RESEARCH METHODS –
HEALTH SCIENCES
MASTER HEALTH SCIENCES
0
,Table of content
Lecture 1 - Introduc8on to research perspec8ves, research objec8ve and research ques8ons ...................................... 2
Lecture 2 - Introduc8on research priori8es and agendas (geen tentamenstof) .............................................................. 9
Lecture 3 – Conceptual frameworks and opera8onalizing your research ...................................................................... 10
Lecture 4 – Introduc8on to inter- and transdisciplinary perspec8ve on health sciences research ................................ 18
Lecture 5 – Collec8ng the data in Health Sciences 1: qualita8ve studies ....................................................................... 23
Lecture 6 – Collec8ng the data in Health Sciences 2: quan8ta8ve studies .................................................................... 35
Lecture 7 – Evalua8on in Health Sciences 1 ................................................................................................................... 48
Lecture 8 – Risk factors versus predic8on of risk ........................................................................................................... 50
Lecture 9 – Qualita8ve data analysis .............................................................................................................................. 58
Lecture 10 – Evalua8on in Health Sciences 2 ................................................................................................................. 66
Lecture 11 – Literature reviews 1 ................................................................................................................................... 74
Lecture 12 – Literature reviews 2 (Meta-Analysis) ......................................................................................................... 81
1
,Lecture 1 - Introduc.on to research perspec.ves, research
objec.ve and research ques.ons
Learning objec-ves
- Students are able to iden8fy current and complex public health challenges
- Students are able to explain different epistemological stances (e.g., objec8vism, construc8vism), theore8cal
perspec8ves (e.g., posi8vism, interpre8vism) and the rela8onship between them
- Students can define and give examples of epistemic injus8ce in health sciences
- Students can reflect on their own posi8onality
- Students are able to formulate an objec8ve and research ques8ons
Agenda
- Current and complex public health issues
- Epistemology and theore8cal perspec8ves and the rela8onship between them
- Objec8ve and research ques8ons
What makes issues complex
List of current public health issues
- Climate crisis/environmental impact on health making health care fairer
- Access to medicine
- Opioid crisis
- Health care delivery in areas of conflict and crisis
- Preparing for epidemics
- An8-microbial resistance
- Public trust (social media misinforma8on/disinforma8on)
- Ethical and social implica8ons of new technologies
- Data moderniza8on and privacy
- Food insecurity and food deserts
- Public health workforce shortage
Are these current issues also complex?
- Across all disciplines, at all levels, and throughout the world, health care is becoming more complex
- What makes current challenges complex:
• Globaliza8on ‘a world that is becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent’.
• Fuzzy, instead of rigid, boundaries
• Internalized rules drive ac8on
• Agents within the system change
• Systems are embedded in other systems and co-evolve
- In order to understand and address these complex problems in Health Sciences we need a range of methods,
methodologies, theore8cal perspec8ves and epistemologies
2
, Rela-onships between epistemology, theore-cal
perspec-ves, methodology and methods
- Bewildering array of theore8cal
perspec8ves and methodologies
- Terminology applied is ogen inconsistent
Epistemology
- Study of knowledge (episteme =
knowledge). In other words, it is the study
of what cons8tutes valid knowledge
• Objec8vism
• Construc8vism
• Subjec8vism
Do you have a theory of knowledge?
- Everyone has a theory of knowledge. It starts when you start to ask “why” ques8ons. It is formed out of the
answers you get from you caregivers
Why is epistemology important?
- Knowledge of research philosophy will help the researcher to recognize which designs will work for a given
set of objec8ves and which will not
- It can help to clarify issues of research design (but also misunderstandings/tensions) especially in
interdisciplinary teams while working on complex problems
Objec&vism
- Reality exists independently of consciousness. in other words, there is an objec8ve reality ‘out there’.
• Research is about discovering this objec8ve truth.
• Researchers should strive not to include their own feelings and values
• Connected to theore8cal perspec8ve posi-vism = there is only one reality/truth.
o Reality can be measured.
• Knowledge can be formulated into laws.
- This view has been challenged à post-posi-vism: we can only approximate the truth
Construc&vism
- Truth and meaning do not exist in some external world. It is created by the subject’s interac8ons with the
world.
• Meaning is constructed not discovered.
• Subjects constructed not discovered.
o Subjects construct their own meaning in different ways, even in rela8on to the same phenomenon
- Connected to theore8cal perspec8ve interpre-vism = mul8ple, contradictory but equally valid accounts of
the world can exist. Knowledge is contextual.
