Health Services Research Proposal Synopsis

Assignment 2: Study problem and objective presentation This assignment is in preparation for your Health Services Research Proposal Synopsis. The most time consuming and difficult part is to clearly write what you propose to do. The document outlines the requirements of the assignment and also provides an outline of the steps to follow to successfully address all components of the assignment.

I. Prepare and present 5 slides that discuss the following: 1) Problem 2) Study objective(s) 3) Research Question 4) Your approach (design and data)

II. Steps to use to draft a Problem Statement and Objective

A. Once you have identified a research problem of interest to you through brainstorming

and/or discussion with the instructor, the next steps are: 1. Specify the search terms that you will use to search the databases and other

sources to anchor your problem and study objectives in the current scientific literature.

a. Search databases for 4-5 recent (or classical) papers that help illuminate your topic (keep track of your searches as they become refined)

b.Identify who are the leading authors in your topic area and the lead journals in which the papers are published

c. Perform an author search of 2-3 of the key authors d.Visually inspect the journal indexes for the last year of publication for the

2 major journals identified in (b) above 2. Select 4-5 of the most promising articles, read them, focusing on the key elements

of the studies. Note: For the sake of good time and project management, use this opportunity to create annotated bibliographies for the promising articles you will likely use for your literature review. The Literature Review assignment will require you to attach 5 annotated bibliographies for articles cited in your literature review.

3. Using points from each article, write a problem statement to help the reader understand what is known about the problem that you have identified.

4. Based on the problem statement, what is the research question that you are proposing to answer? Note: In real life scenarios, the study question may be narrowed based on your resource limitations of time, money, data, and statistical/analysis skills.

5. What is the objective(s) of the study?

III. Oral Presentation A. The oral presentation must include a discussion about the following:

1. Background and need for the work 2. Leading authors and journals on topic 3. Problem statement 4. Research question you will answer 5. Objective(s) of the study

Note: Powerpoint slides are only intended to provide the audience with an overview of what you will discuss and are not intended to be read verbatim during your presentation. It is important that you know and have a reasonable understanding of the material you are presenting.