based on research meaning

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings
My Bibliography
Collections
Citation manager

Save citation to file

Email citation, add to collections.

Create a new collection
Add to an existing collection

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search, create a file for external citation management software, your rss feed.

Search in PubMed
Search in NLM Catalog
Add to Search

Evidence-Based Research Series-Paper 1: What Evidence-Based Research is and why is it important?

Affiliations.

1 Johns Hopkins Evidence-based Practice Center, Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
2 Digital Content Services, Operations, Elsevier Ltd., 125 London Wall, London, EC2Y 5AS, UK.
3 School of Nursing, McMaster University, Health Sciences Centre, Room 2J20, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4K1; Section for Evidence-Based Practice, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Inndalsveien 28, Bergen, P.O.Box 7030 N-5020 Bergen, Norway.
4 Department of Sport Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark; Department of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Herlev & Gentofte, Kildegaardsvej 28, 2900, Hellerup, Denmark.
5 Musculoskeletal Statistics Unit, the Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital, Copenhagen, Nordre Fasanvej 57, 2000, Copenhagen F, Denmark; Department of Clinical Research, Research Unit of Rheumatology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense University Hospital, Denmark.
6 Section for Evidence-Based Practice, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Inndalsveien 28, Bergen, P.O.Box 7030 N-5020 Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 32979491
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2020.07.020

Objectives: There is considerable actual and potential waste in research. Evidence-based research ensures worthwhile and valuable research. The aim of this series, which this article introduces, is to describe the evidence-based research approach.

Study design and setting: In this first article of a three-article series, we introduce the evidence-based research approach. Evidence-based research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner.

Results: We describe evidence-based research and provide an overview of the approach of systematically and transparently using previous research before starting a new study to justify and design the new study (article #2 in series) and-on study completion-place its results in the context with what is already known (article #3 in series).

Conclusion: This series introduces evidence-based research as an approach to minimize unnecessary and irrelevant clinical health research that is unscientific, wasteful, and unethical.

Keywords: Clinical health research; Clinical trials; Evidence synthesis; Evidence-based research; Medical ethics; Research ethics; Systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

Search in MeSH

Related information

Cited in Books

LinkOut - more resources

Full text sources.

Elsevier Science

Other Literature Sources

scite Smart Citations
Citation Manager

NCBI Literature Resources

MeSH PMC Bookshelf Disclaimer

The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited.

Skip to primary navigation
Skip to main content
Plan Your Visit

Evidence-Based? Research-Based? What does it all Mean?

Have you ever felt puzzled by trying to discern the difference between the terms, evidence-based and research-based ? Or have you ever found yourself feeling intimidated when someone asked you, “But is that program/practice evidence-based?” I know I have. To help me clarify my understanding, I reached out to my colleagues here at the Center and my old friend, Google. I’ve come to the following understandings and a bit of friendly advice – stay curious! Please keep reading if you’re feeling as perplexed as I am.

Clarifying the Difference between Research-Based and Evidence-Based

My current working definition of research-based instruction has come to mean those practices/programs that are based on well-supported and documented theories of learning. The instructional approach is based on research that supports the principles it incorporates, but there may not be specific research or its own evidence to directly demonstrate its effectiveness.

Defining evidence-based practice has been more headache-inducing as the term is frequently and widely used to mean a myriad of things. Currently, I have come to understand that evidence-based practices are those that have been researched with either experimental studies (think randomly assigned control groups), quasi-experimental studies (comparison groups that are not randomized), or studies that were well-designed and well-implemented correlational studies with statistical controls for selection bias. In brief, a specific study (or studies) has been done to test its effectiveness.

By no means are these definitions ready for Merriam-Webster, but they are helping me to make sense of the terms.

So what do you say or ask when “research” is thrown your way?

Recently, I met with a group of literacy coaches and we discussed how to respond when a fellow educator approaches them with “research” either supporting or refuting an instructional practice or program. My best advice to them probably sounded like a Viking River Cruise commercial – “Be curious!” Below are some examples of ways to respond to demonstrate that you are open to learning more.

Thank you for bringing that information to my attention. Can you share your source of information or the article so I can read it too and we can talk about it together?
Please talk more about what you have learned (or read or heard). I’m curious to learn more about: a. Whether the research was published in a peer-reviewed journal or if the research was sponsored by a publisher or other interested party. b. The sample size or the number of schools/students involved in the study. c. The demographics of the subjects involved in the study. d. The type of research conducted.

3. I’m wondering how many studies have been conducted that replicate those results. 4. That research sounds important. Can you share the source with me? Perhaps it will be helpful for our grade level team to read it and discuss the findings together.

As educators, we are always looking for the most effective ways to support our students. Stay open to new findings and be sure to slow the process down so you probe deeper to learn if there truly is current research to back what people are claiming. Then be sure to evaluate the credibility of the source of information, the methods or processes used to critique or research, and don’t forget to rely upon trusted sources like What Works Clearinghouse . You might also appreciate a lecture presented by Maren Aukerman that discusses comprehensive, research-informed literacy instruction . The more you dig, the more you may find that many practices and programs touted as evidence-based are either based on personal anecdotes and stories or the research base is flimsy at best.

You might also be interested in

Advice for Coaches: Helping Teachers Navigate the End-of-Year Homestretch

How can coaches help empower teachers to navigate the end-of-year homestretch? By creating opportunities for reflection.  

Comprehension and Building Knowledge: From Acquiring Knowledge to Actively Using It

Literacy expert Stephanie Harvey explains the relationship between comprehension and knowledge building.

Seeking to Understand the Science of Reading

The 2024 book, “Fact-checking the Science of Reading: Opening Up the Conversation,” is an unbiased, accessible review of ten major claims associated with the Science of Reading movement.

If you have any questions, please contact the Lesley University Center for Reading Recovery and Literacy Collaborative.

Phone: 617.349.8424

Hours: 8:00 am–5:00 pm

Mailing Address Lesley University 29 Everett Street Cambridge, MA 02138

Personalized Learning: MTSS, PBIS & Student Support
Mental Health, Wellbeing & Resilience
College & Career Readiness
School Climate & Culture
DESSA Aperture System
DESSA Student Self-Report
DESSA Second Step® Assessments
Strategies and Interventions
Aperture Academy
Aperture Advisors
Customer Success and Implementation
Professional Learning and Training
Support Portal
Case Studies
Parent Resources
Research & White Papers

“Evidence-Based” vs. “Research-Based”: Understanding the Differences

Often, when reviewing resources, programs, or assessments, we might come across terms like “evidence-based” or “research-based.” These terms each tell us something about the resources that they describe and the evidence supporting them. Understanding each term’s meaning can help us make informed decisions when selecting and implementing resources.

So what do these terms mean, exactly?

Typically, the terms Evidence-Based Practices or Evidence-Based Programs refer to individual practices (for example, single lessons or in-class activities) or programs (for example, year-long curricula) that are considered effective based on scientific evidence. To deem a program or practice “evidence-based,” researchers will typically study the impact of the resource(s) in a controlled setting – for example, they may study differences in skill growth between students whose educators used the resources and students whose educators did not. If sufficient research suggests that the program or practice is effective, it may be deemed “evidence-based.”

Evidence-Informed (or Research-Based ) Practices are practices that were developed based on the best research available in the field. This means that users can feel confident that the strategies and activities included in the program or practice have a strong scientific basis for their use. Unlike Evidence-Based Practices or Programs, Research-Based Practices have not been researched in a controlled setting.

What about assessment?

Terms like “evidence-based” and “research-based” are often used to describe intervention activities, like strategies or curricula designed to build skills in specific areas. But the process of measuring skills with assessment tools can be evidence-based as well. An assessment process can be considered Evidence-Based Assessment if:

The choice of skills to be measured by the assessment was informed by research;
The assessment method and measurement tools used are informed by scientific research and theory and meet the relevant standards for their intended uses; and
The way that the assessment is implemented and interpreted is backed by research.

Using evidence-based assessment to guide or evaluate an intervention gives us confidence that the process is well-suited for our purpose, is grounded in scientific theory, and will be effective for our students.

What Standards Exist for Educational Assessments?

The process of Evidence-Based Assessment involves the use of a measurement tool that “meets the relevant standards for their intended uses.” What are the relevant standards, and how can we know if a tool meets them?

Some foundational standards for educational assessments, as compiled by experts in the educational, psychological, and assessment fields, include:

Validity for an Intended Use: the tool should have been researched to determine that it is valid, or appropriate, for the decisions we may make based on its results. Just like we wouldn’t use a math quiz to inform whether a student needs additional practice with reading comprehension, we shouldn’t use an assessment for purposes outside of those that research has deemed “valid.”
Reliability: the tool should have been researched to ensure that it meets expectations for reliability, or consistency. For example, researchers might explore whether the tool produces similar results if it is completed twice in a short period of time. Reliability can be explored via a variety of methods, depending on the measurement tool.
Fairness: the tool should have been researched to explore how fair, or unbiased, it is among different subgroups of students, such as subgroups based on race, ethnicity, or cultural background. Using a biased measurement tool can lead to biased decision-making and threaten our ability to provide equitable services.

