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Formulating research questions_ MPH 2024

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38 views19 pages

Formulating research questions_ MPH 2024

Uploaded by

Miraf Mesfin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Formulating research questions

Elin C Larsson
16/12 2024
Outline
• Learning objectives
• What is a good research question?
• Exercise

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 2


Learning objectives

• To be able to formulate a research question


• Practise how to formulate a reseach question and give input to others

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 3


Research question
• Defines the research purpose
• Open-ended
• They can't be answered with a simple
yes or no response
• Measurable through quantitative data or
qualitative measures
• Qualitative, aim to explore phenomena,
understand experiences, or gain insights
into people's perceptions and behaviors.

• Quantitative, seek to measure variables


and analyze relationships between them,
often using statistical methods
• Summarize the issue/topic being
researched

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 5


Quantitative research questions
Should be precise

Include the population to be studied

Dependent and independent


variables (exposure and outcome)

Framed and finalized at the start of


the study

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 6


How to formulate a good research question?

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 7


Steps to formulate a research question
Start with a broad topic
• A broad topic provides you with plenty of avenues to explore in their search for a
viable research question.

• When searching for a topic, choose an area of study that you are genuinely interested
in, since that will affect your motivation levels throughout your research.

• Consider the interests being addressed recently by the research community, as this
may affect your paper’s chances of getting published.

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 8


Formulating a research question
Do preliminary research to learn about topical issues
• Once you have picked a topic, start doing
preliminary research.
• This initial stage of research accomplishes two
goals, a preliminary review of related literature
allows you to:
1. Discover issues that are currently being discussed in
the sceintific community and you will get up-to-date,
relevant knowledge.
2. Spot existing gaps or limitations in existing
knowledge. With a certain amount of fine-tuning, you
can later use these gaps as the focus of your research
question.

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 9


Formulating a research question
Narrow down your topic and determine potential research
questions

• When you have gathered enough knowledge on the


topic, you can start focusing on a more specific area
of study and narrowing down a research question.
• Focus on gaps in existing knowledge.
• Construct research questions out of identified
limitations in literature or, research questions that
can extend or complement the findings of existing
literature.

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Formulating a research question

Formulate initial questions


• List potential questions related to your narrowed topic.

Evaluate the questions


• Ensure the questions are clear, focused, and researchable

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Formulating a research question
Refine the question, consider:
• Make the question focused and specific. Ensure it is feasible to answer within
your timeframe and resources.

Test the question


• Discuss your question with peers, mentors, etc. to get feedback and revsie

Finalize the research question


• Ensure it meets all the criteria of being clear, focused, researchable, feasible,
specific

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Challenges to RQs

• Too broad
→ may impact the internal validity and
the relevance of the results by
rendering unclear conclusions

• Too narrow
→ may limit the external validity and
broader interest in your results

Back to the basics: Guidance for formulating good research questions JR. Covvey, Et
al.

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 13


Example for how to craft a question
A study regarding cancer:
• Reflecting on the patients/population, important subgroups that would
introduce significant heterogeneity (specific cancer type)?
• Are different patient subgroups of interest to you, or has one been thoroughly
studied while others have not (early-stage vs late-stage)?
• Would subgroup choice create feasibility challenges (finding early-stage
cases to sample when most patients are diagnosed late-stage)
• Ethical concerns (requiring standard of care as an active control vs using a
placebo)

Back to the basics: Guidance for formulating good research questions JR. Covvey, et. al.

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 14


PI/ECO
P = Patient, Population, Problem
I/E = Intervention/exposure
C = Comparison
O = Outcome Additional letters (for PICOT, PICOS,
PICOTS, PICOTTS)
•Timeframe
•Type of study
•Setting

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FINER criteria

Back to the basics: Guidance for formulating good research questions JR. Covvey, et. al.
Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 16
Examples of research questions

1. What is the prevalence of obesity among adults in Stockholm?

2. How do smoking habits vary by age and gender in Cape Town, South
Africa?

3. What is the association between social media usage and self-esteem


among teenagers?

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Excercise
• Form groups of 3 students
• Develop a research question that could be answered in a cross sectional
study
• Discuss in larger groups 3 groups
• Share learnings in full group

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Summary
• A clear research question will help the
design of the research and guide the data
collection
• You have practised how to formulate a
research question
• Next steps is to develop the survey and
questionnaire- for the coming days

Karolinska Institutet - a medical university 16/12/2024 19

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