Week 1: Introduction to Health Research, Role of the Researcher, Research Cycle Flashcards
What is Research?
- Organized study/gathering of info about a specific topic
- Systemic investigation of a topic where you gain new knowledge OR use existing/previous knowledge in new innovative ways
What is the Scientific Method
Systematic body of procedures/techniques used to carry out an investigation or experiment w/ aim of gaining new knowledge
What are the 5 Types of Health Research
- Behavioral – how people/groups act in different ways & why
- Clinical – testing new medicines & devices (ex. clinical trials, medical treatments, etc.)
- Genetics – role of genes and different health diseases/conditions
- Public Health – prevention/treatment of illness in communities/populations (ex. prevention policies, SDOH, etc.), explores disease trends of populations (epidemiology)
- Systems & Policies – exploring patient feedback & experiences
Research Cycle
- Series of stages, defining a process for researching info & drawing conclusions
- Topics = personal interests, timely/relevant events, funded
- Problem = making a case for why research is needed
- Reviewing Literature
reviewing helps find gaps and/or determine what research has already been done in that field
Has question been asked before, how did they research it, any research methods/instruments to use, what findings did they get, lessons to be learned
- Research Purpose & Research Question(s)
drawing a theory, individual beliefs, knowledge, previous research & review
Ex. how are children affected by exposure of social media (vague), what is effect of IG on self-esteem of young children under 12 (specific/focused question)
- Hypothesis & Propositions
primarily useful for quantitative research, but in qualitative, it can test propositions
- A suggested (hypothetical) link between two+ variables
- Research problems are broken down into a # of hypotheses
- Methodology & Methods
Methodology = study of methods; refers to strategy or design to research; analysis of all methods and procedures of investigation
Method = specific tools/procedures used to collect/analyze data (ex. focus groups, interviews, etc.)
Quantitative = experiments, surveys (cross-sectional or longitudinal)
Qualitative = narrative, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case study
- Sampling & Recruitment
- Study sample = selection of a subset of a population for research
- Quantitative = representative
- Qualitative = find selective people, not random
- Recruitment strategies = how will you find people, will there be incentive offers, when will it occur?
- Data Collection
explicit details about how you’re controlling/gathering your data
- Paper or online survey’s
- Interviews in focus groups
- Observations
- Visual methods
- Documentation review
- Social media
- Data Analysis & Interpretation
will depend on your design and research questions
- Analyze evidence/data to ensure it’s of good quality, look for trends
- Researchers then use this data to draw conclusions and connect conclusions to what other scholars have said about the topic
- Disseminate Findings
process of communicating/sharing knowledge to target audience
- Written publication (ex. journal article, book), conference presentation,
- Important that conducted research has a political, social, health, economical impact
- Knowledge mobilization/translation strategies = know your audience & settings, target messages, use the right tools (oral, written, visual)
What is Reflexivity?
- Examination of one’s own beliefs, biases, judgments, and practices during a research process, and how these may have influenced the research
- Questioning one’s own “taken for granted” assumptions
- Examines the person making the judgments
- Reflective examination should cover what is taken for granted in how problems are defined in the research, which research questions tend to be included or excluded, is there’s a restrictive dominant