3
HEALTH SCIENCES
MASTER HEALTH SCIENCES
0
,Table of content
Lecture 1 - Introduc8on to research perspec8ves, research objec8ve and research ques8ons ...................................... 2
Lecture 2 - Introduc8on research priori8es and agendas (geen tentamenstof) .............................................................. 9
Lecture 3 – Conceptual frameworks and opera8onalizing your research ...................................................................... 10
Lecture 4 – Introduc8on to inter- and transdisciplinary perspec8ve on health sciences research ................................ 18
Lecture 5 – Collec8ng the data in Health Sciences 1: qualita8ve studies ....................................................................... 23
Lecture 6 – Collec8ng the data in Health Sciences 2: quan8ta8ve studies .................................................................... 35
Lecture 7 – Evalua8on in Health Sciences 1 ................................................................................................................... 48
Lecture 8 – Risk factors versus predic8on of risk ........................................................................................................... 50
Lecture 9 – Qualita8ve data analysis .............................................................................................................................. 58
Lecture 10 – Evalua8on in Health Sciences 2 ................................................................................................................. 66
Lecture 11 – Literature reviews 1 ................................................................................................................................... 74
Lecture 12 – Literature reviews 2 (Meta-Analysis) ......................................................................................................... 81
1
,Lecture 1 - Introduc.on to research perspec.ves, research
objec.ve and research ques.ons
Learning objec-ves
- Students are able to iden8fy current and complex public health challenges
- Students are able to explain different epistemological stances (e.g., objec8vism, construc8vism), theore8cal
perspec8ves (e.g., posi8vism, interpre8vism) and the rela8onship between them
- Students can define and give examples of epistemic injus8ce in health sciences
- Students can reflect on their own posi8onality
- Students are able to formulate an objec8ve and research ques8ons
Agenda
- Current and complex public health issues
- Epistemology and theore8cal perspec8ves and the rela8onship between them
- Objec8ve and research ques8ons
What makes issues complex
List of current public health issues
- Climate crisis/environmental impact on health making health care fairer
- Access to medicine
- Opioid crisis
- Health care delivery in areas of conflict and crisis
- Preparing for epidemics
- An8-microbial resistance
- Public trust (social media misinforma8on/disinforma8on)
- Ethical and social implica8ons of new technologies
- Data moderniza8on and privacy
- Food insecurity and food deserts
- Public health workforce shortage
Are these current issues also complex?
- Across all disciplines, at all levels, and throughout the world, health care is becoming more complex
- What makes current challenges complex:
• Globaliza8on ‘a world that is becoming increasingly integrated and interdependent’.
• Fuzzy, instead of rigid, boundaries
• Internalized rules drive ac8on
• Agents within the system change
• Systems are embedded in other systems and co-evolve
- In order to understand and address these complex problems in Health Sciences we need a range of methods,
methodologies, theore8cal perspec8ves and epistemologies
2
, Rela-onships between epistemology, theore-cal
perspec-ves, methodology and methods
- Bewildering array of theore8cal
perspec8ves and methodologies
- Terminology applied is ogen inconsistent
Epistemology
- Study of knowledge (episteme =
knowledge). In other words, it is the study
of what cons8tutes valid knowledge
• Objec8vism
• Construc8vism
• Subjec8vism
Do you have a theory of knowledge?
- Everyone has a theory of knowledge. It starts when you start to ask “why” ques8ons. It is formed out of the
answers you get from you caregivers
Why is epistemology important?
- Knowledge of research philosophy will help the researcher to recognize which designs will work for a given
set of objec8ves and which will not
- It can help to clarify issues of research design (but also misunderstandings/tensions) especially in
interdisciplinary teams while working on complex problems
Objec&vism
- Reality exists independently of consciousness. in other words, there is an objec8ve reality ‘out there’.
• Research is about discovering this objec8ve truth.
• Researchers should strive not to include their own feelings and values
• Connected to theore8cal perspec8ve posi-vism = there is only one reality/truth.
o Reality can be measured.
• Knowledge can be formulated into laws.
- This view has been challenged à post-posi-vism: we can only approximate the truth
Construc&vism
- Truth and meaning do not exist in some external world. It is created by the subject’s interac8ons with the
world.
• Meaning is constructed not discovered.
• Subjects constructed not discovered.
o Subjects construct their own meaning in different ways, even in rela8on to the same phenomenon
- Connected to theore8cal perspec8ve interpre-vism = mul8ple, contradictory but equally valid accounts of
the world can exist. Knowledge is contextual.
3
