This summary contains all the important subjects that are required for the exam. The chapters of Grey (Doing Research in the Real World) are summarized, as well as the lectures (1-12) and the videos and other materials that were on canvas.
conceptual frameworks and operationalizing your research
measurements in health sciences
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Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
Health Sciences Master
Research Methods
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Summary Research Methods
Master Health Sciences, 2022
Lecture 1: Introduction to research perspectives, research objective and research questions
• Students are able to explain different research perspectives (e.g., objectivism,
constructivism)
• Students are able to explain inductive and deductive reasoning
• Students are able to formulate an objective and research questions
Through the inductive approach, data are accumulated and analysed to see if relationships emerge
between variables.
Data collection → Data analyses → Theory
The deductive approach uses a theory to generate a working hypothesis concerning relationships
between variables. The hypothesis is operationalized and tested and is either accepted or rejected on
the basis of evidence.
Theory → Hypothesis → Data collection → Confirmation, rejection, modification
The inductive and deductive models are not mutually exclusive. A researcher may turn a collection of
data into a set of concepts, models or even theories (inductive approach) which are then tested
through experimentation (deductive).
Ontology: the study of being, the nature
of existence and what constitutes reality.
Understanding ‘what is’.
Epistemology: study of knowledge.
Provides a philosophical background for
deciding what kinds of knowledge are
legitimate and adequate. Understanding
‘what it means to know’.
EPISTEMOLOGY
Objectivism: there is an objective reality ‘out there’, researchers should strive not to include their
own feelings and values into research.
Constructivism: truth and meaning are created by the subject’s interactions with the world. Meaning
is constructed, not discovered. There are multiple realities.
Subjectivism: meaning is imposed by someone on subject. Meaning is constructed from within
collective unconsciousness, dreams, religious beliefs, etc.
THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Positivism: the social world exists externally to the researcher, and its properties can be measured
directly through observation. Reality consist of what is available to the senses. Inquiry should be
based on scientific observation. The natural and human sciences should be dealing with fact and not
with values. Closely linked to objectivism.
Interpretivism: culturally derived and historically situated interpretations of the social life-world. The
world is interpreted through the classifications schemes of the mind. Closely linked to constructivism.
Examples of interpretivist approach:
• Symbolic interactionism: meanings arise from the process of social interaction.
, • Phenomenology: new meanings may emerge from our immediate experience of phenomena.
• Realism: the picture that science paints of the world is a true one.
• Hermeneutics: social reality is socially constructed
• Naturalistic inquiry: there are multiple constructed realities that can only be studied
holistically.
Critical inquiry: ideas are mediated by
power relations in society. Certain
groups in society are privileged over
others and exert an oppressive force on
subordinate groups. Mainstream
research practices are implicated, even
if unconsciously, in the reproduction of
the systems of class, race and gender
oppression.
Feminism: What a person knows is
largely determined by their social
position. Women are regarded as an
oppressed social class.
TOPIC, OBJECTIVE AND RESEARCH QUESTION
Topics for research can be picked through literature or through problems & questions of the
workplace or community setting. It is important to identify the research gap. The research topic
should contribute to understanding and/or problem solving. Should have practical and/or theoretical
relevance.
Objective should be informative, useful, realistic and feasible.
External objective = contribution of your research project to solution of the problem.
Internal objective = the way in which this will be done = very similar to research question.
Main research question needs to be concise and unambiguous. Establish boundaries for the
research. No closed questions.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
In experimental research, subjects are randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control
group. Researchers manipulate the independent variable to see its effect on the dependent variable.
In quasi-experimental research, the researcher has to take existing groups rather than drawing on
random samples.
Action research involves close collaboration between researcher and practitioners, and places an
emphasis on promoting change within an organization.
Analytical surveys attempt to test a theory in the field through exploring the association between
variables. Analytical surveys are highly structured and place an emphasis on the careful random
selection of samples, so that the results can be generalized to other situations or contexts.
Phenomenological research is a theoretical perspective that uses relatively unstructured methods of
data collection.
,Heuristic inquiry is a process that begins with a question or a problem which the researcher tries to
illuminate or find an answer to. The question itself is usually focused on an issue that has posed a
personal problem and to which answers are required.
Lecture 2: Introduction research priorities and agendas
• Students are able to explain how research priorities are set, and are able to give examples.
questions
• Student are able to explain what a research agenda is, what methods are used to develop a
research agenda and can give some examples.
Research priority setting: Organizations conducting or funding public health research have to select
research priorities while often facing competing demands and scare resources. Therefore a collective
activity for deciding which uncertainties are most worth trying to resolve through research is
warranted. Uncertainties considered may be problems to be understood or solutions to be
developed or tested; across broad or narrow areas.
The wheel of research priority setting:
Example: setting research priorities in tobacco control. The stakeholders identify the unanswered
research questions (that they would like an answer to). Stakeholders:
• members of the public (smokers and ex-smokers)
• Clinicians
• Researchers
• research funders
• health-care commissioners
• public health organizations.
Example of question that stakeholders came up with: what are the most effective stop-smoking
interventions for smokers who are part of a hard-to-reach group?
, Priority setting departs from the question which types of health care are reimbursed (basic health
insurance package) or not. For example: systematic reviews when there is an evidence gap or a rare
disease. The National Health Institute provides money for this kind of research. Researchers can
register for a new project that needs to be reviewed. Final decision (on whether or not to include in
basic health insurance package) is based on evidence from this research.
Another way in which priority in research could be set, is when a new method or disease gets
attention in news, television etc. (public opinion).
Lecture 3: Conceptual frameworks and operationalizing your research
• Students are able to explain what a theory/ conceptual framework is
• Students are able to explain why and how we use theory / conceptual frameworks
• questions
Students are able to select or develop a theory / conceptual framework
Theory: A set of interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions and propositions that present a
systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of
explaining and predicting phenomena.
Constructs/concepts are observable, distinguishable, variable.
- In social sciences (interdisciplinary sciences) concepts and their relations are more often
differently interpreted, therefore there is more need for clarification of concepts to
understand the research perspective and scope.
- Concepts are also used in biomedical sciences and epidemiology, some concepts do not
require extensive explanation (e.g. DNA), while others do (e.g., disability). Nevertheless,
concepts are often defined/operationalized in text (e.g. introduction or methods).
Frameworks are the description of and relationship between concepts
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Example: social determinants of health framework. The goal of this framework is to gather and
review evidence on what needs to be done to reduce health inequities within and between countries
1. Where do health differences among social groups originate, if we trace them back to their
deepest roots?
2. What pathways lead from root causes to the stark differences in health status observed at
the population level?
3. In light of the answers to the first two questions, where and how should we intervene to
reduce health inequities?
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