Types of Research conducted in Health

The Research Process

Biomedical Research	Biomedical Research investigates the mechanisms governing the structure and operations of living organisms, spanning from the analysis of individual molecules to the intricate interplay of functions in humans. This research enhances our understanding of how diseases, injuries, or genetic abnormalities disrupt typical physiological and behavioural functions.	National Research Council (US) Committee for Monitoring the Nation's Changing Needs for Biomedical, Behavioral, and Clinical Personnel. Advancing the Nation's Health Needs: NIH Research Training Programs. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2005. 2, Basic Biomedical Sciences Research. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22618/
Clinical Research	Clinical Research is a branch of medical and health research that aims to produce knowledge valuable for understanding human disease, preventing and treating illness, and promoting health. It seeks to determine the safety and the efficacy of various treatments (medical, surgical, or behavioral intervention).	Institute of Medicine (US) Clinical Research Roundtable; Tunis S, Korn A, Ommaya A, editors. The Role of Purchasers and Payers in the Clinical Research Enterprise: Workshop Summary. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2002. Appendix V, Definitions of Clinical Research and Components of the Enterprise. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220717/
Epidemiological Research	Epidemiological research focuses on distribution, causes, patterns of health-related events and conditions, and historical changes in the frequency of diseases within specific populations. It helps us understand who has a disease or disorder and how this individual or region came to acquire it. The goal is to understand the factors that influence the occurrence of diseases or health-related outcomes to inform public health strategies, prevention strategies, and healthcare practices. Distinctions can be made between experimental and observational epidemiological studies.
Observational or Noninterventional Research	“Information is collected by investigators by observing or measuring how specific characteristics or outcomes change in study participants over time”. Throughout the trial, the researchers do not attempt to interfere or change any outcomes that are measured. Researchers observe subjects and track their health outcomes over time.
Basic Research	It is also referred to as Fundamental or Pure Research. This research helps to expand people’s existing knowledge or gain new knowledge/ understand new concepts or ideas. This type of research is more theoretical or evaluative. It advances scientific knowledge to (more) completely understand a subject, topic or phenomenon. To “expand the frontiers of understanding”. It is conducted to develop a full body of knowledge on a specific subject. A thirst to understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of things, rather than ‘what can we do with it’.	https://www.physio-pedia.com/Types_of_Research
Applied Research	Applied research seeks to provide a solution to specific and tangible problems that are faced in society or an industry, or show any causal (cause/effect) relationships. Applied research aims to bring about real-world impacts and deliver pragmatic solutions. It explores how real-world phenomena or outcomes can be altered/improved. Its goal is not just to build on existing knowledge, but to leverage that knowledge to develop solutions, innovations, or interventions that can be directly applied to the real world.	https://www.physio-pedia.com/Types_of_Research

Similarities between Basic and Applied Research:

• Researchers might utilize the same methods to collect data for both types of research. Example, interviews, surveys, and focus groups.

• Both types of research require researchers to use inductive and deductive reasoning to develop and prove hypotheses. Both types of research often intersect when basic research serves as the foundation for applied research.

Methods used in basic and applied research:

Though basic and applied research have different goals and approaches, they both require researchers to collect data.

• Observations: Studying research subjects for an extended period of time enables researchers to gather information about how subjects behave under different conditions.

• Interviews: One-to-one discussions and surveys enable researchers to gain information from subjects and validate data.

• Experiments: Experiments are conducted to prove or disprove certain hypotheses based on information that has been collected.

• Questionnaires: This is a series of questions related to the research context that helps researchers gather quantitative information.

How to determine when to use basic research or applied research?

When trying to determine which research to use, it's important to consider your research goals. Basic research seeks to answer theoretical questions. It is not used to develop a solution.

Conversely, applied research discovers answers to specific questions it should be used when aiming to uncover new knowledge to solve a problem.

Types of Medical Research

How is Health Systems Research different?

Health Systems Research investigates how the health system operates to ensure that it provides affordable, safe, effective, equitable, accessible and patient-centered healthcare. It also evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of care delivery models in different contexts, and informs and supports decision-making in health and social policy.

Activity 1.1.2: Put the research process that the article followed in a table that describes what the authors did. Secondly, identify if any characteristics of HS research are present in this article.

Challenges of quality improvement in the healthcare of South Africa post-apartheid A critical review:

Formulate a Hypothesis/Premise	The authors started with an initial premise that there are challenges being incurred in the delivery of quality healthcare, including strategies implemented by the government to improve quality healthcare delivery.
Data Collection	This hypothesis/premise was applied to a broad set of data – academic literature – with the goal of distinguishing a group of academic literature focused on the healthcare challenges in South Africa. The authors used a criterion to include and exclude publications. The initial set of included publications were grouped according to the themes and subthemes of the topic. The resulting themes were sorted chronologically in relevance to the topic and logic of the subject.  This process resulted in 74 academic articles being included from the 1366 that were retrieved.
Literature Analyses/Review	A literature review was written in relation to each thematic group, whether they supported or refuted the hypothesis/premise.
Drawing Conclusions	The results were presented in the form of a literature review, divided into thematic groups of healthcare challenges in South Africa. The literature review supported the initial hypothesis/premise – There are many challenges to the delivery of quality healthcare in SA and the strategies implemented by the government to improve it have not resulted in the required outcomes.

Characteristics of HS research that are in this paper:

1. This paper conducts research that is relevant to the pertinent issues in the country’s health systems.

2. This paper stimulates broader discussions about health systems science and related research questions.