2214med public health research methods

2214MED Public Health Research

MethodsWeek 2

Lecture questions?

• Searching data bases

• Finding literature

• Research proposals

• Research reports

• Literature Review

Assessment details

• Group work documents

- No full marks just for submitting!

- More detail is better (see L@G example)

- You should submit at least 12 team meeting reports

• Quantitative data set available but…

- Work Literature Review to find research questions (RQs) before starting analyses

- A load of numbers and variables can be demotivating if you don’t know where to start.

Group work resources

Go to L@G>Group Work Resource

- Use Google docs and G: Drive to facilitate group work

- Task allocation

- Conflict resolution

- Communication skills

- Managing meetings

Conflict resolution

Deal with conflicts early

• Use Group Charter at each meeting• Document missed meetings/uncompleted work

• How can the group help a member keep on track- Assign different task/topic, show them an example

• If input has not improved, two meetings are missed, or a person has not in conctact - email Nicola

• See L@G resources for communication, task allocation & conflict resolution

Activity 1:

Preparing Academic Readings

Preparing Weekly Readings + Ann Bibs.

6 steps to quick and easy weekly class reading preparation

1. Overview of reading – purpose, summary and main ideas2. Benefits - positives, advantages, good aspects3. Negatives - issues, problems, obstacles, criticisms4. Interesting points – conflicts, debates, insights, new ideas5. Your judgement of the usefulness of the article

- quality, applications, relevance, transferability, limitation, gaps- link to your research topic or RQs

6. Your own question about the article (why and how)- demonstrates prior critical assessment of content- always something to contribute in class- helps integrate and activate the content into your learning- initiative in discussions is a higher-order skill to have

Other ideas? Key/new terms, further readings, FU..

AKA HACKA Hot tip

Write! Not just read.

Processing Academic Readings AKA HACKA HOT TIPs

Cornell Notetaking SQ3R Method

Go to Bicycles Create Change.com>Resources Page

Download Cornell Notetaking & SQ3R Method

Weekly Reading Activity

Liamputtong (2017)Systematic reviews - pp. 251-265 343-357 Everything you wanted to know about Systematic Reviews – 295-309Writing up research - pp. 425-429 Critically appraising research - pp. 257 438Search strategy and inclusion/exclusion criteria - pp. 302

#2 Discus: How do you ‘critically appraise’

evidence?(p. 268)

#1 Self-rate(p. 270)

#3 Discus: Share with your team a PICO question you would like your

team to investigate. What systematic review protocol/strategy would you use

to answer this question?(p. 297-306)

Activity 2:

Literature Searching

Defining Topics for Literature Review

Literature on each theme is needed:1. Stress is an important health issue

(definition, key aspects)2. Your variable3. Students suffer from high amounts of

stress4. Link between University students and

[your variable]5. This is what we do/not know about the

relationship between these three themes

This is the structure of your Lit Review!

Literature Search Strategy

• See Wk 2 Lecture: Library search skills• See Liamputtong (2017) Chapter 19 p. 297-307 re search strategy and

inclusion/exclusion criteria

• Which databases will you use?

• Which search terms to use?

• For each theme: List professional key terms

• List synonyms of key terms

• Are alternate terms used elewhere?

• Use Boolean (AND, OR, NOT), truncation*, MeSH terms

• Are these terms identifying relevant literature? If not, be flexible

Example Literature Search Strategy

• Topic: What is the relationship between dietary supplements and athletic performance among college athletes?

• Terms• Dietary [diet*] supplement*

NOT • doping

AND• Athletic [OR sport, football, hockey, track, gymnastics] performance [OR success,

titles]AND

• College OR university athlete* [OR sport specific e.g. football, track etc]• Inclusion/exclusion criteria

• who should the studies be about?• what variables should the included studies have investigated (e.g. supplements,

performance, students)?• what outcomes are most interesting?

Hierarchies of evidence

Depends on the research question.Consider a research question such as What are young people’s experiences of living with HIV?

• Would an Randomised Control Trial (RCT) provide the best evidence?

This is just one way of organising

different types of evidence!

• Lit searches find different evidence

• Which is the best?

Anno Bib: Critically appraising literature

3 Main questions• Is the study valid? (think about bias, measurement tools, credibility)

• What are the results? (significant statistically or otherwise?)

• Are the results useful? (relating to your own study?)

RESOURCES ON L@G…• This week’s assigned reading

• Liamputtong (2017) - Research rigour: trustworthiness and reliability/validity

• L@G examples and information>Assessment>FAQ

• L@G - Use the Checklists …CASP

• Be selective (too much info?) use as a guide

7 steps to an Anno Bib.

For annotation include:

1. Citation – Full referencing details in APA 6th style

2. Background - what literature/previous knowledge informs the study?

3. Research aim/question - what is the study asking/trying to find out?

4. Methods - reliability & validity, sampling

5. Results - what are the results of the study? Are they statistically significant?

6. Usefulness (to your research) - Is the study population and setting similar to yours?

7. Limitations - small sample size, reliability/validity of measurement tools, other bias

Group task: Allocate sub-topics

• Topic: The relationship between stress and [your variable] among university students• Your task in the literature review is to:

- Make a case for why this topic is important

- Identify what is known/not known (gap) on this topic for the specified population

Literature on each of these points is required:1. Stress is an important health issue (definition, prevalence, causes..)2. One factor that may be related to student stress is [your variable]3. Students suffer from high amounts of stress (evidence on students and stress)4. This is what we know about the relationship between student stress and [your

variable]

TIP: Each of these points is a sub-topic within your literature review. Allocate a sub-topic to each group member to find literature on.

Goals for this week…

Research project aims• By next week each person

should have:- Designated a sub-topic - Have a specific search strategy - Sourced 3 articles- Completed 3 annotated

bibliographies

Group work aims• By next week groups should have:

- Group charters finalised- 2-3 detailed meeting records- Defined and allocated meeting roles- Identified group members

strengths/weaknesses- Continued to meet and keep up with

articles and Ann Bib progress- Keep members accountable and

motivated- Check L@G resources

Questions?

Tasks for this week…

• Get any new members up to speed• Complete group charter

• Share any completed Anno Bibs this week

• Complete sharing Anno Bibs - Next week should have you shared all 15 Anno Bibs your group (3 each)

- Faster you do this, the more time for Lit Review

• Might need to meet outside of class time- Maybe necessary sometimes

- Helps get work done = saves class time (ask tutor questions)

Activity 3:

Group Work

BE REMARKABLE