Understanding & Conducting Research

Clinical epidemiology is a relatively new scientific discipline. It has a huge potential and positive impact on clinicians who possess it such as in ability to plan and conduct quality clinical researches, confidence in appraising clinical articles, reviewing study proposals and manuscripts. This book is written mainly as a supplementary reading material for the participants of the Clinical Research Methodology workshop organised by the Department of Family Medicine. It is able to inform the scientific community especially the clinicians of the fundamentals of clinical epidemiology (Chapter A and B). These include the fundamental and a more logical classification of clinical researches according to Grobbee and Hoes, a comparison between qualitative and quantitative researches, the basic concepts of validity, bias and precision, sample size and confounding. More importantly, it is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of the important steps and study designs in the planning a clinical research (Chapter C) till its publication. Also, essential features of each step and design are concisely elaborated without mathematical formulae. It is believed that thoughtful preparation is indispensable for a quality research, and such a research output is the most reliable guarantee for a publication in a reputable journal. An introduction to a typical process of a clinical trial is provided in Chapter D. Further description on the commonly encountered study designs, validation of questionnaires and economic evaluation are given in Chapter E. Clinical epidemiologists work closely with (bio)statisticians. Being knowledgeable in the breadth and depth of statistical concepts on top of clinical expertise, clinical epidemiologists provide meaningful guidance on the direction in statistical analysis. Chapter F delineates the steps to take in the statistical analysis stage of a research project. This includes basic concepts of variability, confident intervals, significance testing, effect estimates, descriptive and inferential statistics. Writing for reporting are skills with rather steep learning curve, and it is continuously sharpen with persistent use and readings of journal articles. Some suggestions and tips are provided in Chapter G to facilitate and initiate the acquiring of writing skills, about authorship, graphics and tables in a report or journal manuscript and tips in responding to reviewer’s comments and on resubmission. Chapter H summarises the overview of the essential concepts of clinical epidemiology and provides a suggested roadmap for clinicians to become producers of high-quality research and publications. Appendix 1 outlines the essential content for a clinical research proposal. Appendix 2 compiles a total of 47 questions and answers of important concepts about clinical research, or those from recent landmark studies relating to issues in medical/clinical research. Starting this book on and going through this series of Q & A may be motivating for beginners. There are links and QR codes to access PDF slides on further information on related topics at the first page of almost every Chapter in this book.
It is hoped that this book would invite more akin and aright interest in clinical epidemiology, clarify misconceptions in clinical researches, enable more educated discussion in epidemiologic research, increase and improve quality in clinical researches, in clinical reports’ appraisal and reporting, and hopefully leading to a more concerted progress in the quality of clinical researches, publications and practices. Parts of this book including some of the tables and figures have been published in Cureus 2019;11(2):e4112; DOI:10.7759/cureus.4112 entitled Planning and Conducting Clinical Research: The Whole Process.