Specific standards within each of these domains, and others, are compiled in the handbook, “Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing” (2014), written by the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Council on Measurement in Education. This handbook can be a useful companion when reviewing the specific evidence behind measurement tools.

In Conclusion

Terms like “evidence-based” or “research-based” are useful indicators of the type of evidence behind programs, practices, or assessments – however, they can only tell us so much about the specific research behind each tool. For situations where more information on a resource’s evidence base would be beneficial, it may be helpful to request research summaries or articles from the resource’s publisher for further review.

What can we help you with?

Discover more from aperture education.

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Research Basics

Introduction

So What Do We Mean By “Formal Research?”

Guide License
Types of Research
Secondary Research | Literature Review
Developing Your Topic
Primary vs. Secondary Sources
Evaluating Sources
Research Involving Questionnaires, Human Subjects, Animals, Biological Materials
Responsible Conduct of Research
More Information

Paul V. Galvin Library

email: [email protected]

Chat with us:

Make a research appointment:, search our faq:.

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose. - Zora Neale Hurston

A good working definition of research might be:

Research is the deliberate, purposeful, and systematic gathering of data, information, facts, and/or opinions for the advancement of personal, societal, or overall human knowledge.

Based on this definition, we all do research all the time. Most of this research is casual research. Asking friends what they think of different restaurants, looking up reviews of various products online, learning more about celebrities; these are all research.

Formal research includes the type of research most people think of when they hear the term “research”: scientists in white coats working in a fully equipped laboratory. But formal research is a much broader category that just this. Most people will never do laboratory research after graduating from college, but almost everybody will have to do some sort of formal research at some point in their careers.

Casual research is inward facing: it’s done to satisfy our own curiosity or meet our own needs, whether that’s choosing a reliable car or figuring out what to watch on TV. Formal research is outward facing. While it may satisfy our own curiosity, it’s primarily intended to be shared in order to achieve some purpose. That purpose could be anything: finding a cure for cancer, securing funding for a new business, improving some process at your workplace, proving the latest theory in quantum physics, or even just getting a good grade in your Humanities 200 class.

What sets formal research apart from casual research is the documentation of where you gathered your information from. This is done in the form of “citations” and “bibliographies.” Citing sources is covered in the section "Citing Your Sources."

Formal research also follows certain common patterns depending on what the research is trying to show or prove. These are covered in the section “Types of Research.”

Next: Types of Research >>
Last Updated: Jun 21, 2024 9:17 AM
URL: https://guides.library.iit.edu/research_basics

Home » About » About Evidence-Based Research (EBR)

About Evidence-Based Research (EBR)

Introduction A number of studies show that researchers, research funders, regulators, sponsors and publishers of research fail to use earlier research when preparing to start, fund, regulate, sponsor or publish the results of new studies. To embark on research without systematically reviewing the evidence of what is already known, particularly when the research involves people or animals, is unethical, unscientific, and wasteful.

Therefore, we have chosen to focus the concept of EBR on ensuring valuable research.

Our answers to the many challenges:

Use scientific methods to evaluate performance of research
Use scientific methods to improve the way research is conducted
Use scientific methods to monitor research practice over time

We promote the following to achieve these aims:

… the use of a systematic and transparent approach when justifying and designing a new study
… the use of a systematic and transparent approach when placing new results in the context of existing evidence
… more efficient production, updating and dissemination of systematic reviews

Traditionally, when formulating a new research question researchers use their scientific environment and context, personal interests and ambitions, and the knowledge base (underpinning epidemiological and basic science research). The EBR approach suggests that, in addition, a systematic and transparent approach should be followed to explicitly use all earlier studies and to consider end user perspectives.

QUESTION 1: How often do scientific authors refer to the totality of earlier research? Studies analysing how often scientific authors refer to the totality of earlier research found a general lack of a systematic approach. The main conclusion is, as one of the study authors said:

“No matter how many randomized clinical trials have been done on a particular topic, about half the clinical trials cite none or only one of them. As cynical as I am about such things, I didn’t realize the situation was this bad”. Dr. Steve Goodman, New York Times, 17th January 2011

Goodman was referring to a study he co-authored with Karen Robinson and published in 2011 . They examined all systematic reviews (SRs) of health care questions, published in 2004 that included a meta-analysis combining 4 or more randomised controlled trials (RCTs), so identifying studies that could potentially refer to 3 or more studies within the same area. Even though a great number of the included studies could have referred to 10 or more previous pieces of research, the median number of references for these studies was consistently 2!

ANSWER 1: A systematic and transparent approach is rarely used when citing earlier similar trials .

QUESTION 2: Are systematic reviews used to justify a new study? In a descriptive cross-sectional analysis of 622 RCTs published between 2014 and 2016, only 20% explicitly mentioned a SR as justifications for the new study. 44% did not cite a single SR!

ANSWER 2: A systematic and transparent approach is rarely used to justify new studies .

QUESTION 3: Are systematic reviews used to inform the design of a new study? A retrospective study used applications for funding to see if a SR is used in the planning and design of new RCTs. In the first cohort (2006-2008), 42 of 46 (89%) referred to a SR; in the second cohort (2013) 34 of 34 (100%) referred to a SR. However, very few studies used SRs to inform the design of their new trial beyond justifying the treatment comparison (>90% in both cohorts).

ANSWER 3: A systematic and transparent approach is rarely used to design new studies .

QUESTION 4: Do authors put their results in the context of earlier similar research? In a series of studies, Clarke and Chalmers [ 1998 , 2002 , 2007 & 2010 ] repeatedly showed that RCTs published in the month of May in the five highest ranking medical journals (JAMA; BMJ; NEJM; Lancet and Annals of Internal Medicine) almost never used a SR.

In 2013 Clarke and Hopewell updated this series and found there was still no improvement over time, with only 3% of RCTs containing an updated systematic review integrating their results and only 37% making any systematic attempt to place new results in context.

ANSWER 4: A systematic and transparent approach is rarely used when placing new results in the context of existing results .

Thus, while many people assume that all research is evidence-based, the evidence clearly indicates that this is not the case!

We encourage researchers to make greater demands on themselves and thus achieve more credible and valuable results.
We agree research must be free, but not at the expense of increased waste!
We state that all phases of research must be systematic and transparent, including the planning of new research and the interpretation of new results

The Evidence-Based Research Network

To address the problem outlined above a group of Norwegian and Danish researchers initiated an international network, the ‘Evidence-Based Research Network’. The EBRNetwork was established in Bergen, Norway in December 2014 with initial partners from Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and USA.

The aim of the EBRNetwork is to reduce waste in research by promoting:

No new studies without prior systematic review of existing evidence
Efficient production, updating and dissemination of systematic reviews

The EBRNetwork has suggested a new working definition of a systematic review:

“a systematic review is a structured and preplanned synthesis of original studies that consists of predefined research questions, inclusion criteria, search methods, selection procedures, quality assessment, data extraction, and data analysis. No original research study should be deliberately excluded without explanation, and the results from each study should justify the conclusion.”

In 2016 members of the EBRNetwork published an analysis article in the BMJ “ Towards evidence-based research ” discussing EBR and its role in preventing research waste. The article contained the EBR Statement , detailing the different stakeholders’ responsibilities in meeting the aims of EBR, and a flow chart for EBR.

Using scientific methods to evaluate performance of research A Scoping Review (under preparation by the EBRNetwork) identified 83 meta-research studies dealing with the different aspects of the EBR concept.

In October 2020 a series of three article was published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology further developing the concept of EBR and its use in justifying new studies and putting the results in context: #1- What Evidence-Based Research is and why is it important? #2- Using an Evidence-Based Research approach before a new study is conducted to ensure value #3- Using an Evidence-Based Research approach to place your results into context after the study is performed to ensure usefulness of the conclusion

EBR Mulitmedia Resources

What is practice-based research?

I wanted a straightforward explanation of practice-based research – one that was clear, and that I agreed with, and which unpicked some of the complexities. So, this morning, I wrote one, in the form of a conversation with myself. Here it is.

(First published in March 2021. Revised and extended in January 2022).

In January 2022, by the way, I also wrote an even more compact and straightforward explanation, ‘ Practice-based research: A simple explainer ‘.

Practice-based research is work where, in order to explore their research question , the researcher needs to make things as part of the process. The research is exploratory and is embedded in a creative practice .

What about practice-led research, research through practice, and the Canadian term ‘research creation’?

