Planning Your Own Research

Kevin Schwartzman MD

Epi 679

June 16, 2006

Why Do Research?

• To win friends and influence people (and get a fellowship/job/promotion?)

• To go to conferences in exciting places• To address a scientific question• To improve the evidence base• To inform practice• To explore a field/specialty• To see if it is an activity you enjoy• To develop contacts, mentoring, etc.

What Type of Research?

• Basic science (e.g. mechanisms of disease and/or treatment)

• Clinical (patient-oriented)--observational, experimental

• Systematic reviews, meta-analyses• Epidemiologic/public health• Medical education• Quality assurance

The Research Question• The most difficult--and fundamental--

part of any project is formulating a suitable question

• Does the question make sense?

• Can it be answered?

• Can it be answered by you and the team?

The Research Question

• Should it be answered? (Is it something colleagues would want to know?)

• Should it be answered by you? (Is it something you would want to know?)

What Scope?

• Project should reflect reality of your own (and supervisor’s/colleagues’) time lines and availability

• For residents, might be anywhere from 1-6 months• Well suited to chart audits/reviews, use of existing

data resources, gathering of simple prospective data or small number of consecutive patient observations

• Systematic reviews, meta-analyses• Decision analyses

What Scope?

• Pilot studies: collection of preliminary data to demonstrate feasibility, generate information for sample size calculations for more definitive work

• Resident research block not well suited to studies comparing clinical interventions (e.g. clinical trials)

• Not well suited to studies involving complicated prospective data, longer term followup, or recruitment of highly selected patients

Choosing a Supervisor/Team

• Experience in research, viewed in the context of your own proposed project (can ask for a CV; major research grants listed on Web sites e.g. CIHR; also many Quebec researchers are listed on FRSQ website)

• Experience with research supervision and mentoring (how did other residents or newcomers fare?)

• Accessibility, organization• Well-defined team or unit is helpful (e.g. statistical

support)

Choosing a Supervisor/Team (2)

• Support for your project (e.g. space, computer, technicians, etc.)

• Willingness to help set up the project e.g. ethics committee, data resources, etc.

What is Your Role?• Needs to be described explicitly and agreed upon at

the outset, whenever you work with supervisor(s) and/or a team

• You should be given primary responsibility and credit; that is, your project should “stand alone” with you as first author on presentations and manuscript(s)

• You should develop a protocol, with appropriate supervision and/or input from others, incorporating all the usual elements: background and literature review, hypotheses/objectives, methods including measurements and analyses

Your Role (2)

• The protocol should be finalized before your research “block,” for clinical trainees

• Where applicable, your supervisor should ensure that suitable administrative arrangements are made (e.g. ethics committee approval)

• You and your supervisor/colleagues should be satisfied that your project meets scientific and ethical standards, including requirements for confidentiality

Your Role (3)

• You should expect to take primary responsibility for data collection and management, and to contribute to the analysis

• This includes appropriate data management• You should present your results at scientific

meetings• You should be responsible for the first draft of

any manuscript(s) based primarily on your results• You and your team should ensure timely

submission of your results

Not Your Role

• To be a research assistant or technician

• To take primary responsibility for administrative issues e.g. ethics committees, research accounts, grant submissions

• To take responsibility for data storage, if you are working under supervision

Before Your Research Block

• Literature review and protocol completed (e.g. case/outcome/exposure definitions, inclusions/exclusions)

• Feasibility addressed, including sample size issues

• Administrative preparations completed e.g. ethics committee, DPS permission for chart reviews

• Study materials (questionnaires, chart review forms, databases) prepared

Funding Issues

• Your own time• Small-scale expenses—may be covered

through funds held by supervisor/team member, or from departmental funds e.g. pulling hospital charts, office supplies

• Medium-scale e.g. part-time research assistant—as above, plus some specific funding competitions e.g. MUHC pilot projects, FRSQ pilot projects, some specialty societies

At the End of the Day...

• You should have learned about your question

• You should have learned about the conduct of research

• You should have learned about writing a research protocol

• You should have learned about methods of data collection and analysis

At the End of the Day…(2)

• You should have had the opportunity to present and defend your results at scientific meeting(s), local and hopefully national/international

• You should hopefully have published a manuscript

• You should have had fun!!!