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Developing your research
question and writing an
introduction JENNIFER HENSEL, MD MSC FRCPC
RESEARCH SUMMER SCHOOL 2020
Objectives
To review the steps from identifying an area of interest, to
formulating a research question and writing a killer introduction for a
proposal
Key questions:
What’s the gap?
Why does it matter (i.e. who cares and why)?
How will you answer it?
By the end you will be able to:
Generate a research question using PICO/PIE
Know the key components of an effective introduction
Ask Questions!
1) Use the “Raise Hand” function: Click “Participants”,
find your name, select “More” and “Raise Hand.”
Unmute when invited to speak.
2) Write a chat.
What’s the gap?
An area of interest for a research project can come from a range of
places:
What’s the gap?
Your research idea should:
Address a topic of real or potential interest (to both you and the
scientific or clinical community)
Seek to add to what is known about the topic or generate knowledge
on a brand new topic
Aim to improve practice and/or the human condition
Be feasible to study meaningfully in a timely way with available
resources
Align (when possible) with institutional and other local stakeholder
priorities
What’s the gap?
How do you know if your idea is novel?
Review the literature
Don’t forget about the unpublished (“grey”) literature
Ask experts
The truth is that ideas are rarely 100% novel – more often you are asking a question that adds to existing knowledge
Testing an intervention in a new population
eg. DBT for eating disorders (vs Borderline PD)
Analyzing the effects of additional or different factors on a previously studied outcome
eg. The moderating effect of ethnicity on antipsychotic-induced weight gain
Replicating what has been shown in a different region
eg. Virtual education programs for rural providers in Canada (vs United States)
The research question
A good research question is:
Clear and succinct
Feasible
Of significant importance
Ethical to answer
(hypothesis driven)
The research question focusses the study, and informs choice of
methodology and analysis
The research question
PICO and PIE can help you create good, succinct questions
Create a statement about your area of interest and what you want to study
Take note of your environment and what type(s) of data you can/want to collect
Decide if PICO or PIE is most appropriate
PICO = quantitative
PIE = qualitative
Develop your research question
Revise your research question
Revise your research question
Revise your research question
•Population, person or problem
•Same as PICO P
•Issue or Intervention
•Same as PICO I •Evaluation, Effect
•What do you want to understand about the experience, meaning or mechanism?
E
Example:
Area of interest: I want to study videoconferencing for mental
health care to determine if it increases access to care among
patients with identified barriers
Environment/Data: I work in a clinic where we have identified key
patient groups with barriers to office-based care, one of which is
post-partum women
Research question (PICO): Does the option of videoconferencing for
psychotherapy among post-partum women increase the number of
visits attended compared to usual office-based care?
Example:
Area of interest: I am interested in the progression from a diagnosis
of unspecified psychosis to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. What
clinical and demographic factors are important?
Environment/Data: I work in Manitoba and have access to linked
health administrative data through the Manitoba Centre for Health
Policy
Research Question (PICO): Among individuals age 15-60 who
receive a diagnosis of unspecified psychosis, what are the
demographic and clinical factors associated with progression to a
diagnosis of schizophrenia compared to not?
Example:
Area of interest: I want to know more about the barriers to uptake of
electronic consultation (eConsult) for psychiatric advice among
primary care providers.
Environment/Data: I have access to eConsult usage data and the
primary care providers registered with the service.
Research question (PIE): What are the perceived barriers to the uptake of eConsult for psychiatric advice among primary care
providers in Ontario?
Come up with a research question
Area of interest: I am interested in studying medication non-compliance
among individuals with schizophrenia.
Environment: I work in a psychiatric outpatient program that serves a large
population of individuals with schizophrenia.
Area of interest: I would like to study frequent ED users for mental health
reasons in Winnipeg to understand more about their health care needs.
Environment: I work in the ED and I also have access to individual level
health care and social data through MCHP.
Writing an introduction
You will need to write an introduction as part of any proposal, research ethics submission, or grant funding application, and later as part of your study write up
Know your audience**
The introduction sets the stage
It identifies the problem
It justifies the problem as important (i.e. tells us why we should care)
It highlights the gap in what is and isn’t known
And it tells the reader how you intend to address the problem’s gap
The introduction needs to get the reader’s attention and make them want to read more
Writing an introduction
Approximately 4-5 paragraphs (depends on format requirements)
Paragraph 1:
What is the nature of the problem you are studying
Use numbers! Eg. what is the prevalence, what are the individual and
societal implications (e.g. disability/mortality), how much does it cost?
The first 1-2 sentences can make it or break it in some cases – so start
strong
Suicide accounts for nearly 25% of deaths among Canadian
youth. Youth with psychosis are a particularly vulnerable group,
with rates of suicide attempts 10 times that of their peers. Despite
a number of proven interventions, suicide rates in Canada have
not decreased in the last 15 years. This is in part due to barriers in
getting the right help to the right people at the right time. We
know that 50% of suicidal people access the health system in the
month before their death, showing that point of care
interventions may hold promise.
Writing an introduction
Paragraphs 2 and 3:
What is known about the topic
What is not known about the topic (may include why what is known
may be subject to contextual factors such as geography, health system
organization, population demographic factors, etc)
Summarize the available literature, including specific statistics when
relevant, or offer a range –
e.g. A systematic review on the topic found a prevalence range of 20-40%
Be specific about what is missing to lead into your research question
which will follow
e.g. While this intervention has been shown to be effective in adults, it has not
yet been evaluated in youth
Writing an introduction
Final Paragraph:
Introduces your study, including a summary of your research aim +/-
hypothesis
e.g. This study aims to determine if offering the option of videoconferencing
appointments to post-partum women will increase the number of
psychotherapy sessions attended.
May include your exact research question:
e.g. This study will answer the following research question: Does the option of
videoconferencing for psychotherapy among post-partum women increase
the number of visits attended compared to usual office-based care?
Questions and Discussion