There may be subtle differences in emphasis, but these are basically all the same thing.

Can you give us some examples?

Well, for the new practice-based PhD at Ryerson FCAD we said:

Research areas within the program are diverse and may include: → New models of journalistic dissemination → Curation and contemporary exhibition practices → Experimental modes of storytelling and user interaction → Digital fashion design and fabrication → Creative technology development and prototyping → Innovation in music production and distribution → Numerous other areas of creative media practice

But those are areas you might work in, not examples.

Good point. A reporter from student newspaper The Ryersonian noticed the same thing, and asked me for examples of what a practice-based research student might actually do , so I said that three examples might be:

→ Exploring ways in which people with disabilities can interact with technologies to produce electronic music – through creating prototypes of those devices and working with those communities;

→ Exploring how sculpture can help people to navigate and make sense of their neighbourhoods – including making the actual sculptures and observing people’s feelings and interactions with the work;

→ Developing an idea for an online news platform which engages young people to have a voice on topical issues – by making prototypes of the platform, both as a technology and as a business model.

OK good. But this is quite normal research, though, isn’t it? Like, a scientist or engineer would explore, say, how to make a new kind of engine, by actually making that engine, wouldn’t they, and evaluating how that works. And they’re exploring how to make it work, or work better, engaged in a creative process, right? In fact the majority of research in all fields involves making something and evaluating it, doesn’t it?

Hmm yeah. Well that’s fine and good, in that it shows that “practice-based research” isn’t really an especially weird or novel invention.

So then how is practice-based research a new or novel thing at all?

Fair question. Well, we’re talking about research in the social sciences, arts and humanities specifically. In the social sciences, research was traditionally about going out and seeking to gather objective information about the lives and experiences of actual people in society. In the arts and humanities, research often meant reading books, and/or considering other people’s creative works, and developing philosophy or theory around these observations (sometimes called, a little rudely, but not too inaccurately, ‘armchair theory’). So in this context, the idea of making something is actually novel. And the idea of the researcher as a creator – beyond writing – is novel.

So practice-based research in the social sciences, arts and humanities is novel because it positions the researcher as a creator, who is engaged in an exploratory creative process in order to explore their research question.

Yes. Exactly. That’s it.

In those examples you gave to The Ryersonian , aren’t they actually all examples of interesting qualitative research, and they do happen to involve developing or making something, but then you evaluate them in the world in relation to other people’s responses. These are interesting examples of research, perhaps, but they retain traditional roots in social research, don’t they?

Hmm, fair point.

And in your own PhD, David Gauntlett, you worked with groups of young people, aged 7–12, to make videos about the environment, yeah? In order to explore how they feel about the environment and environmental issues.

And was that practice-based research?

No, I don’t think so. It was a novel way of exploring how other people felt about a thing. It’s what we came to call ‘creative research methods’ – as in other projects, where we invited people to make drawings, or collages, or metaphorical models in LEGO – as detailed in my 2007 book Creative Explorations . But it’s not practice-based research, primarily because it involves asking participants to make the things, not the researcher themselves.

Indeed, when I was primarily a ‘creative research methods’ researcher, it was absolutely fundamental that the researcher wouldn’t do the making themselves , because that would be arrogant and put the researcher at the centre rather than putting participants at the centre. That was part of how we defined ‘creative research methods’ – that we supported participants to have their own voice, creatively expressed, and really sought to ensure that it was a deep reflection of their own feelings or experiences, not those of the researcher.

Oh! So you’re opposed to practice-based research!

No no. That was ages ago. I’ve come to embrace more the insights that come from the personal experiences of the artist-researcher themselves. And that’s just different . It’s not a superior form of sociological research – indeed, as sociological research it’s probably fair to say it’s straightforwardly worse.

But there are other kinds of knowledge. You just have to be clear about what you’re doing, and to take care not to generalize from yourself to the universe. (See this classic article , which surveyed a set of qualitative research articles – namely, every qualitative study published in the journal Sociology within one calendar year– and found that almost without exception, the authors stated that of course we cannot generalize from their data, and then went on to generalize anyway).

[For more discussion of whether what *I* do is practice-based research, see the post ‘ Do *I* do practice-based research? ‘, which I wrote immediately after this one].

OK. So if we go back to the three examples you gave to The Ryersonian , they do have the researcher making the things– but they also seem to rely on those things being validated by other parties afterwards.

To be honest that’s because I didn’t want my example projects to seem just purely autobiographical, or, to use the fancier term, autoethnographic.

Autoethnographic?

Yep, that’s a thing. As Haynes (2018) puts it, autoethnography is a method where “the researcher is the focus of reflexive inquiry”, but it is recognized that “the researcher’s self is inevitably experienced and positioned within a social [and cultural] context”, and so autoethnography “enables the researcher themselves to form a subject of lived inquiry within a particular social [and cultural] context”.

Oh right: autobiography.

Well, OK yes, most autobiographies are going to involve, in some way, the things mentioned in that definition of autoethnography. But autobiography is primarily about telling a story of one’s life, whereas I guess autoethnography should be more like a rather rigorous staring at one aspect of experience. So, it is different.

OK. But that definition we arrived at – “practice-based research in the social sciences, arts and humanities … positions the researcher as a creator, who is engaged in an exploratory creative process in order to explore their research question” – did sound like practice-based research can be autobiographical, or autoethnographic.

Yes, actually it can be. And that’s the purest form. It’s justifiable: you’ve explored something in very great depth, by doing it yourself very extensively, and thereby understanding it more intimately than you ever could if it was someone else doing it.

Another way of justifying it is to say, well if it’s ok to do a whole PhD about how a well-known poet used particular themes and techniques to achieve their aesthetic effects, or a whole PhD about how a well-known politician used certain styles of communication to shape their career and networks – where in both cases you’re engaging in well-informed speculation, basically, and knitting together your own opinions or interpretations and other people’s opinions or interpretations – then why would it not be OK to study your own creative processes, where at least you have a really proper knowledge of what they are, and how they felt. (You may not be an independent judge of the quality of the outputs, but that doesn’t matter).

It can’t be research if you’re just writing about yourself though, eh? That’s silly.

Well at least you have direct access to these experiences. If you’re willing to think and write about them very fully and honestly, it’s the richest form of qualitative data that you could have – that’s kinda undeniable.

And, not being funny, but everything’s relative. All research has problematic aspects. Any social science research, for instance, has the problem that when you study a sample of people, you are literally only looking at the sorts of people who would ever agree to participate in your study, which is actually a peculiar slice of people. Most of us are too busy or uninterested to bother. The people who do want to spend some of their valuable time participating in a sociology or psychology study are, empirically speaking, unusual – sorry but it’s true. So all the social science knowledge which acts like it’s based on studies of typical people is actually based on studies of non-typical people.

And even within that, the material it gathers is just what people are willing to communicate, and are able to communicate – if the research design even allows them to do so (which it often doesn’t). We don’t need to go into all the problems with all the research methods here. But suffice to say, those other methods are imperfect and partial.

If research is based on your own direct experience of creative processes, is that less reliable? It’s kinda problematic, for sure, but what isn’t. It’s not difficult to argue that it’s more reliable than the second-hand data you could get from anyone else.

Yes, OK. That makes sense.

I think for me, I do really like the idea of “the researcher as a creator, who is engaged in an exploratory creative process in order to explore their research question”, but also it does get a bit uncomfortable around that point that it’s just autobiographical. Basically, it does seem a bit odd and unconvincing to call it research if the only thing you’ve researched is yourself. But there’s ways to get away from that, and to improve the situation dramatically.

Most obviously – (1) Having arrived at some findings based on a thorough exploration and analysis of your own creative process, you can add a stage (or multiple different stages) where these findings are triangulated with the experiences of others. [Triangulation is “the practice of using multiple sources of data or multiple approaches to analyzing data to enhance the credibility of a research study” ( Encyclopedia of Research Design )].

Or – (2) Your discussion of your own creative processes, experiences and findings can be embedded within a thoroughly-researched discussion of other people’s processes, experiences and findings in the same kind of area, or similar-but-different areas.

Both of these are eminently do-able and make the whole thing much more solid. So what you end up with is led by, or initiated from, the rich personal experience of a creative practice, but you’ve also contextualized it in terms of a broader set of experiences, other people’s experiences.

Yes, that makes it more sociological. But can’t we have a version which just isn’t sociological at all? Could we have a project which just digs rigorously into the process and experiences of making, of trying to fulfil some kind of idea, but without reference to what anybody else thinks, or has previously done?

This would basically work, but it needs to be clear that a research question is being pursued, as we’ve already said, and also the ‘rigour’, that you mentioned there, is key. So we would expect to see lots of stages of production and iteration and really digging into the practice, and development of ideas over time. All of this would have to be well documented.

This is what distinguishes a practice-based research project from just general creative practice that someone would do for other reasons.

