Methods of Scientific Research_N1.pptx. .

Research skill

1. Methods of Scientific research Sophio Uchaneishvili [email protected] 591017614

2. Name, Surname Where are you from? Why have you decided to become a medical worker? What are some challenges you think the next generation will face? What are some challenges you think the next generation of medical workers will face? What is your favorite thing about your career? If you had to describe yourself in five words, what would they be? What goals do you have for the next five years? What is your most valuable skill? Most useless?

3. The aim of the course introduce important concepts related to the ethical and legal aspects of scientific research provide knowledge of research design and methodology Train in critically reviewing scientific literature train in writing a study plan

4. Topic 1. Philosophy of science Differentiating Science from Non- sciense Knowledge and Truth Causation Scientific Explanation Modes of Inference What Science is About

5. Topic 2. Ethics and scientific issues A brief introduction to ethics Scientific conduct and misconduct Misconduct and why it occurs Fabrication and other forms of misconduct Authorship issues The investigation and punishment of scientific misconduct Ethical Issues in Clinical Research

6. Topic 3. Ethics in human and animal studies.   Basic principles of human research ethics International regulation Epidemiological and randomized clinical studies Protecting participants and data The ethics of animal research The role of institutional ethics committees

7. Topic 4. Overview of the Research Process Rationalism in the science. Research hypothesis: Developing a Research Problem Fundamental and empirical studies Interpretation , Understanding and Explanation

8. Topic 5. Research Stages: strategies, planning and analysis Research methods and techniques Research conditions Data types Research methods and experimental approaches Multifactorial relationship and observational studies Research protocol.

9. Topic 6. Bibliographic bases   Types of scientific information and relevant informational databases Primary, secondary and tertiary literary sources Modern techniques for searching Bibliography PubMed; Google Scholar; Medline Impact Factors; H-Index Citation and reflection of literature Population-Patient-Problem-Based Approach (PICO) Information Technologies

10. Topic 7. Medicine - as fundamental, basic science Long-term goals and specific aims of medical research The impact of scientific findings and achievements on society The significance of basic medical research Experimental research strategies and methods Research levels - from organism to cells Cellular and tissue culture in medical studies Experimental animals in medical studies Legislation

11. Topic 8. Clinical Research: Stages of research process Controlled clinical trials Protocol and design Population-based studies, randomization and stratification Determination of size selection Analytical strategies generalization of research results Implications for drawing conclusions from clinical research findings

12. Topic 9. Epidemiology, concepts and methods, Definitions The role of epidemiology Types of epidemiological studies according to design Target population and sample of research Measuring the prevalence of the disease, risk, association and results Statistical indicators in epidemiology Registration of mortality and morbidity

13. Topic 10. Measurement of effect in epidemiological studies: Measurement of effect in epidemiological studies: Three effect measures: Relative Risk (RR) Odds Ratio (OR) Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) Three derived measures: Excess Risk Attributable Risk (AR) Population Attributable Risk (PAR)

14. Topic 11. Methods of Qualitative Research Quality survey and area of use Design, planning and implementation of qualitative research Qualitative data collection Participant observation Data analysis

15. Topic 12. Introductory statistics in medical research Effect measure, hypothesis testing and confidence interval Comparing two proportions Normal distribution Comparison of means Parametric and non-parametric methods

16. Topic 13. Regression analysis. Evidence-based practice Regression analysis Evidence-based practice Critical appraisal of systematic reviews

17. Topic 14. Scientific communication The types of the scientific work General structure of scientific paper Bibliography – proper citation of used scientific literature Plagiarism, how to avoid plagiarism Paraphrase. Grey literature. Scientific paper publication process Publishing a scientific paper in biomedical journals Understanding of editing, correction and peer review process. Posters

18. What is science? The process of observing and questioning the world around us An accumulated body of knowledge of physical or material world through observation or experimentation The knowledge gained through experience Facts or principles gained by systematic study

19. As soon as we’ve got a science, We’ve got a description of the world in scientific terms We’ve got an alleged explanation of some phenomenon which the scientist gives us How much the explanation had achieved and what was left to be achieved It’s very important to understand the scope and limits of science

20. We love science because science is accesses truths Science is external, objective , absolute. . . or Science is internal, subjective , relative Can science address all questions? How can we have confidence in science? Are there limits to science? What is science, anyway? an idea? a process? A way of thinking? How to get at the essence of science? How science really works. How science should work.

