Writing In The Health Sciences: The Research Process
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Transcript of Writing In The Health Sciences: The Research Process
The Research Process
Writing in the Health Sciences
Part I
Why Publish?
Opportunity to expand or share knowledge/ideas in a chosen field or discipline
Ensure recognition of “ownership” of a particular idea or theoretical advance
Career-enhancing (publish or perish) Personal gratification – seeing name in print Acquire valuable practice in working with the
written word
Research: studious inquiry or examination; especially: investigation or experimentation aimed at the discovery and interpretation of facts, revision of accepted theories or laws in the light of new facts, or practical applications of such new or revised theories or laws.
Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary
Or …
Research: “ … the art of muddling through.”
Ahmed Riahi-Belhaoui
“Arranging the pencils: preliminary steps”
Decide to write the paperFINER criteria (Feasibility / Interesting /
Novel / Ethical / Relevant) Confer with a mentor or a possible
collaborator Attend presentations on under-explored,
but interesting research topics Create a timetable
Preliminary Steps Questions
Do you have access to the population/objects to the studied?
Problem should have a clinical and/or educational significance – the “so what?”
Time? Costs? Other Expertise?
Research Process Road Map
Define the Problem/Question Determine author (s) Select the audience/target readers Do a Literature Review Identify a target journal Research Design
Characteristics of a Good Research Question
Original Of interest to the researcher and the outside world Hypothesis can be formulated & tested Study feasible in terms of time, ethics, money,
materials and expertise Results potentially important and may change
current ideas and/or practice Potential to develop further projects with similar
theme
Developing the Hypothesis
In general, a hypothesis has four parts Subject group: who/what are you interested in
studying Treatment or exposure: what is being done to
part of all of your subject group Outcome measure: how or in what manner is the
treatment or exposure going to be assessed Control group: who are you comparing this
against State the hypothesis in the “If ….., then …”
Responsible Conduct of Research: Authorship
Decide who is on first (second and third) Assign responsibility early Ethical Issues Institutional guidelines on authorship/publication
practices COPE: Committee on Publication Ethics
http://www.publicationethics.org.uk/guidelines Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to
Biomedical Journal (ICMJE) http://www.icmje.org U of Minnesota: Office of the Vice President for Research
http://www.research.umn.edu/ethics/policies/Authorship.htm
Responsible Conduct of Research
Scientific fraudConflicts of InterestBiasConfounding
Literature Review – Helps:
Clarify or refine the problem Verify that this is an important problem which
needs answering Fills in gaps of existing knowledge Find measurement instruments Identify researchers with similar interests Identify or refine target journal selection Don’t limit to just what is available
electronically
Literature Review - II
Common databases MEDLINE Web of Science PsycINFO CINAHL Cochrane Library
Others Embase CAB Abstracts
RefWorks http://www.lib.umn.edu/site/refworks.phtml
Check target journals “Instructions to Authors” for required citation style http://mulford.meduohio.edu/instr
DemosPubMed & Ovid MEDLINE demo (
http://www.biomed.lib.umn.edu )Links to other importation guides
http://www.lib.umn.edu/site/refimport.phtml
Choosing a Journal: Part I
About the article:Key point to be made/desired impactTarget audienceComplexity of the issue – is it broad or
narrow?Technicality of the methodologyTime lines / timelinessGeographical limits
Choosing a Journal: Part II
Journals differ in terms of: Degree of competitiveness Disciplinary background Intended audience Importance attached to theory and methods Degree of dogmatism Format, style and article length Turnaround time Refereeing procedures
Choosing a Journal: Part III About the potential journal
Discipline/subject (s) coveredLevel of technicalityCirculation numbers and locationNature of the target audienceFrequency of publication / publication lagSpecific relevance of articles already
publishedPrestige/accessibility/impact factors Costs involved
Categories of Manuscripts
ArticlesOriginal theoretical and/or empirical
researchReview articles or essaysPractitioner-orientated articlesEducational technique
Books Chapters in books Book reviews
Research Designs Qualitative Research: Gather non-numerical
data to help explain or develop a theory about a relationship Phenomenology Ethnography Grounded theory Case study
Quantitative Research: Numerical analysis/research Descriptive Experimental
Overview of Research Study Designs
Clancy, MJ. 2002 Overview of research designs. Emerg Med J 19:546-549
The Research Process
Kuhlthau CC. 1991. Inside the search process: information seeking from the user’s perspective. J Am Soc Info Sci 42(5):361-371.