Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Question / Hypothesis
Dilip R Karnad
MD, FACP, FRCP
Doing Research –
the first steps towards the Nobel Prize
Chance? Pattern
Pattern
Experiment
Confirmation
Is the idea worth pursuing?
Hypothesis:
Computer games make children smarter
Literature search
• Should be convincing
2 A precedes B (Temporality)
Comprehension, Recall
Quality of study Scores in monthly tests
- Periodic tests
PICO
• Population: Normal/disease, human/animal
• Intervention: Therapy, risk factor,
diagnostic test, preventive measure
• Comparison or Control: Better / worse,
placebo / active control
• Outcome: Clinical, functional, laboratory,
economic
Schwatrz MD, et al. ACP Journal Club 2007;147:A8,9
Ideally framed research questions
PICO (Population – Intervention – Control – Outcome)
• Does salt fortified with folic acid and Vit B12 decrease
serum homocysteine levels more than unfortified salt in
vegetarians with previous myocardial infarction?
Ideally framed research question
Hypothesis:
Computer games improve scholastic performance
Population:
Intervention:
Control:
Outcome:
Research Question:
Does playing with “Brain Tickler 2010” daily for 2 years
improve performance of female Xth Grade students in the
XIIth Grade examinations when compared to students
with unrestricted access to all computer games?
Summary
1 Conceptualize the problem
Identify - what is the problem?
Prioritize - why is this important?
Rationale - can the problem be solved?
Importance - are there benefits to society?
2 Define a testable hypothesis
3 Frame a broad research question
3 Break the problem / hypothesis / study into parts
4 Refine question - specific, focused
Can be answered with available resources - time, budget,
facilities
It is worthwhile to put in a lot of thought and effort
before starting even a simple study!