means organizing existing evidence into a comprehensive theoretical model.

Predictive Research

moves beyond explanation to the prediction of precise relationship between dimensions/variables or characteristics of a phenomenon differences between groups

Experimental Research

involves a direct assessment of how one variable influence another which allows the establishment of causality. Also called as experimental study/trial or randomized-controlled trial (RCT), it investigates the role of some factor or agent in the prevention or treatment of a disease.

Quasi-Experimental

comparison of two groups but there is no randomization

True-Experimental

random assignment for equivalent groups

Independent Variable

this variable is the ‘cause’; can be manipulated or

allowed to vary; also known as the predictor variable

Dependent Variable

this variable is the ‘effect’; should only vary in

response to the Independent Variable; also known as the criterion variable

Extraneous Variables

must be controlled to isolate the effect of the

independent and dependent variables

Confounding Variables

extraneous variables which have co-varied with the

independent variables

Randomization

It is the act of assigning or ordering that is the result of a random process. The preferred method for assigning the treatments because it is less prone to bias and because it produces groups with very similar characteristics.

Treatment group

group that is allocated the agent or intervention under study

Comparison group

group that is not allocated the agent or intervention under study.

Blinding

is one of the measures in RCT to reduce bias.

In-vitro Studies

are (in glass) studies using component of organism, i.e., test tubs experiments

3Rs

are principles of good science designed 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