MRes Mentorship Programme Session 6 Research Design

Overview of session Qualitative vs Quantitative Exploratory vs Descriptive Mixed Methods o Randomised Controlled Trials o Interviews o Focus groups o Case studies o Process Evaluation

Qualitative vs Quantitative Studies are often ‘grouped’ in this manner but it does not need to be this inflexible. What type of issue are you measuring? How can it be measured? e.g. How can you measure culture with numbers? How can you measure changes in blood biochemistry with focus groups?

Mixed Methods Can address the pitfalls of inflexible research methods. Enables the findings to be interpreted within context. For example …

Mixed Methods Patient’s do not respond to a weight loss intervention. Initial interpretation suggests the intervention was unsuccessful. However, interviews with patient’s identify they lost weight during the early phase but regained weight before final data collection. So, hhmm, maybe the intervention was effective but needs revised to promote sustained weight loss. Mixed methods provides greater context for interpretation.

Let’s outline and discuss some research design methodologies ….

Focus Groups Strengths? Limitations?

Focus Groups Issues to think about… Feasible sample size. Who to include in single group? … Beware conflict of interests. Focus questions. Venue / environment. Dictaphone / note taking. Duration. Transcription. Analysis. Your safety.

Focus Groups Example Understanding physical activity facilitators and barriers during and following a supervised exercise programme in Type 2 diabetes: a qualitative study n.b. (1) all PDF examples are available on our Moodle page. n.b. (2) –if viewing PPT in full screen mode press Escape to access the PDF link here.

Interviews What are the strengths? What are the limitations?

Interviews Issues to think about… Feasible sample size. Structured, semi-structured, unstructured? Venue / environment. Dictaphone / note taking. Duration. Transcription. Analysis. Your interview skills / practice. Your safety.

Interviews Example Insight from health professionals on physical activity promotion within routine diabetes care

Case Studies Strengths? Limitations?

Case Studies Issues to think about … Feasible sample size. What data to include? How will you collect the data? Do you need special permissions? How will you analyse the data? How will you interpret the data?

Case Studies Example Peer Telephone Counseling for Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus : A Case-Study Approach to Inform the Design, Development, and Evaluation of Programs Targeting Physical Activity

Evaluations Strengths? Limitations?

Evaluations Issues to think about … What type of evaluation e.g. Outcome / Process / Impact / Feasibility What questions do you need answered? What questions will stakeholders want answered? What data do you need to collect? How will you collect it and who will collect it? How will it be analysed and interpreted?

Evaluations Example Process evaluation of a school based physical activity related injury prevention programme using the RE-AIM framework

Randomised Controlled Trials Strengths? Limitations?

Randomised Controlled Trials Issues to think about … Ethical issues. Recruitment and retention. Sample size / power calculation. What is the intervention? What is the control? How to reduce bias? Outcome measures – what, who and how?

RCTs Example West End Walkers 65+: A randomised controlled trial of a primary care-based walking intervention for older adults: Study rationale and design

Other designs Appreciative Inquiry (Example: ) Action Research (Example: ) Others?

Tips for refining your research design ‘How to…’ books on designs for health research. Find ‘simplistic’ books or online sources first of all. Google search terms such as “What are the strengths of focus groups?” or “How to optimise recruitment for a randomised controlled trial?” Find more academic literature after you have got your head around the design. Sometime the academic literature can confuse your understanding.

Tips for refining your research design Look for studies that use similar designs: How did they recruit? How did they collect data? How did they analyse the data? How did they present the data? What aspects of their methods fit (or do not fit) with your research idea? Use all of this info to refine your research design.

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Moodle The resources used today are on Moodle. Our module title is, “Maternal, Child and Family Health Mentorship Programme”. It seems to show up best if you use the search box and search for ‘MRes’.

Online Study Aids Browse online for study aids further guidance on how to How to design a research project Qualitative research designs How to do a case study Etc…

Some examples books.... Silverman, D. (2011). Qualitative Research. 3 rd edition. SAGE publications. Bruce N, Pope D, Stanistreet D. (2010). Quantitative Research Methods for Health Research. Wiley Publications.

Questions Anything else you’d like to cover today?

Next session What is your preference for the next session? For example - Further practice at database searching A writing feedback session Managing your supervisor Another Endnote session Another Ethics session Other ideas?