Omdurman Islamic University Faculty of Medicine and Health science

Department of community Medicine

Introduction To Research Methodology

Is systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of primary or secondary quantitative or qualitative data to answer a certain question or solve a problem.

Definition of Research

Research begins with asking a question. The main purpose of research is to answer

the question you have asked.

WHAT ARE SOME QUESTIONS THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ANSWER?

What is the Question?

The aim of the research is to solve a problem

Funders want you to quantify the need in your community for which you need the funding

Funders want you to demonstrate the impact of the programs they have funded.

To assess the progress you have made in reaching the goals of your program.

Why Do Research/Analyze Data?

Look back at the question you want to answer.

What information will help you answer that question?

LET’S TAKE AN EXAMPLE

Collect What Data?Determining What Data to Collect

Look at information that other people have already collected

Collect your own information

How To Get Data That Will Achieve Your Goal?

What are some of the people or places you can go to get information to answer your question?

Census Child Care /Research Connections

Labor StatisticsNational Child Care Research Collaboration

and ArchiveState AgenciesColleges/UniversitiesAssociations and other interest groups

Using Information Others Have Collected

ALWAYS BE AWARE OF THE SOURCE OF YOUR DATA AND USE PUBLIC SOURCES

Information you are looking for may not be available elsewhere.

You may have access to groups that others do not – data you can provide/collect can and will help the field in general.

Collecting information specific to your agency can help evaluate the services you provide and help you assess where best to concentrate your resources.

Why Collect Your Own Information?

1- Talking to people either one-on-one or in groups (example, focus groups).

2- SurveysFace-to-faceMailTelephoneWeb-based/E-mail

How to Collect Data?

WHO DO YOU WANT INFORMATION FROM?

Talking to or Surveying the Entire Population.

Sampling the PopulationConvenience SampleRandom SampleStratified Random Sample

Who To Collect Information From?Determining the Population

Hierarchy of Study Types??

Descriptive•Case report•Case series•Survey

Analytic

Observational•Cross sectional•Case-control•Cohort studies

Experimental•Randomized controlled trials

Strength of evidence for causality between a risk factor and outcome

One-on-one/Group Interviews: Look for patterns, general themes, specific language, etc. Do NOT generalize to your population.

Surveys: Counts, percents, averages, etc. CAN generalize to your population.

Analyzing the Information(Your Own or Others)

YOUR NUMBERS: CHECK DOUBLE-CHECK AND THEN

CHECK AGAIN.

Know your audience. Highlight information that would be of most

interest to your target audience. Place your information within an overall

framework/context. The same data can be used for multiple

reports to multiple audiences.

Reporting the Information

ABOVE ALL KEEP IT SIMPLE AND UNDERSTANDABLE.

Thank you for attention

لحسن شكرا`................المتابعة