For MSc Health sciences. Summary of all learning objectives for the research methods exam, this contains all mandatory information to know for the exam. Structured, consice, and complete summary.
Grade 7,7 for RM exam.
Week 1
Lecture 1 > research perspectives, research objective and research question
Students are able to identify current and complex public health challenges
Current health challenges
- Climate crisis: heat, weather impact, floodings, food security
- Making health care fairer
- Access to medicine: persistent and growing social economic gaps resulting in easier access to health care
compared to others
- Opioid crisis
- Health care delivery in areas of conflict and crisis
- Preparing for epidemics
- Anti-microbial resistance
- Public trust: misinformation/disinformation
- Ethical and social implications of new technologies
- Data modernization and privacy
- Food insecurity and food deserts
- Public health workforce shortage
What makes current challenges complex:
- Globalization ‘a world that is becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent’
- Fuzzy instead of rigid
- Boundaries if they are not fixed
- Agents > people learn and develop; we cannot predict behavior all the time
- Systems co-evolve
Students are able to explain different epistemological stances (e.g., objectivism, constructivism), theoretical
perspectives (e.g., positivism, interpretivism) and the relationship between them
Three types of epistemologies. Epistemology van help to clarify issues of research design.
1. Objectivism = reality exist independently of consciousness > in other words, there is an objective reality ‘out
there’.
Researchers should not include their own feelings and values; it is about discovering this objective truth.
- Theoretical perspective = positivism: there is only one reality/truth, and the reality can be measured > example
of the white and black swans.
- Often deductive written and measurement through surveys and data records
- Methods: quantitative, focused on bias free data
This vies has been challenged to post-positivism = we can only approximate the truth. We try to come as close to the truth,
but you are never shure.
- Many designs such as RCTs connect to this
2. Constructivism = truth and meaning do not exist in some external world but are created by the subject’s
interactions with the world.
So meaning is constructed and not discovered. Researchers are viewing the world through their frame of reference there
are multiple realities.
- Theoretical perspective = interpretivism: knowledge is contextual, multiple contradictory accounts of the world
can exist.
- Inductive driven and multiple data collection methods such as depth interviews or participation observation
- Methods: ethnography, participate observation methods, grounded theory
3. Subjectivism = meaning is imposed by the subject on the object.
Subjects construct meaning but from within unconsciousness from cultural/religious beliefs etc. (collective
unconsciousness)
- Theoretical perspective = postmodernism: emphasis multiplicity (diversity), ambiguity (uncertainty), ambivalence
(doubt) and fragmentation (separating).
- Focusing on how the social world becomes represented, and how meanings are produced.
- Methods: phenomenological research
1
, RESEARCH METHODS EXAM
Summary
Objectivism: there is an objective reality out there
Constructivism: subject construct their own meaning in different ways
Subjectivism: meaning is imposed by the subject on the object
Other theoretical perspectives
1. Critical inquiry = critical form of research. Meta process of investigation, not only understanding but also
changing it
Not only wanting to interpret the world but also seeking to change it. The assumption is that ideas are mediated by power
relations in society.
- The element of change is important
- It questions current values and assumptions and challenges conventional social structures
2. Feminism = social position of people or the researcher
Feminist epistemologies take the view that what a person knows is largely determined by their social position.
Students can define and give examples of epistemic injustice in health sciences
Epistemic injustice = injustice related to knowledge, exclusion, silencing, misrepresentation, undervaluing.
(on a micro/individual level)
- Takes place on a systematic level so groups of people that are excluded/under valuated etc.
Examples:
- Gaslight movie with two main characters
- Children with diabetes we want to improve their lives. Sometimes we forget to involve the people with the
condition themselves and we want to talk only to the caregivers.
- People with disabilities researchers involve people around them instead of the people who are experiencing this
itself
Students can reflect on their own positionality
Exploring your own theory of knowledge and theoretical perspectives is important because it influences your choices.
Students are able to formulate an objective and research questions
Research process: literature + problems and questions (research agenda) > research topic (knowledge gap) > objective and
research question (understanding and solving the problem) with an external and internal objective. Formulating a research
objective:
- Informative (indication of knowledge to be gathered)
- Useful (relevant according to parties involved)
- Realistic (likelihood of contributing to solving the problem)
- Feasible (feasibility – time and resources)
- Clear (specify contribution)
Two sorts of objectives:
1. External objective
o Contribution of your research project to solution of the problem/what results can be expected
2. Internal objective
o In this study we investigate the effect … = the way in which this will be done/the insights, information,
knowledge needed and is very similar to your research question
… (b) … in order to … (a) …
Your research question should include discovering, exploring, understanding, explaining and comparing & boundaries
2
, RESEARCH METHODS EXAM
Data analysis
Content analysis (deductive)
- Make inferences about data systematically
- Objectively identify characteristics/classes/categories
Thematic analysis
- Identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns/themes
- Within data, a form of pattern recognition
Grounded theory
- Discovery & construction of theory through open analysis of data
Narrative analysis
- Capture lived experiences of individuals
Conservational analysis
- Formal analysis of everyday conversations; how do the participants express themselves
Discourse analysis
- How spoken and written language is used in context
Document analysis
Lecture 2 > introduction research priorities and research agendas
Students are able to explain how research priorities are set and are able to give examples.
Research priorities = select research priorities by organizations who are conducting or funding public health, while facing
competing demands a scare resource.
- Therefore a collective activity for deciding which uncertainties are most worth trying to resolve through research
is warranted > like problems to be understood or solutions to be developed/tested
Cochrane tries to develop a method to try to make a research agenda to prioritize systematic reviews, because doing a
systematic review can take up to years and they prioritize which systematic review is needed to be done first.
Example 1: ‘setting priorities in Tabacco control: a stakeholder engagement project’. To set research priorities in
tobacco control, they first had two surveys and a workshop, and a range of stakeholders participated in the
workshops, such as members of the public, clinicians, researchers, but also research funders, health-care
commissioners and public health organizations. In the workshops they identified 183 unanswered questions and
made 15 categories out of that to answer in the systematic review.
Example 2: ‘research priority setting in organ transplantation: a systematic review’ To set research priorities in
organ transplantation, they didn’t invite stakeholders but looked at literature. They made a column list where the
circles correspond to the number of studies that identified the topic as a research priority.
It is important to include patients since they have different priorities then the healthcare itself.
The Netherlands focusing on priority settings:
- The national health care institute: using systematic reviews for research gaps, final decision is based on the
evidence and other considerations
- Health care efficiency research focuses on early evaluation promising interventions & evidence for guideline and
insurance coverage
Students 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 who fund public health research prioritize certain research while facing demands & scare resources
- A collective activity is necessary for decision making
- Uncertainties must be considered
Challenges:
- Power imbalance > patients have less power than Docters etc.
- Heterogeneity of patient population (patients have different needs)
- Underrepresentation of marginalized groups
Research agenda = sets clear goals and helps to communicate to others what your study is and what the area holds.
- Demand gap and implementation gap makes a gap between science and society > due to a lack in communication
o Demand gap = researchers start with a question that they come up with themselves and not all is
relevant to society
o Implementation gap = getting your findings to the people that benefit from your study is difficult and
takes a lot of time
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