Week 1: Introduction

Question 1

What are 4 components of clinical practice in the health and rehabilitation sciences that research is involved in?

Answer 1

1. Professional decision making
2. Inform knowledge and service delivery issues
3. Participation in the research process (e.g. recruitment)
4. Conducting clinical research

Question 2

What are consumers, collaborators and generators in the HRSS research model?

Answer 2

Question 3

What is research?

Answer 3

Research is the systematic process of collecting and analysing information (data) in order to increase our understanding about the issue/question which we are interested in.

Question 4

What are 5 processes that research involves?

Answer 4

1. Identifying a research question/problem
2. Designing the study (selecting methods suited to the research question)
3. Collecting the data
4. Interpreting the data
5. Reporting the data

Question 5

What are 6 things that research can be used to develop?

Answer 5

1. further knowledge about a profession / therapy,
2. assess needs for services,
3. evaluate the effectiveness of interventions,
4. develop assessment tools,
5. provide information about client’s experiences and
6. examine the process of therapy etc…

Question 6

What are the 2 different types of research traditions?

Answer 6

1. Qualitative research
2. Quantitative research

Question 7

What are 3 characteristics of qualitative research?

Answer 7

1. Used to obtain an understanding of the world from an individual or social group’s perspective
2. Often involves interviewing people to understand their perspective.
3. Data is in the form of words.

Question 8

What are 3 characteristics of quantitative research?

Answer 8

1. Used to find out about relationships between variables, or quantify how common a phenomena is.
2. Data is often collected by use of standardised measures, questionnaires or objective measurement methods
3. The data gathered are quantifiable and statistical, using counts and measures

Question 9

What are 5 things you need to consider in designing a research study?

Answer 9

1. What is the research question?
2. What is the best research design to use? And how might potential bias and confounding be controlled?
3. Who will be the participants for the study? Need to understand how to obtain a sample of participants from the population of interest
4. How will data be collected? Measures to use?
5. What methods/procedures will be used, and have ethical considerations been addressed?

Question 10

What are 3 characteristics of research designs?

Answer 10

1. Research designs are structured approaches to address specific research questions
2. Provide general guidelines for thinking about specific aspects of a study that will be(or has been) conducted
3. Research design guides how the research will be structured e.g.
   
   • Comparing 2 groups of participants
   • Comparing groups before and after an intervention
   • Interviewing a small number of people for in-depth information about their experiences

Question 11

Who will be the participants in sampling?

Answer 11

An important goal of quantitative research is to be able make generalisations beyond those participants in a study to others who have similar conditions or characteristics or who are in similar situations.

• The larger group to which research results are generalised is called a population. e.g. the population of interest might be all of the peoplein the world with stroke.
• Usually the population is too large for the researcher to attempt to include all of its members in a study. e.g. a researcher may be interested in studying the effects of providing an education package

In qualitative research, sampling is generally smaller and more purposeful transferability is important

Question 12

What is sampling?

Answer 12

Through a process of sampling, a researcher chooses a small, carefully chosen subgroup of the population, called a sample that serves as a reference group for drawing conclusions about the population.

Question 13

What are 3 advantages of sampling?

Answer 13

1. more economical
2. time efficient
3. can be more accurate because there is greater control over the measurements and procedures used.

Question 14

What are the 3 characteristics of sampling?

Answer 14

1. When sampling, the researcher needs to clearly define the target population, which is determined according to the goals of the study.
2. The researcher must specify the inclusion and exclusion criteria exactly so that it is clear who would be classified as a member of the target population and who would not.
3. e.g. if the researcher was interested in studying stroke patients, the population of interest may be restricted to only those who:
   
   • have had first-time stroke,
   • are able to read and write English sufficiently well to participate in the assessments
   • live within a 50 km radius of Brisbane to allow the researcher easy access to them

Question 15

How will data be collected?

Answer 15

Question 16

What is ontology?

Answer 16

Set of ideas, values, frameworks, beliefs

Question 17

What is epistemology?

Answer 17

A theory or philosophy about the nature of knowledge and how we know what we know - What is knowledge? How do we gain it? How do we communicate it?

Question 18

What is methodology?

Answer 18

Specific ways of generating knowledge

Question 19

What is the paradigm for quantitative methods?

Answer 19

Positivism

Question 20

What is the paradigm for qualitative methods?

Answer 20

Interpretivism

Question 21

What are 4 characteristics of Positivism (quantitative research)?