Are there other things that distinguish practice-based research from other kinds of making and creativity?

Another distinction is the heavy emphasis on a process of discovery – with emphasis there on process , and on discovery – and a genuine journey , to learn something you didn’t know at the beginning.

So if someone applies for a practice-based PhD with a proposal which says ‘I intend to make this film – don’t worry, I’ve made films before – here’s the script and the budget, it will involve these locations and will be one hour long’, that doesn’t sound right at all because they are presenting a thing which appears to be 90 per cent solved already. What we are looking for is an intriguing question , and some ideas about how that question might be creatively explored. That’s where it begins, and it’s only much further into the journey that you might be thinking about some final products to display.

OK. Now, speaking of ‘final products’: in the practice-based PhD, what the student ultimately submits is not just a big long text, but actual creative work – and/or documentation of that creative work – as well as a written discussion, yes?

So you’ve evaluating the final product? Isn’t the creative work meant to be part of the exploratory process, and so it’s not really about a final product?

Yes fair point. But what’s being submitted at the end is basically documentation of the process – actual creative evidence of the process – so that we and other people can see what the process was and how it helped you arrive at your conclusions. We’re not assessing the creative work as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ final products. That’s not what they’re there for.

Hmm. I’m sure I’ve seen PhD programs that say that the final assessed thing is a text talking about the aims of the project – the research questions – and the process, and what they arrived at, as well as the final creative work(s), which are assessed too.

Well OK. But I think these things are taken together , and there’s not some objective evaluation of the quality of the creative work (that’s not really possible, is it – quality doesn’t exist as a standalone, measurable thing) . . . but they would probably want to see that thoughtful effort had gone into making carefully produced things, as part of the process, and the seeking of answers to the research questions, which is what we’re fundamentally interested in. But obviously it’s interesting to look at the stuff that was made, as well as the writing. These things go together – you don’t really want one without the other.

Right. One last thing: since we keep mentioning PhD programs – does that mean practice-based research is something you can only do at the PhD level?

Oh no – that would be a bad misunderstanding. No, you can do practice-based research at any level, of course. Because there are now practice-based PhD programs, that’s perhaps where it necessarily gets most precisely defined. But practice-based research is an approach to research, and to knowledge, and is not to do with any qualifications in particular.

OK. Surprisingly this has all turned out to sound very reasonable.

After I wrote this, I wanted to work out whether what *I* do is practice-based research, so I wrote the post: ‘ Do *I* do practice-based research? ’.

The top image is from PanicGirl’s video, ‘ Cutting Tape Loops – With a Saw ‘. If that’s not practice-based research, I don’t know what is.

2 Responses to “What is practice-based research?”

Fantastic entry! Thank you!

So completely helpful and understandable. Thankyou I’ve started an MA in fine Art and am exploring the notion of practice led research.

What Is A Research (Scientific) Hypothesis? A plain-language explainer + examples

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2020

If you’re new to the world of research, or it’s your first time writing a dissertation or thesis, you’re probably noticing that the words “research hypothesis” and “scientific hypothesis” are used quite a bit, and you’re wondering what they mean in a research context .

“Hypothesis” is one of those words that people use loosely, thinking they understand what it means. However, it has a very specific meaning within academic research. So, it’s important to understand the exact meaning before you start hypothesizing.

Research Hypothesis 101

What is a hypothesis ?
What is a research hypothesis (scientific hypothesis)?
Requirements for a research hypothesis
Definition of a research hypothesis
The null hypothesis

What is a hypothesis?

Let’s start with the general definition of a hypothesis (not a research hypothesis or scientific hypothesis), according to the Cambridge Dictionary:

Hypothesis: an idea or explanation for something that is based on known facts but has not yet been proved.

In other words, it’s a statement that provides an explanation for why or how something works, based on facts (or some reasonable assumptions), but that has not yet been specifically tested . For example, a hypothesis might look something like this:

Hypothesis: sleep impacts academic performance.

This statement predicts that academic performance will be influenced by the amount and/or quality of sleep a student engages in – sounds reasonable, right? It’s based on reasonable assumptions , underpinned by what we currently know about sleep and health (from the existing literature). So, loosely speaking, we could call it a hypothesis, at least by the dictionary definition.

But that’s not good enough…

Unfortunately, that’s not quite sophisticated enough to describe a research hypothesis (also sometimes called a scientific hypothesis), and it wouldn’t be acceptable in a dissertation, thesis or research paper . In the world of academic research, a statement needs a few more criteria to constitute a true research hypothesis .

What is a research hypothesis?

A research hypothesis (also called a scientific hypothesis) is a statement about the expected outcome of a study (for example, a dissertation or thesis). To constitute a quality hypothesis, the statement needs to have three attributes – specificity , clarity and testability .

Let’s take a look at these more closely.

Need a helping hand?

Hypothesis Essential #1: Specificity & Clarity

A good research hypothesis needs to be extremely clear and articulate about both what’ s being assessed (who or what variables are involved ) and the expected outcome (for example, a difference between groups, a relationship between variables, etc.).

Let’s stick with our sleepy students example and look at how this statement could be more specific and clear.

Hypothesis: Students who sleep at least 8 hours per night will, on average, achieve higher grades in standardised tests than students who sleep less than 8 hours a night.

As you can see, the statement is very specific as it identifies the variables involved (sleep hours and test grades), the parties involved (two groups of students), as well as the predicted relationship type (a positive relationship). There’s no ambiguity or uncertainty about who or what is involved in the statement, and the expected outcome is clear.

Contrast that to the original hypothesis we looked at – “Sleep impacts academic performance” – and you can see the difference. “Sleep” and “academic performance” are both comparatively vague , and there’s no indication of what the expected relationship direction is (more sleep or less sleep). As you can see, specificity and clarity are key.

A good research hypothesis needs to be very clear about what’s being assessed and very specific about the expected outcome.

Hypothesis Essential #2: Testability (Provability)

A statement must be testable to qualify as a research hypothesis. In other words, there needs to be a way to prove (or disprove) the statement. If it’s not testable, it’s not a hypothesis – simple as that.

For example, consider the hypothesis we mentioned earlier:

Hypothesis: Students who sleep at least 8 hours per night will, on average, achieve higher grades in standardised tests than students who sleep less than 8 hours a night.

We could test this statement by undertaking a quantitative study involving two groups of students, one that gets 8 or more hours of sleep per night for a fixed period, and one that gets less. We could then compare the standardised test results for both groups to see if there’s a statistically significant difference.

Again, if you compare this to the original hypothesis we looked at – “Sleep impacts academic performance” – you can see that it would be quite difficult to test that statement, primarily because it isn’t specific enough. How much sleep? By who? What type of academic performance?

So, remember the mantra – if you can’t test it, it’s not a hypothesis 🙂

A good research hypothesis must be testable. In other words, you must able to collect observable data in a scientifically rigorous fashion to test it.

Defining A Research Hypothesis

You’re still with us? Great! Let’s recap and pin down a clear definition of a hypothesis.

A research hypothesis (or scientific hypothesis) is a statement about an expected relationship between variables, or explanation of an occurrence, that is clear, specific and testable.

So, when you write up hypotheses for your dissertation or thesis, make sure that they meet all these criteria. If you do, you’ll not only have rock-solid hypotheses but you’ll also ensure a clear focus for your entire research project.

What about the null hypothesis?

You may have also heard the terms null hypothesis , alternative hypothesis, or H-zero thrown around. At a simple level, the null hypothesis is the counter-proposal to the original hypothesis.

For example, if the hypothesis predicts that there is a relationship between two variables (for example, sleep and academic performance), the null hypothesis would predict that there is no relationship between those variables.

At a more technical level, the null hypothesis proposes that no statistical significance exists in a set of given observations and that any differences are due to chance alone.

And there you have it – hypotheses in a nutshell.

If you have any questions, be sure to leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to help you. If you need hands-on help developing and testing your hypotheses, consider our private coaching service , where we hold your hand through the research journey.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

You Might Also Like:

16 Comments

Very useful information. I benefit more from getting more information in this regard.

Very great insight,educative and informative. Please give meet deep critics on many research data of public international Law like human rights, environment, natural resources, law of the sea etc

In a book I read a distinction is made between null, research, and alternative hypothesis. As far as I understand, alternative and research hypotheses are the same. Can you please elaborate? Best Afshin

This is a self explanatory, easy going site. I will recommend this to my friends and colleagues.

Very good definition. How can I cite your definition in my thesis? Thank you. Is nul hypothesis compulsory in a research?

It’s a counter-proposal to be proven as a rejection

Please what is the difference between alternate hypothesis and research hypothesis?

It is a very good explanation. However, it limits hypotheses to statistically tasteable ideas. What about for qualitative researches or other researches that involve quantitative data that don’t need statistical tests?

