Research Types and Processes

This module covers:
- Defining different types of research and describing the research process.
- Providing an overview of the main components of a research proposal.
- Addressing writing a literature review.

Research is defined as the systematic process of discovery.
The OECD defines research as creative and systematic work to increase knowledge, including knowledge of humankind, culture, and society, and to devise new applications of available knowledge.
Research aims to:
- Solve problems.
- Develop better processes or policies.
- Develop new applications or technologies.
- Treat diseases.
Research is ongoing, cyclical, and expands our knowledge base.
A key component of research is that it must be shared to build on existing knowledge.

Experimental and theoretical work to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena.
Gathers observable facts without any particular application in mind.
Fundamental to curiosity about how the world works.
Does not have immediate practical application but can lead to later applications.
The primary purpose is the generation of information that leads to theory and the testing of hypotheses generated by theory, such that the theory is refined.
Examples:
- Research in human biology, biology, physiology, and neuroscience addressing mechanisms that underlie human formation and function.

Original investigation to acquire new knowledge directed towards a specific or practical aim or objective.
Aimed at the development of something.
The creation of knowledge and/or the application does not, in itself, lead to implementation and practice.
Knowledge application must be translated into changes in practice or policy.

Translates findings from controlled trials (e.g., medical interventions) into real-world community or health settings.
Examples:
- Research in sports science, exercise, and health testing the effectiveness of studies to see if an intervention's efficacy works under real-world conditions.
- Scalability studies aimed at how well an intervention can be embedded into a broader health system or policy.

Research starts with an observation leading to questions:
- What is the cause?
- Why does this happen?
- How does that work?
Answers to these questions are formally stated as a problem.
The principal problem is often divided into smaller problems, specific questions, or hypotheses.
A hypothesis is an educated speculation as to the answer to the question.
Hypothesis requirements:
- Consistent with what is currently known.
- Capable of being tested and possibly falsified by evidence.
A researcher needs to generate a plan to test hypotheses or answer questions.
The research design should be appropriate for the specific question.
The research process is often helical:
- Some research plans may not be practical due to cost or ethical issues, leading to modifications of the research questions or hypothesis.
Assumptions need to be stated, which are conditions that are taken for granted.
Data is collected and can be in many forms (events, numerical values, observations).
Data itself is meaningless until it is assembled and interpreted in light of existing knowledge and assumptions.
The discovery and meaning of data constitute research.
Data either partially or completely answers the research question, but often poses new questions, making the research process a cycle.

Involves new research to answer specific questions or issues.
Involves the collection and/or analysis of new data.
Data can be acquired through experiments, observational studies, fieldwork, primary document analysis, and other methodologies.
Can be prospective or retrospective.

Summarizes and interprets what is already known.
Common methodologies involve systematic reviews aimed at finding and assessing all high-quality studies addressing a particular question.
Synthesizes what is known from other forms of research (primary research studies) to provide a summary of what is already known.
Meta-analyses are common in biomedical research.
- Meta-analysis is the use of statistical methods to combine results of individual studies.

Involves the collection and analysis of numerical data (counts, measures, scores).
Describes numerical changes in data (over time, between groups, in response to an intervention).
Uses statistics to test whether observed changes or differences are likely to be true changes or differences, or whether they are chance findings.

Uses non-numerical forms of data derived from interviews, observations, documents, and artifacts.
Useful for learning about social processes, concepts, ascribing meanings to symbols, and describing the experiences of events and places.
Growing recognition of the importance of qualitative research methodologies to understand experiences, particularly in health-related research.

Studies that involve the manipulation of the factor under study and randomization of subjects to treatments or exposure groups.
Can identify cause and effect.

Studies that describe a phenomenon or make observations about something, about which we can possibly then ask questions and generate hypotheses.
Does not involve analysis.

Aim to test hypotheses.
- Observational designs indicate relationships between variables.
- Experimental designs are required to determine causality.

Descriptive studies indicate that a phenomenon exists.
Observational studies identify whether there is a relationship between different variables.
Experimental studies test whether one factor leads to a change in another factor, indicating the direction of causality.