21. “philosophy of science” Should science care about philosophy? Should science value philosophy? What is the Philosophy of science? Why do we need a philosophy of science? What are some kinds of contributions that philosophy can make to modern science?

22. Science gives us confidence because we know, that things given to us by science are true Philosophers have particular skills in clarifying things, connecting disparate areas, looking logically at the reasoning behind certain arguments Philosophy benefits science by clarifying ways of thinking – how issues are described, how evidence is considered, how theories are structured The Philosophy of science has aimed to put forth logical analyses of the premises of science Philosophy of science clarifies science, strengthens science, enriches science Science cannot escape philosophy’s power because philosophy makes science make sense (Rebecca Newberger Goldstein)

23. Philosophy benefits the science 1. Philosophy clarifies the kinds of questions science asks 2. Philosophy expands the kinds of questions science can ask 3. Philosophy enhances experimental design and the robustness of evidence 4. Philosophy defines the boundaries between science and pseudo-science 5. Philosophy sets the limits of science, distinguishing science from non-science

24. DIFFERENTIATING SCIENCE FROM NON-SCIENCE “Science is a specific method, performing a systematic analysis of data without preconception ”- Data analysis framed by preconception was considered nonscience Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626) Preconception is acceptable in the context of discovery, but not in the context of justification A scientific hypothesis or theory can be contested with possible observations

25. Characteristics of Non-science Belief in authority No-repeatable experiments Handpicked examples Unwillingness to test Disregard of refuting information: Ignoring or neglecting observations or experiments that conflict with a theory Explanations abandoned without replacement

26. The science progressed in a linear and piecemeal fashion, in which new knowledge added to existing knowledge Science evolved through anomalies. Hard cases that could not be explained within the given paradigm challenged existing theories and resulted in a scientific revolution Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) and others

27. Science - “ the systematic search for knowledge ” KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH: WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE AND WHAT CONSTITUTES A SCIENTIFIC FACT? “Justified true belief” Knowledge is true Criteria for assessing the truth of statements, theories, and hypotheses about events and objects in the world The correspondence theory of truth The coherence theory of truth A pragmatist theory of truth Scientific truths should be established through consensus at conferences

28. emerging fields of knowledge Why Most Research Results in Emerging Fields are False The studies conducted in an emerging scientific field are small. The effect sizes in an emerging scientific field are small. The number of tested relationships is great, but the selection of tested relationships is small. The flexibility in designs, definitions, outcomes, and analytical modes in an emerging scientific field are great. The financial and other interests and prejudices in a scientific field are great. The scientific field is hot. John Ioannidis

29. CAUSATION “ THE GLUE THAT HOLDS THE WORLD TOGETHER” Robert Koch (1843-1910) “parasite can be seen as the cause of a disease if it can be shown that its presence is not a random accident” The organism must be found in all animals suffering from the disease but not in healthy animals The organism must be isolated from a diseased animal and grown in pure culture The cultured organism should cause disease when introduced into a healthy animal The organism must be reisolated from the experimentally infected animal

30. Necessary Conditions A necessary condition here means a condition without which an event would not occur Without HIV, a person does not develop AIDS. Necessary conditions work through their absence, because if you remove a necessary condition, you also remove or prevent the event. Sufficient Conditions A sufficient condition means a condition that is sufficient for an event to occur: The event occurs every time the condition occurs Sufficient conditions work through their presence, because if you provide the condition, then you also provide the event

31. Combination of Conditions that Together are Necessary and Sufficient Two conditions that, individually, are insufficient for a certain event, but combined they can make an event occur Combination of Conditions that Together are Sufficient Cause usually refers to an insufficient and necessary part of an unnecessary but sufficient condition ( INUS condition), and is characterized by a combination of conditions that together are sufficient but not necessary

32. Probabilistic Causation The central idea in probabilistic causation is that causes raise the probability of corresponding effects Austin Bradford Hill (1897–1991) Strength of association: the stronger the association, the less likely the relationship is due to chance Consistency of the observed association: the association has been observed by different people, in different places, circumstances and times Specificity: effect has only one cause Temporality: cause must precede effect

