Provide Background & Formulate Focus Questions Discussion

I don’t know how to handle this Health & Medical question and need guidance.

As we get started, I want to do some level setting. We often hear people talk about ‘doing their research’ by searching the Internet for existing information. An example might be searching Consumer Reports to help decide which car to purchase. I am sure you did quite a bit of reading before deciding to enroll in UOP or pick a major.

Or, you have written tons of research papers by now. In doing this, you find published sources to support the ideas that you put forth in your academic writing.

For this class, I want you to please put both of those ideas about research aside. We will be discussing scientific research that follows a specific process to generate NEW information. This is information that we couldn’t find in an Internet search. Research, for the purposes of our class, seeks to answer a question to improve the delivery of health care and follows the research process that we will study. Scientific research that will be the focus of our time together seeks to answer questions such as:

Is this new drug better than the current standard of care?

How important it is social support in managing pain for cancer patients?

Can an electronic medical records system reduce prescribing errors?

Does chocolate really improve mood?

I have copied the steps in the research process below. We will draw on these for the rest of the class.

Please pick any step in the research process below and write a 175- to 265-word response describing that step in the process.

1) Determine a topic

2) Provide background and formulate focus questions

3) Design study

4) Collect data

5) Analyze data

6) Interpret data and generate conclusions

7) Inform others