In qualitative research, one typically uses propositions, not hypotheses.

could you please elaborate it more

I’ve benefited greatly from these notes, thank you.

This is very helpful

well articulated ideas are presented here, thank you for being reliable sources of information

Excellent. Thanks for being clear and sound about the research methodology and hypothesis (quantitative research)

I have only a simple question regarding the null hypothesis. – Is the null hypothesis (Ho) known as the reversible hypothesis of the alternative hypothesis (H1? – How to test it in academic research?

this is very important note help me much more

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

What Is Research Methodology? Simple Definition (With Examples) - Grad Coach - […] Contrasted to this, a quantitative methodology is typically used when the research aims and objectives are confirmatory in nature. For example,…

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Print Friendly

Tools and Resources
Customer Services
Original Language Spotlight
Alternative and Non-formal Education
Cognition, Emotion, and Learning
Curriculum and Pedagogy
Education and Society
Education, Change, and Development
Education, Cultures, and Ethnicities
Education, Gender, and Sexualities
Education, Health, and Social Services
Educational Administration and Leadership
Educational History
Educational Politics and Policy
Educational Purposes and Ideals
Educational Systems
Educational Theories and Philosophies
Globalization, Economics, and Education
Languages and Literacies
Professional Learning and Development
Research and Assessment Methods
Technology and Education
Share This Facebook LinkedIn Twitter

Article contents

Arts-based research.

Janinka Greenwood Janinka Greenwood University of Canterbury
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.29
Published online: 25 February 2019

Arts-based research encompasses a range of research approaches and strategies that utilize one or more of the arts in investigation. Such approaches have evolved from understandings that life and experiences of the world are multifaceted, and that art offers ways of knowing the world that involve sensory perceptions and emotion as well as intellectual responses. Researchers have used arts for various stages of research. It may be to collect or create data, to interpret or analyze it, to present their findings, or some combination of these. Sometimes arts-based research is used to investigate art making or teaching in or through the arts. Sometimes it is used to explore issues in the wider social sciences. The field is a constantly evolving one, and researchers have evolved diverse ways of using the communicative and interpretative tools that processes with the arts allow. These include ways to initially bypass the need for verbal expression, to explore problems in physically embodied as well as discursive ways, to capture and express ambiguities, liminalities, and complexities, to collaborate in the refining of ideas, to transform audience perceptions, and to create surprise and engage audiences emotionally as well as critically. A common feature within the wide range of approaches is that they involve aesthetic responses.

The richness of the opportunities created by the use of arts in conducting and/or reporting research brings accompanying challenges. Among these are the political as well as the epistemological expectations placed on research, the need for audiences of research, and perhaps participants in research, to evolve ways of critically assessing the affect of as well as the information in presentations, the need to develop relevant and useful strategies for peer review of the research as well as the art, and the need to evolve ethical awareness that is consistent with the intentions and power of the arts.

multisensory
performance

Introduction

The term arts-based research is an umbrella term that covers an eclectic array of methodological and epistemological approaches. The key elements that unify this diverse body of work are: it is research; and one or more art forms or processes are involved in the doing of the research. How art is involved varies enormously. It has been used as one of several tools to elicit information (Cremin, Mason, & Busher, 2011 ; Gauntlett, 2007 ; Wang & Burns, 1997 ) and for the analysis of data (Boal, 1979 ; Gallagher, 2014 ; Neilson, 2008 ), and so it serves as an enrichment to the palette of tools used in qualitative research. It has been used in the presentation of findings (Bagley & Cancienne, 2002 ; Conrad, 2012 ; Gray & Sinding, 2002 ) and so occupies a space that could be responded to and evaluated as both art and research. It has been used to investigate art and the process of art-making. The emergence of the concept and practice of a/r/tography (Belliveau, 2015 ; Irwin, 2013 ; Springgay, Irwin, & Kind, 2005 ), for example, places art-making and its textual interpretation in a dynamic relationship of inquiry into the purpose, process, and meaning of the making of an artwork.

The field is multifaceted and elusive of definition and encompassing explanation. This article does not attempt such definitions. But it does risk describing some well-trodden pathways through the field and posing some questions. Illustrative examples are offered from the author’s work, as well as citing of works by other researchers who use arts-based approaches.

My own explorations of arts-based research began many years ago, before the term came into usage. I was commissioned to develop a touring play for a New Zealand youth theater, and I chose to write a docudrama, Broadwood: Na wai te reo? (Greenwood, 1995 ). The play reported the case of a remote, rural, and predominantly Maori school that made Maori language a compulsory subject in its curriculum. The parents of one boy argued against the decision, claiming the language held no use for their son. The dispute was aired on national television and was debated in parliament. The minister agreed that the local school board had the right to make the decision after consultation with parents and community. The dispute ended with the boy being given permission to do extra math assignments in the library during Maori language classes. To develop the script, I interviewed all the local participants in the case and sincerely sought to capture the integrity of their views in my dialogue. I accessed the minister of education’s comments through public documents and media and reserved the right to occasionally satirize them. Just a week or two before final production, the family’s lawyer officially asked for a copy of the script. To my relief, it was returned with the comment that the family felt I had captured their views quite accurately. The youth theater was invited to hold its final rehearsal on the local marae (a traditional tribal Maori ground that holds a meeting house and hosts significant community occasions), and a local elder offered the use of an ancestral whalebone weapon in the opening performance, instead of the wooden one made for the production. The opening performance took place in the school itself, and the boy, together with his parents and family friends, sat in the audience together with hundreds of community people. The play had an interactive section where the audience was asked to vote in response to a survey the school had originally sent out to its community. The majority of the audience voted for Maori language to be part of the mandatory curriculum. The boy and his family voted equally emphatically for it not to be. The play then toured in New Zealand and was taken to a festival in Australia.

At the time I saw the work purely in terms of theater—albeit with a strongly critical social function. Looking back, I now see it was a performative case study. I had carefully researched the context and respectfully interviewed participants after gaining their informed consent. The participants had all endorsed my reporting of the data. The findings were disseminated and subject to popular as well as peer review. The performances added an extra dimension to the research: they actively invited audience consideration and debate.

This article discusses the epistemology that underlies arts-based approaches to research, reviews the purposes and value of research that involves the arts, identifies different stages and ways that art may be utilized, and addresses questions that are debated in the field. It does not seek to disentangle all the threads within this approach to research or to review all key theorizations and possibilities in the field. The arena of arts-based research is a diverse and rapidly expanding one, and it is only possible within this discussion to identify some of the common underlying characteristics and potentialities and to offer selected examples. Because this discussion is shaped within an essay format, rather than through a visual or performative collage, there is the risk of marking a limited number of pathways and of making assertions. At the same time, I acknowledge that the discussion might have alternatively been conducted through arts-based media, which might better reflect some of the liminalities and interweaving layers of art-based processes (see further, Greenwood, 2016 ).

The term art itself compasses a wide and diverse spectrum of products and process. This article focuses particularly on dramatic and visual art, while acknowledging that the use of other art forms, such as poetry, fiction, dance, film, and fabric work, have been variously used in processes of investigation. The word art is used to indicate the wider spectrum of art activities and to refer to more specific forms and processes by their disciplines and conventions.

Why Use Art?

One of the main reasons for the growth of arts-based approaches to research is recognition that life experiences are multi-sensory, multifaceted, and related in complex ways to time, space, ideologies, and relationships with others. Traditional approaches to research have been seen by increasing numbers of researchers as predominantly privileging cerebral, verbal, and linearly temporal approaches to knowledge and experience. The use of art in research is one of many shifts in the search for truthful means of investigation and representation. These include, among others, movements toward various forms of narratives (Riessman, 2008 ), recognition of indigenous knowledges, and indigenous ways of sharing and using knowledge (Bharucha, 1993 ; Smith, 2014 ), auto-ethnographies (Ellis, 2004 ), conceptualizations of wicked questions (Rittel & Webber, 1973 ), processes of troubling (Gardiner, 2015 ), and queering (Halperin, 2003 ). Preissle ( 2011 ) writes about the “qualitative tapestry” (p. 689) and identifies historic and contemporary threads of epistemological challenges, methods, and purposes, pointing out the ever-increasing diversity in the field. Denzin and Lincoln ( 2011 ) describe qualitative research as a site of multiple interpretative practices and, citing St. Pierre’s ( 2004 ) argument that we are in a post “post” period, assert that “we are in a new age where messy, uncertain multi-voiced texts, cultural criticism, and new experimental works will become more common, as will more reflexive forms of fieldwork, analysis and intertextual representation” (p. 15). Springgay, Irwin, and Kind ( 2005 ) assert that a/r/tography is not a new branch of qualitative research but a methodology in its own right, and that it conceptualizes inquiry as an embodied encounter through visual and textual experiences. The use of art in research is a succession of approaches to develop methodology that is meaningful and useful.