Answer 21

1. Knowledge is objective
2. Hard data
3. Can be measured
4. Natural and social world are the same

Question 22

What are 4 characteristics of Interpretivism (qualitative research)?

Answer 22

1. Knowledge is subjective
2. Meaning has action
3. Relies on interpretation
4. Social world is different to naturalworld

Question 23

What are 7 key features in quantitative research?

Answer 23

1. Positivism is linked to quantitative methods, whereby the researcher reduces the data collection to numbers and analyses these using statistical techniques
2. Most health research is carried out within the positivist paradigm
3. Methodologies are employed based on the principles of scientific method and use methods which are quantitative
4. Researchers take an objectives stance in the research process as they are external to it
5. Researchers work from a particular body of theory and knowledge
6. Researcher deduces a hypothesis
7. This hypothesis forms the basis for designing and planning a project to collect data that will test the hypothesis

Question 24

What are 5 advantages in quantitative research?

Answer 24

1. Measurement: being able to demonstrate quantity is a powerful tool in producing data on phenomena in the natural and social world
2. Rigour: methods adopted by quantitative researchers are transparent
3. Internal validity: methods are able to explain phenomena with independent and dependent variables explaining cause and effect
4. Generalisability: the findings of the study can be generalised to a large population
5. Replicability: quantitative research studies should be able to be replicated by others

Question 25

What are 4 disadvantages in quantitative research?

Answer 25

1. The social world is different from the natural world and cannotbe studied objectively in the same way as objects in the natural world
2. Measures used by positivist researchers are artificial, measuring the constructs of researcher and not life as it is lived by respondents
3. Surveys only measure responses at a single point in time, but people have the capacity for change and self-reflection
4. Positivist methods are less effective at determining why people act as they do

Question 26

What are 5 key features in qualitative research?

Answer 26

1. The subjectivity of research is acknowledged
2. Knowledge is constructed by research participants
3. Methods are used to seek to understand the subjective meaning of the phenomena
4. Data is naturalistic, collected in the setting of everyday life
5. Data is complex, with methods concerned with the depth of analysis and explaining the meaning of phenomena and interrelationships

Question 27

What are 5 advantages in qualitative research?

Answer 27

1. Flexibility in thinking: researchers are less likely to become stuck in conventional ways of thinking
2. Flexibility in the research process: researchers can adjust their approach in their interpretation of data
3. Rich description: qualitative methods present rich, subjective experience, with findings based on an empathetic understanding of the research participants
4. Compensation: qualitative methods can be used to investigate areas where quantitative methods are inappropriate or where little is known
5. Validity: qualitative methods are high on internal validity as they draw of understanding of research participants

Question 28

What are 6 disadvantages in qualitative research?

Answer 28

1. Observer bias: researchers construct the categories
2. Lack of consensus: qualitative researchers disagree among themselves over methods
3. Lack of focus: research questions can sometimes be too broad
4. Lack of generalisability: research is undertaken with a small number of participants
5. Poor replication: studies are not replicable
6. Cost: qualitative studies are costly in terms of time

Question 29

What is mixed methods research?

Answer 29

• An emerging research approach in the health sciences that involves combining both quantitative and qualitative methods to study human phenomena
• An entire research methodology has been developed around this approach
• The core assumption is that when an investigator combines both statistical trends and stories, that combination provides a better understanding of the problem than either trends or stories alone!

Question 30

What are 4 key features of mixed methods research?

Answer 30

1. 1. Collecting and analysing qualitative and quantitative data in response to research question
2. Using rigorous quantitative and qualitatitve methods
3. Combining or integrating quantitative and qualitative data using a specific type of mixed methods design
4. Framing the mixed methods design within a broader
5. framework

Question 31

What are 3 characteristics of complementary or mixed methodologies?

Answer 31

1. Qualitative Before Quantitative – to identify key features to include in a survey or questionnaire (e.g., expectations after knee surgery)
2. Simultaneously – focus on different aspects (e.g., the time spent on a home programs delivered by DVD or written format, and participants‘ experience of doing each)
3. Qualitative Following Quantitative - (e.g., to understand how patients attributed their changes in physical functioning & quality of life to a structured pulmonary program)

Question 32

What is the exploratory sequential convergent design?

Answer 32

Question 33

What are 4 characteristics that is not mized methods?

Answer 33

1. Simply using the name without the rigorous methods
2. Having both quantitative and qualitative data available
3. Collection and reporting quantitative and qualitative data separately without combining them
4. Using multiple quantitative approaches (experiment, survey) or multiple qualitative approaches (interviews, observations) AKA multi-method research

Question 34

What are 5 reasons why knowing research designs is important?