33. Biological gradient-dose response relationship: there is a gradient of risk associated with the degree of exposure Biological plausibility: there must be a rational and theoretical basis for the finding Coherence: the observed data should not conflict with known facts about the natural history and biology of the disease Experimental evidence: experiments make a causal inference more plausible Analogy: a commonly accepted phenomenon in one area can be applied to another area

34. Counterfactual Conditions A counterfactual conditions draw on the contrast between one outcome (the effect) given certain conditions (the cause), and another outcome given alternative conditions Counterfactual conditions seem similar to necessary conditions, as without the necessary condition, the event will not occur However, counterfactuals support or destroy suppositions, and are acceptable or not acceptable, while necessary conditions are either true or false

35. Counterfactual Conditions Deterministic Counterfactual Condition: “ If Mrs. Jones had taken two aspirins instead of just a glass of water an hour ago, her headache would now be gone ” Probabilistic Counterfactual Condition: “if Mrs. Jones had taken two aspirins instead of just a glass of water an hour ago, she would be much less likely to have a headache now” Challenges In practice it is not easy to know or to assess what the case would have been if the situation had been different It is difficult to satisfy the “ceteris paribus” condition

36. even in his time Aristotle identified four kinds of causes: material cause, formal cause, efficient cause and final cause consider the following four statements: The heart’s capacity to pump causes the blood to circulate. A gene causes Huntington’s disease. Smoking causes lung cancer. Aspirin causes Reye’s syndrome.

37. SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION “why questions” “knowledge why” Explanatory knowledge provides a scientific understand of the world Deductive- nomological model -”The covering law model of explanation”: Turns an explanation into an argument where law-like statements and initial conditions are the premises of a deductive argument. A phenomenon is explained by deducing from law-like statements, by subsuming it in a law Deductive-statistical model: Supports explanations of statistical regularities by deduction from more general statistical laws Inductive-statistical model: Explains singular events inductively from statistical models

38. Common tu DNM , Dsm and ism models is the idea, that explanations are arguments (deductive or inductive) based on initial conditions and on law-like statements. They are deterministic or statistical The standard form of each such argument is: Premise 1 : Initial conditions Premise 2 : Law-like statement Implication: Event or fact to be explained According to a causal model of explanation, one must follow specific procedures to arrive at an explanation of a particular phenomenon or event: Compile a list of statistically relevant factors. Analyze the list by a variety of methods. Create causal models of the statistical relationships. Test the models empirically to determine which is best supported by the evidence

39. MODES OF INFERENCE Charles sanders pierce (1839-1914) Deduction is inference from general statements to particular statements via logic. Induction is inference from particular instances. Abduction infers the best explanation. When a certain observation is made, a hypothesis can be found that makes it possible to deduce a conclusion. Deductive inference is knowledge-conservative: if the axioms are true, the conclusion is true. Inductive and abductive inferences are both knowledge-enhancing, and are therefore called ampliative inference

40. WHAT SCIENCE IS ABOUT? Does science obtain truth? The biomedical sciences are about this world and its biomedical phenomena (appearance) Scientific realists hold that successful scientific research enhances knowledge of the phenomena of the world, and that this knowledge is largely independent of theory Scientific realists hold that such knowledge is possible even when the relevant phenomena are not observable Accordingly, the scientific realist claims that when phenomena, such as entities, states, and processes, are correctly described by theories, they actually exist Scientific realism is common sense, and certainly “common science” Scientific antirealism holds that the knowledge of the world is not independent of the mode of investigation

41. Scientific knowledge is necessary to reduce our uncertainty; Love science, clarify science, strengthen science, enrich science Thank you for attention Laake , P., Benestad , H. B., & Olsen, B. R. (Eds.). (2015). Research methodology in the medical and biological sciences. Academic Press. pp.1 -24

42. Please, provide small presentation about yourself: Where are you from? Why have you decided to became a medical worker? What are some challenges you think the next generation of medical workers will face? What is your favorite thing about your career? If you had to describe yourself in five words, what would it be? What goals do you have for the next five years? What is your most valuable skill? Most useless? Your favourite medical researcher and most important medical discovery.