Getting started in research: designing and preparing to conduct a research study

Abstract

Objective:

To discuss common pitfalls and useful tips in designing a quantitative research study, the importance and process of ethical approval, and consideration of funding.

Conclusions:

Through careful planning, based on formulation of a research question, early career researchers can design and conduct quantitative research projects within the framework of the Scholarly Project or in their own independent projects.

Keywords

research methods study design ethics research funding

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Kisely

Kendall

. Critically appraising qualitative research: A guide for clinicians more familiar with quantitative techniques. Australas Psychiatry 2011; 19: 364–367.

Erdfelder

Faul

Buchner

. GPOWER: A general power analysis program. Behav Res Methods 1996; 28: 1–11.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC – Epi Info 7. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/epiinfo/7/index.htm (2014, accessed 9 June 2014).

Chatterjee

Abramson

. WinPepi: An easy-to-use and free statistical software tool for epidemiologists. J Dental Oral Craniofac Epidemiol 2013; 2: 25–30.

British Medical Journal. Statistics at Square One, 9th ed. http://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/resources-readers/publications/statistics-square-one. (1997, accessed 26 June 2014).

Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, Yale School of Medicine. Introduction to biostatistics. http://ycci.yale.edu/education/onlinecourses/biostatistics.aspx (2014, accessed 9 June 2014).

Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical conduct for research involving humans . Ottawa: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2010.

Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council. Human research ethics committees. http://hrep.nhmrc.gov.au/ (2014, accessed 25 November 2014).

National Ethic Advisory Committee (NZ). Streamlined ethical guidelines for health and disability research. http://neac.health.govt.nz/home (2014, accessed 25 November 2014).