Answer 34

1. Many different research designs - Each have different purpose
2. Strengths & limitations of specific designs are well-established with respect to their ability to answer the question concerned
3. The research design should be used/located that best answers the research question of interest
4. Important to understand the range of study designs in order to choose which is the most appropriate design to use as a researcher (generator)
5. to know what type of research is the ‘best’ design to look for when you are looking for the best available evidence (consumer of research)

Question 35

What are 5 main categories of study designs?

Answer 35

1. Experimental (researcher manipulates/controls the experiment/intervention) e.g., Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT)
2. Quasi Experimental e.g. single case experimental, pre-post
3. Observational (subjects are observed/measures taken in their natural state) e.g., cross-sectional survey, case-control, cohort
4. Systematic reviews
5. Qualitative e.g., phenomenological, ethnographic+++

Combined to form a mixed-methods study

Question 36

What are ethical considerations in research?

Answer 36

Health research takes place in a social context, therefore, researchers must take into account many ethical considerations, alongside scientific ones when designing and carrying out research.

Question 37

What are 4 ethical issues in health research?

Answer 37

1. Voluntary participation
2. No harm to participants
3. Anonymity and confidentiality
4. Deception

Question 38

What are 6 characteristics of voluntary participation?

Answer 38

1. Health research represents an intrusion into people’s lives, disrupting the participant’s regular activities
2. Health research often requires that people reveal personal information about themselves
3. Research participation must be voluntary
4. Voluntary participation goes against several scientific concerns regarding generalisability because results are often swayed by the type of person who volunteers for research
5. Although important, sometimes it is impossible to follow (e.g., observational studies)
6. Participants must be given an opportunity to withdraw from the study with no implication

Question 39

What are 4 characteristics of no harm to participants?

Answer 39

1. Health research should never injure the people being studied, regardless of whether they volunteered for the study
2. Participants can be harmed not only physically, but psychologically in the course of a study, therefore researchers must look to the subtlest dangers and guard against them
3. Health research studies may also force participants to face aspects of themselves that they don’t normally consider
4. Any research runs the risk of injuring people in some way

INFORMED CONSENT: participants must base their voluntary participation in research on a full understanding of the possible risks involved!

Question 40

What are 3 characteristics of anonymity and confidentiality?

Answer 40

1. Clearest concern in the protection of participants’ interests and well-being is the protection of their identity
2. Anonymity
   
   1. A research project guarantees anonymity when the researcher and the people who read about the research cannot link any given response to any given participant
3. Confidentiality
   
   • A research project guarantees confidentiality when the researcher can identify a given person’s response but essentially promises not to do so publically.
   • When a research proejct is confidential, rather than anonymous, it is the researcher’s responsibility to make that fact clear to the respondent
   • Never use the term anonymous to mean confidential!

Question 41

What are 3 characteristics of deception?

Answer 41

1. Because deceiving people is unethical, deception within a scientific research study needs to be justified
2. Sometimes researchers admit that they’re doing research but fudge about why they’re doing it or for whom
3. The purpose of the Asch experiment was to see whether the participant would give up his own judgement in favour of the group agreement
4. Conformity is a useful phenomenon to study and couldn’t be studied experimentally without deceiving the participants!

Question 42

What are 4 ethical considerations regarding deception?

Answer 42

1. Even though participants cannot be told the true purpose of the study prior to participating, there is usually no reason they can’t be told afterwards
2. Conduct a debriefing interview with participants post-experiment
3. Allow researchers to discover any problems generated by the research experience so these problems can be corrected
4. Must be done with care!

Question 43

What are 4 features for the ethics application and review?

Answer 43

1. What the intervention/procedure will be that they might be testing
2. When/Where they will collect data
3. How the analysis will be conducted
4. Application for ethical clearance from an appropriate ethical clearance group is undertaken and reported (considered factors such as confidentiality, consent and so on).

Question 44

What are 6 other ethical considerations for health research?

Answer 44

1. Special populations in Australia
   
   1. LOTE, women who are pregnant and human foetus, children and young people (<18), people in dependent or existing relationships, people dependent on medical care, people with cognitive impairment, intellectual disability, or mental illness, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, people who may be involved in illegal activity
2. Risk balanced by expected benefits for wider community and participants
3. Conflicts of interest
4. Submission to multiple ethical review boards
5. Type of research and research plan, including recruitment procedures, informed consent processes, confidentiality, anonymity
6. Storage of data (short and long term)