Art, product, and process allow and even invite art-makers to explore and play with knowing and meaning in ways that are more visceral and interactive than the intellectual and verbal ways that have tended to predominate in Western discourses of knowledge. It invites art viewers to interact with representations in ways that involve their senses, emotions, and ideas. Eisner ( 1998 , 2002 ) makes a number of significant assertions about the relationship between form and knowledge that emphasize the importance of art processes in offering expanded understandings of “what it means to know” (Eisner, 1998 , p. 1). He states: “There are multiple ways in which the world can be known: Artists, writers, and dancers, as well as scientists, have important thongs to tell about the world” (p. 7). Like other constructivists (Bruner, 1990 ; Guba, 1996 ), he further argues that because human knowledge is a constructed form of experience, it is a reflection of mind as well as nature, that knowledge is made, not simply discovered. He then reasons that “the forms through which humans represent their conception of the world have a major influence on what they are able to say about it” (p. 6), and, making particular reference to education, he states that whichever particular forms of representation become acceptable “is as much a political matter as an epistemological one” (p. 7). Eisner’s arguments to extend conceptualizations of knowledge within the field of education have been echoed in the practices of art-based researchers.

Artists themselves understand through their practice that art is way of coming to know the world and of presenting that knowing, emergent and shifting though it may be, to others. Sometimes the process of coming to know takes the form of social analysis. In Guernica , as a well-known example, Picasso scrutinizes and crystallizes the brutal betrayals and waste of war. In Caucasian Chalk Circle , Brecht fractures and strips bare ideas of justice, loyalty, and ownership. Their respective visual and dramatic montages speak in ways that are different from and arguably more potent than discursive descriptions.

In many indigenous cultures, art forms are primary ways of processing and recording communally significant information and signifying relationships. For New Zealand Māori, the meeting house, with its visual images, poetry, song, oratory, and rituals, is the repository library of mythic and genealogical history and of the accumulated legacies of meetings, contested positions, and nuanced consensual decisions. Art within Māori and other indigenous culture is not an illustrative addition to knowledge systems, it is an integral means of meaning making and recording.

One of the characteristics of arts and arts-based research projects is that they engage with aesthetic understandings as well as with discursive explanations. The aesthetic is a contested term (Greenwood, 2011 ; Hamera, 2011 ). However, it is used here to describe the engagement of senses and emotion as well as intellectual processes, and the consequent collation of semiotics and significances that are embedded in cultural awareness and are variously used by art makers and art viewers to respond to works of art. An aesthetic response thus is a visceral as well as rational one. It may be comfortable with ambiguities, and it may elude verbalization.

The processes of art-making demand a commitment to a continuous refinement of skills and awareness. Art-viewers arguably also gain more from an artwork as they acquire the skills and literacies involved with that particular art form and as they gain confidence to engage with the aesthetic. However, viewers may apprehend meaning without mastery of all the relevant literacies. I recall an experience of watching flamenco in El Puerto de Santa Maria, a township outside Cadiz. My senses drank in the white stone of former monastery walls and the darkening sky over an open inner courtyard. My muscles and emotions responded spontaneously to the urgency of the guitar and the beaten rhythms on a packing case drum. My nerves tensed as the singer’s voice cut through the air. The two dancers, both older and dressed in seemingly causal fawn and grey, riveted my attention. I was a stranger to the art form, and I did not know the language of the dance and could not recognize its phases or its allusions. I did feel the visceral tug of emotion across space. My heart and soul responded to something urgent, strangely oppressive, but indefinable that might have an apprehension of what those who understand flamenco call duende . If I was more literate in the art form, I would no doubt have understood a lot more, but the art, performed by those who did know and had mastered its intricacies, communicated an experience of their world to me despite my lack of training. In that evening, I learned more about the experience of life in southern Spain than I had in my earlier pursuit of library books and websites.

Art, thus, is positioned as a powerful tool that calls for ever-refining expertise in its making, but that can communicate, at differing levels, even with those who do not have that expertise. Researchers who use art draw on its rich, and sometimes complex and elusive, epistemological bases to explore and represent aspects of the world. The researchers may themselves be artists; at the least, they need to know enough of an art form to be aware of its potential and how to manipulate it. In some cases intended participants and audiences may also be artists, but often they are not. It is the researcher who creates a framework in which participants join in the art or in which audiences receive it.

Art, Research Purpose, and Research Validity

So far, the argument for the value of art as a way of knowing is multifarious, embodied, and tolerant of ambivalences and ambiguities. Where then are the rigors that are widely held as essential for research? It can be argued that arts-based research, to be considered as research, needs to have explicit research purpose and needs to subject itself to peer critique.

As has been widely noted (Eisner, 1998 ; Leavy, 2017 ; Sullivan, 2010 ), the making of art involves some investigation, both into the process of making and into some aspect of the experiential world. In research, that purpose needs to be overt and explicit. When the purpose is identified, then the choice of methods can be open to critical scrutiny and evaluation. The design of an arts-based research project is shaped, at its core, by similar considerations as other research.

Arts-based research needs to be explicit about what is being investigated. If the objective is not clear, then the result may still be art, but it is hard to call it research. Purpose determines which of the vast array of art strategies and processes will be selected as the research methods. The trustworthiness of any research depends on a number of factors: at the design stage, it depends on a clear alignment between the purpose of the research and the methods selected to carry out the investigation. In arts-based research, as in other research, it is vital that the researcher identifies the relationship between purpose and selected art tools, and offers recipients of the research clear means to evaluate and critique the reliability and usefulness of the answers that come from the research. This is where choices about strategies need to be clearly identified and explained, and both the aims and boundaries of the investigation need to be identified.

This does not imply need for a rigid and static design. Art is an evolving process, and the research design can well be an evolving one, as is the case with participatory action research (Bryndon-Miller, Karl, Maguire, Noffke, & Sabhlok, 2011 ), bricolage (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011 ), and a number of other research approaches. However, the strategic stages and choices of the emergent design donot need to be identified and explained. Nor does it imply that all data or findings need to be fully explicable verbally. One of the reasons for choosing arts-based methods, although not the only one, is to allow the operation of aesthetic and subconscious understandings as well as conscious and verbalized ones. That is part of the epistemological justification for choosing an arts-based approach. The ambivalences and pregnant possibilities that result may be considered valued gains from the choice of research tools, and their presence simply needs to be identified, together with explication of the boundaries of how such ambivalence and possibilities relate to the research question.

Different Kinds of Purpose

The sections of this article examine common and different areas of purpose for which arts-based research is frequently used, arranging them into three clusters and discussing some of the possibilities within each one.

The first, and perhaps largest, cluster of purposes for using arts-based research is to investigate some social (in the broadest sense of the word) issue. Such issues might, for example, include woman’s rights, school absenteeism, gang membership, cross-cultural encounters, classroom relationships, experiences of particular programs, problems in language acquisition. The methodological choices involved in this group of purposes have been repeatedly addressed (e.g., Boal, 1979 ; O’Brien & Donelan, 2008 ; Finley, 2005 ; Leavy, 2017 ; Prosser, 2011 ; Wang & Burns, 1997 ) in discussions of the use of arts-based approaches to the social sciences. The intention for using arts-based tools is to open up different, and hopefully more empowering, options for exploring the specific problem or issue, and for expressing participants’ perspectives in ways that can bypass participants’ discomfort with words or unconscious compliance with dominant discourses, or perhaps to present findings in ways that better reveal their dynamics and complexity than written reports.

Another smaller, but important, cluster of purposes is to research art-making processes or completed art works. For example, a theater director (Smithner, 2010 ) investigates the critical decisions she made in selecting and weaving together separate performance works into a theatrical collage. Or, a researcher (O’Donoghue, 2011 ) investigates how a conceptual artist working with film and video enquires into social, political, and cultural issues and how he shapes his work to provoke viewers to develop specific understandings. These kinds of studies explore the how and why of art-making, focusing on the makers’ intentions, their manipulation of the elements and affordances of their specific art field, and often engage with aesthetic as well as sociocultural dimensions of analysis. Often such studies are presented as narratives or analytic essays, and it is the subject matter of the research that constitutes the arts basis. Sometimes, such studies find expression in new artworks, as is the case in Merita Mita’s film made about the work of painter Ralph Hotere (Mita, 2001 ), which interlays critical analyses, documentation of process, interviews, and pulsating images of the artworks.

The third cluster involves research about teaching, therapy, or community development through one or more of the arts. Here arts are primarily the media of teaching and learning. For example, when drama is the teaching medium, the teacher may facilitate the class by taking a fictional role within the narrative that provokes students to plan, argue, or take action. Students may be prompted to use roles, create improvisations, explore body representations of ideas or conflicts, and explore contentious problems in safely fictitious contexts. Because it examines both work within an art form and changes in learners’ or community members’ understandings of other issues, this cluster overlaps somewhat with the two previous clusters. However, it is also building a body of its own traditions.

