RESEARCH PLANNING
Research
planning is a
process through which we
transform our ideas into a
well-planned, ethical and
realistic research project.
THE FORMULATION OF RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
Identifying research problems:
 In health research many research problems are
often focused on identifying effective
interventions for preventing or treating health
problems.
 However not all research problems are concerned
solely with treatment. There are numerous other
research problems, including gaps in our
knowledge of the causes and consequences of
health problems and an opportunity to improve
the quality of our practices.
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FORMULATING THE RESEARCH
QUESTION
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL CHANGES
As the biological and social environment changes,
new health problems may emerge.
 For example, abundant food supplies and
increasingly sedentary lifestyles have led to a
high prevalence of obesity in some communities.
Obesity is a serious risk factor for a numerous
health problems including, type 2 diabetes and
coronary heart disease.
 The research problem of interest to a researcher
may be the lack of effective interventions for
preventing and reducing obesity in the
community.
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LITERATURE REVIEWS
AND RESEARCH
Before embarking on the design and conduct of a
research project, the investigator must review
previous work and publications relevant to the
aims of the intended project.
 Another reason for reviewing the literature is to
examine how previous researchers have
approached sampling, design, data collection and
analysis decisions in their research.
 There are benefits in reviewing how previous
researchers succeeded or failed in achieving their
objectives.
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METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The precisely stated research question requires
an examination of the proposed methodology of
the project.
RESEARCH PROPOSALS
By the time we have stated our precise aims or
hypotheses, we have also worked out in detail the
way in which the data are to be collected. This
information is written up as a research proposal.
 A research proposal is an explicit statement of
how and why you intend to conduct a research
project.

A research proposal will contain the following
information:
 Identification of the research problem.
 Literature review.
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Research aims and hypotheses must take into
consideration the:
participants to be selected data to be collected
research design/s ethical considerations
estimated cost.
data to be collected research design/s
ethical considerations
estimated cost.
The research proposal is circulated to various
individuals and committees in order to obtain
critical feedback from supervisors, institutions
and your fellow students concerning the
practicality and quality of your research project.
 It is often desirable to carry out a small-scale
preliminary study called a pilot study.

SAMPLING METHODS
What is sampled in a study?
Many other things are also selected or sampled.
These include:
1. The information to be collected by the
researcher.
2. The procedures used for the collection of the
information.
3. Where the research is conducted, e.g. in a field
setting or in a structured research setting.
4.
The clinicians and researchers who are
involved.
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BASIC ISSUES IN SAMPLING
It is not within the resources of the researcher to
study the whole target population. In any event,
in most situations it would be wasteful to study
all of the population.
 If a sample is representative, one can generalize
validly from the sample’s results to the
population without going to the expense of
studying everyone.
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REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLES
There is a variety of different ways by which one
can select the sample from the population. These
are called sampling methods.
 The ultimate aim of all sampling methods is to
draw a representative sample from the
population.

The advantage of a representative sample is
clear: one can confidently generalize from a
representative sample to the rest of the
population without having to take the trouble of
studying the rest of the population.
 If the sample is biased (not representative of the
population) one can generalize less validly from
the sample to the population. This might lead to
quite incorrect conclusions or inferences about
the population.

SAMPLE SIZE
One of the most poorly understood aspects of
sampling is the number of cases that should be
included in a study sample.
 It is obvious that in one sense the more cases
selected the merrier (or the better the sample
representativeness), but the costs associated with
the sampling and data collection must be
weighed against the greater generalizability that
is generally associated with larger samples.
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Therefore in this case it is ethically and
logistically desirable to ensure that no more than
the bare minimum of participants is used to
achieve the desired sample accuracy.
ETHICS
A key ethics principle is that of informed consent
and self-determination, i.e. freedom of choice to
participate or not.
 That is, the research participants must be fully
informed about the purposes of the research, any
risks associated with their participation and the
uses to which the collected research data will be
put.
 Their participation must be fully voluntary and
made with full knowledge of any potential
benefits and costs.
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