COMMUNITY HEALTH II AND RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY
MODULE CODE: BED 012
DEPARTMENT CLINICAL MEDICINE
LECTURE NOTES
DIPLOMA IN CLINICAL MEDICINE
ANDERSON M. MIRITI
DEPT’ OF CLIN MED
CHUKA K.M.T.C
September 2016
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Proposal development
 THE RESEARCH PROPOSAL
The research proposal is the key ‘gateway’ document to
your dissertation/proposal. It sets out the main details of
how your research will be conducted.
In many universities the dissertation cannot be progressed
until a supervisor has been allocated and the research
proposal agreed between student and supervisor.
It is also a key document in formulating and crystallising
your topic ideas into a ‘do-able’ dissertation.
 The research proposal:
PURPOSE
• Organising and developing your topic ideas
• Testing the scope of the research
• Identifying an appropriate supervisor
• Convincing other people of the merit of your idea
• Initiating the research process
• Obtaining support and early access rights
• Being a basis on which to develop your research

Any Medical research / Epidemiological study should have a

proper proposal in written form before it is actually carried
out.
It is like a blue print of a building plan before the
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Writing a research proposal is both science and art
A good research proposal is based on scientific
facts and on the art of clear communication
Topic selection
•What exactly do I want to find out?
•What is a researchable problem?
•What are the obstacles in terms of knowledge,
data availability, time, or resources?
•Do the benefits outweigh the costs?
 2. Abstract
• An abstract is essentially a brief summary of the
whole dissertation. It gives an overview of the
research study including the conclusions.
• The main purpose of an abstract is to give your
reader a general idea of the content of the
dissertation. The abstract will help a reader
decide whether to read the whole text in detail.
An additional purpose is to inspire interest in
your dissertation.
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• An abstract is found at the beginning of
dissertations immediately after the title page.
Abstracts may also appear separately from
dissertations and be held in databases of
dissertation abstracts.
• Here you will have the opportunity to write a
draft for your own dissertation abstract while
considering the common information
elements, as well as tense and voice choices.
 3. Introduction
• The problem proposed to be studied is introduced
in this section.
• It should help the reader to acquaint with the topic
• Introduction should be short about one or two
pages.
• The problem should be stated in such a way that
it’s importance and relevance is realized by any
one who reads it.
4. Problem statement
Its a brief description of the issues that need t be
addressed by a problem solving team and should
be presented to them (or created by them) before
they try to solve the problem.
On the other hand, a statement of the problem is
a claim of one or two sentences in length that
outlines the problem addressed by the study.
The statement of the problem should briefly
address the question: What is the problem that
the research will address?
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A problem statement is a statement that briefly sums
up the problem for the event
The research-worthy problem statement should
address all six questions: what, how, where, when,
why, and who?
A good problem statement should answer these
questions:
1. What is the problem? This should explain why the
team is needed.
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2. Who has the problem or who is the client or
customer? - This should explain who needs the
solution and who will decide the problem has been
solved.
3. What form can the resolution be? What is the
scope and limitations (in time, money, resources,
technologies) that can be used to solve the
problem?
5. Justification
This is the rationale of carrying out a research
study.
 6. Research question
The research question may not be a question as
such, but rather a statement of a problem to be
investigated.
It covers the general area, specific area, the gap in
the research and then to the proposed research
statement.
7. Hypothesis
• The research problem can also be specified
using a set of testable hypotheses – a set of
logical, reasonable, tentative explanations of the
subject under investigation.
• It is normal to reject the ‘null hypothesis’ (H0)
before testing alternative hypotheses.
• The null hypothesis states that the two variables
under consideration occurred solely by chance.
• If the null hypothesis is rejected, alternative
hypotheses may be developed.
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• Hypotheses are never proved or disproved. In a
research study it is normal to either support or reject a
hypothesis. For a hypothesis to be rejected would
commonly lead to the substitution of a new hypothesis
that is then either supported or rejected.
• If a hypothesis is supported by the data in your study, it
may later be supported by further studies. Eventually, a
hypothesis that is well supported from multiple sources
may be developed into a well-grounded theory. It could
be that your research is testing, in a different context,
hypotheses from earlier research studies.
 Objectives
• This is a very important and pivotal section
and everything else in the study is centered
around it
• The objective of the proposed study should
be stated very clearly
• The objective stated should be specific,
achievable and measurable (SMART)
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• Too many objectives to be avoided
• Even just one clearly stated relevant objective
for a study would be good enough
• If there is more than one objective the
objectives can be presented in the appropriate
order of importance
Next lecture
• literature review
• Methodology - study area, study population,
study design, sampling, inclusion/exclusion
criteria
• ethical considerations in research.