One strong tradition is the documentation of process. For example, Burton, Lepp, Morrison, and O’Toole ( 2015 ) report two decades of projects, including Dracon and Cooling Conflict , which have used drama strategies as well as formal theoretical teaching to address conflict and bullying. They have documented the specific strategies used, discussed their theoretical bases, and acknowledged the evidence on which they base their claims about effectiveness of the strategies in building understanding about and reducing bullying. The strategies used involved use of role and improvisation and what the authors call an enhanced form of Boal’s Forum Theatre. Other examples include the Risky Business Project (O’Brien & Donelan, 2008 ), a series of programs involving marginalized youth in dance, drama, music, theater performance, stand-up comedy, circus, puppetry, photography, visual arts, and creative writing; explorations of cross-cultural understandings through drama processes (Greenwood, 2005 ); the teaching of English as a second language in Malaysia through teacher-in-role and other drama processes (Mohd Nawi, 2014 ); working with traditional arts to break down culturally bound ways of seeing the world (Stanley, 2014 ); and the training of a theater-for-development team to use improvisational strategies to address community problems (Okagbue, 2002 ). While the strategies are arts processes and the analysis of their effect addresses aesthetic dimensions of arts as well as cognitive and behavioral ones, the reporting of these projects is primarily within the more traditional verbal and discursive forms of qualitative research.

Sometimes the reporting takes a more dramatic turn. Mullens and Wills ( 2016 ) report and critically analyze Re-storying Disability Through the Arts , an event that sought to create space for dialogue between students, researchers, artists, educators, and practitioners with different involvements or interests in disability arts. They begin their report by re-creating a scene within the workshop that captures some of the tensions evoked, and follow this with a critical commentary on three community-based art practices that engage in a strategy of re-storying disability. They present arts as means to “counter powerful cultural narratives that regulate the lives and bodies of disabled people” (Mullens & Wills, 2016 , p. 5). Barrett ( 2014 ) reports a project, informed by an a/r/tography methodology, which utilized the classroom teaching of the prescribed arts curriculum to allow students to explore evolving understandings of identity and community. Montages of photographs are a central component in the report, as is a series of images that illustrate Barrett’s reflections on her own role within the investigation.

Using Art to Research Social Issues: Collecting Data

Within a social science research project, art processes might be used to collect data, to carry out analysis and interpretation, or to present findings. Perhaps the most common use is to collect data. The process of photovoice (Wang & Burns, 1997 ), for example, gives participants cameras and asks them to capture images that they consider as significant elements of the topic being investigated. Graffiti might be used to prompt absentee students to discuss their perceptions of schooling. Body sculptures, freeze frames, and hot seating are examples of drama strategies that could be used to facilitate reflection and debate about cross-cultural encounters, feelings about hospitalization, experiences of domestic violence, or an array of other topics.

In each case the art produced becomes the basis for further discussion. This process is quite different from historical concepts of art therapy, where the therapist would give expert insight into what a patient’s artwork means; here it is the participants who give the explanation, perhaps independently or perhaps through dialogue with other participants and the researcher. The embodied experience of construction provides a platform and a challenge to talking in ways that are more thoughtful and more honest than through a conventionally structured verbal interview. The talk after making is important, but the art products are not merely precursors to verbal data, they are concrete points of references to which both participants and researchers can refer and can use to prompt further introspection or deconstruction. The process of making, moreover, is one that allows time for reflection and self-editing along the way and so may yield more truthful and complex answers than those that might be given instantly in an interview. Participants who are second language speakers or who lack the vocabulary or theoretical constructs to express complex feelings, reactions, or beliefs can be enabled to use physicalization to create a bridge between what they know or feel wordlessly inside them and an external expression that can be read by others.

The art tools available for such data gathering are as varied as the tools used by artists for making art. They might include drawing, collage, painting, sculpting materials or bodies, singing, orchestration, Lego construction, movement improvisation, creation of texts, photography, graffiti, role creation, and/or spatial positioning.

Art Processes as Tools for Analysis

Art processes can also be used to analyze and interpret data. Within qualitative paradigms, the processes of collecting and interpretation of data often overlap. This is also true of arts-based research. For instance, Greenwood ( 2012 ) reported on a group of experienced Bangladeshi educators who came to New Zealand to complete their Masters. While they were proficient in English, they found colloquial language challenging, struggling often to find words with the right social or emotional connotations at the speed of conversation. In previous discussions, they often looked to each other for translation. A teaching workshop, held as an illustration of arts-based research, addressed the research question: what have been your experiences as international students? A small repertoire of drama strategies, particularly freeze frames with techniques for deconstructing and refining initial offers, short animations, and narrative sequencing were used. These prompted participants to recall and show personal experiences, to critically view and interpret one another’s representations, and to further refine their images to clarify their intended meaning. The participants flung themselves into the challenge with alacrity and flamboyance and created images of eagerness, hope, new relationships, frustration, failed communication, anger, dejection, unexpected learning, and achievement. They also actively articulated ideas as we deconstructed the images and, through debate, co-constructed interpretations of what was being shown in the work and what it meant in terms of their experience, individual and shared, of overseas study. The interweaving of making, reflection, discussion, and further refinement is intrinsic to process drama; as a research method, it affords a means of interweaving data collection and collaborative analysis. In this case the participants also debated aspects of the validity of the process as research, raising questions about subjectivity in interpretation, about the nature of crystallization (Richardson, 1994 ), about informed consent, and about co-construction of narratives. Analysis shifted from being the task of an outsider researcher to one carried out, incrementally and experimentally, by insider participants. While the researcher held the initial power to focus the work, participants’ physical entry into the work, and their interrogation of the images that were created constituted a choice of how much they would share and contribute, and so they became active and sometimes playful partners in the research. This approach to analysis shares many features with participatory action research (Brydon-Miller et al., 2011 ), both in eliciting the agency of participants and in evolving a process of analysis that is interwoven with the gathering of data from preceding action and with the planning of further investigative cycles of action.

The work of Boal is perhaps one of the best known examples of the use of an art process, in this case theater, as a means of analysis of data. Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed ( 1979 ) details a series of strategies for deconstruction and collaborative analysis. For example, in the process he calls image theatre , participants select a local oppressive problem that they seek to resolve. They create and discuss images that exemplify experience of the problem and their idealized solutions (the data); they then analyze their images to find where power resides and how it is supported. Boal’s theater process calls for experimentation with further images that explore scenarios where power could become shared to some extent and could allow further action by those who experience the oppression. The process finishes with consequential explorations of the first step to be taken by participants as a means to work toward an equilibrium of power. Boal, as the title of his book, Theatre of the Oppressed , acknowledges, draws on the work of his Braziailan compatriot, Freire, and particularly on his concept of conscientization (Freire, 1970 , 1972 ). Boal’s process for analyzing experiences of oppression is not so much a direct action plan as a means of analyzing the mechanisms of specific conditions of oppression and the potential, however limited, for agency to resolve the oppression. The sequenced strategies of creating and discussing alternative images of oppression, power relationships, and action enable participants to deconstruct the socio-cultural reality that shapes their lives and to gain awareness of their capacity to transform it.

Art as a Means to Present Findings

There is a large and growing body of research that presents findings in arts forms. A few examples are briefly discussed.

After collecting data, through interviews and official communications from participants in a case where a district school was being threatened with closure, Owen ( 2009 ) commissioned a composer to write a score for sections of his transcripts and create a community opera. He expressed the hope that this would “transform their tiny stories into noisy histories” (p. 3). Part of the data was sung at a conference I attended. I was struck by the shift in power. What I might have regarded as dull data in a PowerPoint presentation now became a compelling articulation of experiences and aspirations and a dynamic debate between personal lives and authoritarian policy.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt project (Morris, 2011 ; Yardlie & Langley, 1995 ) is frequently described as the world’s greatest piece of community folk art. A claim can be made that, while each panel in the quilt is a product of folk art, the collation of the quilt in its enormity is a work of conceptual art that juxtaposes the fragility and isolation of individual loss with the overwhelming global impact of the AIDS epidemic. The quilt can also be seen as research that visually quantifies the death toll through AIDS in Western world communities and that qualitatively investigates the life stories and values of those who died through the perceptions of those who loved them.

A number of museums throughout the world present visual and kinaesthetic accounts of social and historical research. Well-known examples are the Migration Museum in Melbourne, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, and the Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism in Munich. A less securely established exhibition is that of images of the Australian Aboriginal Stolen Generation that was collected by the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation to educate community and schoolchildren, “but only had the funding to showcase the exhibit for one night” (Diss, 2017 ). These and many other exhibitions create visual and experiential environments where the data of history can be not only seen and read but also felt.

