by Jen Lochner, MD; Valerie Gilchrist, MD; Sarina Schrager, MD, MS
Research is purposeful curiosity. Every day, we encounter questions about our work, but turning those questions into formal investigations can feel like a leap. A quality improvement (QI) project often begins with questions like, “Why is it this way? Can we do it differently?” Family Medicine publishes research and QI projects focused on medical education and faculty development. This blog post will guide you from asking a question to creating a successful, publishable product. By following these steps, you’re more likely to answer your question and share your findings.
- Developing a research question: The first step in any scholarly project is to come up with an effective research question. Albert Einstein stated, “Imagination is the highest form of research.” Being creative to develop a question may be the most important part of the whole process. One mnemonic to make sure that your question is the best it can be is FINER:
- F—Feasible. Can this question be answered? Do you need millions of $ to do the project? Or can it be done with a reasonable budget?
- I—Interesting. Do others care about your question?
- N—Novel. Has this been done before?
- E—Ethical. Will your project impact subjects in a way that is detrimental?
- R—Relevant. Does the research question and subsequent research matter to family medicine or primary care.
- Do Your Homework:
Start by thoroughly understanding your question. Why are you interested in it? How will it impact learners, colleagues, or patients? What assumptions are you making? Write them down. Ask yourself “Why?” at least three times to dig deeper. Then, check if others have explored the same question. Consult peers and conduct a literature review. If the question remains unanswered or insufficiently addressed, ask a medical librarian to refine your search. Many online resources, including STFM, can help you develop hypotheses for educational projects. https://www.stfm.org/media/1824/research-minute-25-writing-hypotheses_1.pdf.
Once you have a strong research question and a hypothesis that addresses what you think is the answer to your question, you are ready to go to the next step. - Build a Team:
What if you’re unsure about the baseline data to collect? Or lack expertise in analyzing data from your EHR? Or haven’t had formal training in education but are interested in improving a curriculum? You don’t need to become a statistician or earn a degree in education to contribute to research—though you certainly can. Most organizations have experts you can partner with. The STFM Collaboratives are a great resource for finding collaborators. A team strengthens your project by bringing in new perspectives. “You don’t know what you don’t know!” Collaborating not only enhances your work, but it’s also more enjoyable and can increase the impact of your results. - Plan to Publish From the Start:
From the outset, approach your project with the goal of sharing your findings. Your investigation should be designed to answer the question in a way that’s at least presentable, and ideally, publishable. As journal editors, we look for the following when evaluating papers:’- Is the topic important? Will it contribute to the literature and help learners, teachers, or practitioners?
- Is the research well done? Do the conclusions seem credible?
- Is the paper well written? Is it easy to understand? (Questions from Josh Freeman)
- Begin With the End in Mind:
Passion can drive us to dive into a project quickly, assuming that our idea is an improvement on the existing process. Without baseline data though, we can’t definitively say whether the changes are improvements worth spreading. By pausing at the beginning of your project to envision the end result, you’ll recognize the importance of defining important outcomes and collecting baseline data. Simple steps taken early on will allow you to rigorously assess the impact of your work and increase the likelihood of publication.
We want you to be successful in your research and we want to be able to publish your paper
so that you can share your work with colleagues.
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