In a similar way to how these exhibitions use actual archival photographs, theater may use the exact words of interviews to re-tell real stories. In making Verbatim , Brandt and Harcourt ( 1994 ) collated the words from 30 interviews with convicted murderers, their families, and the families of murder victims. “We went into the prisons to find out what the story was that we were going to tell, and that was the story that emerged from the material we collected,” Harcourt explained (White, 2013 ). “Not only the content, but also the form emerged from that context. We didn’t go in having decided we were going to make a solo show. Form emerged from the experience of the prison system.”

A frequently used form is that of ethnodrama (Mienczakowski, 1995 ; Saldaña, 2008 ). Ethnodrama presents data in a theatrical form: using stage, role, and sometimes lighting and music. Saldaña ( 2008 ) explains that ethnodrama maintains “close allegiance to the lived experiences of real people while presenting their voices through an artistic medium” (p. 3) and argues that the goals are not only aesthetic, they also possess emancipatory potential for motivating social change within participants and audiences.

Sometimes the ethnographic material is further manipulated in the presentation process. Conrad ( 2012 ) describes her research into the Native program at the Alberta youth corrections center in play form as “an ethnographic re-presentation of the research—a creative expression of the research findings” (p. xii). Her play jumps through time, creating fragments of action, and is interspersed by video scenes that provide alternative endings that could result from choices made by the characters. Conrad explains her choice of medium: “Performance has the potential to reach audiences in ways beyond intellectual understanding, through engaging other ways of knowing that are empathetic, emotional, experiential, and embodied, with the potential for radically re-envisioning social relations” (p. xiii).

Belliveau ( 2015 ) created a performative research about his work in teaching Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing in an elementary school. He interwove excerpts of students’ performances from the Shakespearean text with excerpts of their discussions about the issues of power, pride, love, and other themes in a new performance work that illustrated as well as explained primary students’ response to Shakespeare. He later presented a keynote at the IDEA (International Drama in Education Association) conference in Paris where he performed his discussion of this and other work with young students. Similarly, Lutton’s ( 2016 ) doctoral research explored the work and challenges of selected international drama educators using imagination and role play. In her final performance of her research, she took the role of an archivist’s assistant at a fictitious Museum of Educational Drama and Applied Theatre to provide “an opportunity for drama practitioners to use their skills and knowledge of drama pedagogy to tell their own stories” (Lutton, p. 36). She states that her choice of research tool embraces theatricality, enabling the embodiment of participants’ stories, the incorporation of critical reflection and of aesthetic knowledge (p. 36).

The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black Black Oil , developed by John McGrath and the 7:84 Theatre Company, recounts the history of economic exploitation of the Scottish people, from the evictions that followed the clearances for the farming of Cheviot sheep, through the development of Highland stag hunts, to the capitalist domination of resources in the 1970s oil boom. Within a traditional ceilidh form it tells stories, presents arguments, and uses caricature, satire, and parody. The play is the result of research and of critical analysis of movements of power and economic interests. It is also a very effective instrument of political persuasion: McGrath gives the dispossessed crofters a language that tugs at our empathy whereas that of the landlords provokes our antagonism. Is this polemics or simple historic truth? Does the dramatic impact of the play unreasonably capture our intellects? And if the facts that are presented are validated by other accounts of history does it matter if it does? What is, what should be, what can be the relationship between research and the evocation, even manipulation of emotions?

Emotion—and Its Power

In as much as arts offer different ways of knowing the world, their use at various stages of research has the power to influence both what we come to know and how we know it. Art tools, strategically used, allow access to emotions and visceral responses as well as to conscious ideas. That makes them powerful for eliciting information. It also makes them powerful in influencing audiences.

The photos of the brutality of the police and of the steadfastness of the activists in the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg are examples of powerfully influencing as well as informing data. As well as the events that are recorded, the faces and the bodies speak through the photos. Their exhibition in blown-up size at eye level together with film footage and artifacts create a compellingly powerful response in viewers. Like many others, I came out of the museum emotionally drained and confirmed, even strengthened, in my ideological beliefs. The power of the exhibition had first sharpened and then consolidated my understandings. Was this because of the power of the facts presented in the exhibition, or was it because of the power of their presentation ? Or was it both? When the issue presented is one like apartheid, I am not afraid of having my awareness influenced in multiple ways: I believe I already have an evidence-informed position on the subject. I also applaud the power of the exhibition to inform and convince those who might not yet have reached a position. But what if the issue was a different one? Perhaps one which I was more uncertain about? Might it then seem that the emotional power of the exhibition gave undue weight to the evidence?

The issue here is not a simple one. The presentation is not only the reporting of findings: it is also art. The researcher (in the artist) stays true to the data; the artist (in the researcher) arranges data for effect and affect. Conrad explicitly states her hope that her choice of presentation mode will add impact to her research findings: she wants the presentation of her research about youth in detention centers to engender more empathetic understandings of their experiences and lead, in turn, to more constructive attitudes toward their needs. By putting their words to music, Owen wants his audience to listen more attentively to opinions of the stakeholders in the schools threatened with closure. McGrath wants his audience to side with those dispossessed by the combined power of capital and law. The Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation plans to emotionally move as well as to inform its community. In writing Broadwood , I meticulously presented both sides of the dispute, I deliberately placed music and metaphor at the service of Maori language, and I deliberately used the spatial suggestiveness of the stage to evoke possibilities in the ending. The boy is alone in the library while his classmates are on the marae listening to an elder explain the history of their meetinghouse. The elder gives them an ancient whalebone weapon to hold, the students pass it among themselves, then hold it out across space to the boy. The boy stands, takes half a cautious step toward them and then stops; the lights go down. I intended the audience to complete the action in their subconscious.

In each of these cases, the art form of the presentation allows the artist/researcher to manipulate affect as well as critical cognition. To my mind, this is not simply another iteration of the argument between subjectivity and objectivity in research. Many contemporary approaches to research openly recognize that knowledge is mediated by context, experience, and social and historical discourses as well as by individuals’ personal interpretation (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011 ; Ellis, 2004 ). It is shaped by what is left out as well as by what is included. The practice of careful and scrupulous reflexivity is a way of acknowledging and bounding the subjectivity of the researcher (Altheide & Johnson, 2011 ; Ellingson, 2011 ). The researcher-who-is-artist draws on a subconscious as well as a conscious sense of how things fit together, and constructs meaning subconsciously as well as consciously, manipulating affect and effect in the process. Perhaps all researchers do so to some extent. For instance, the deliberately invisible authors of much quantitative research, who allow the passive voice to carry much of the reporting, who triangulate and define limitation, create an effect of fair-minded and dependable authority. The affect is not necessarily misleading, and it is something that readers of research have learned to recognize. However, the researcher-who-is-artist can draw on the rich repertoire of an art field that already operates in the domain of the aesthetic as well as of the critically cognitive, in spaces that are liminal as well those that are defined. It is arguable that readers of research still need to recognize and navigate through those spaces. Arguably, the challenge exists not only in the field of research: it is present in all the media that surrounds our daily lives.

A/r/tography and Examination of Places Between

The challenge of exploring liminal spaces of intention, process, explanation, effect, and affect is seriously taken up by the emergent discipline of a/r/tography . The backslashes in the term speak of fracture; they also denote the combined authorial roles of artist, researcher, and teacher. Springgay, Irwin, and Kind ( 2005 ) explain that a/r/tography is deliberately introspective and does not seek conclusions: rather it plays with connections between art and text and seeks to capture the embodied experience of exploring self and the world. Irwin et al. ( 2006 ) state: “Together, the arts and education complement, resist, and echo one another through rhizomatic relations of living inquiry” (p. 70). A/r/tography is explicitly positioned as a practice-based and living inquiry: it explores but resists attempting to define the spaces between artist, teacher, and researcher, and so implicitly rejects boundaries between these roles. It conceptualizes inquiry as a continuing experiential process of encounter between ideas, art media, context, meaning, and evolving representations. At the same time as it blurs distinctions, it teases out interrelationships: it offers art inquiry as something that is purposeful but unfixed, and art knowing as something that is personally and socially useful, but at best only partially and temporarily describable, never definable. This is one reason why its proponents explain it as a substantively different and new methodology outside the existing frameworks of qualitative research.

A/r/tography emerged out of the field of art education, with the explicit aim to extend the opportunities afforded by education in the arts, and to develop means to record and report the complex facets of learning and teaching in the arts. Consequently its language may be experienced, by readers who are outside the discipline, as highly abstract, deliberately ambiguous, and even esoteric: it seems to speak, as many research disciplines do, primarily to others in its own field. However, its broad principles have been picked up, and perhaps adapted, by practitioners who seek to explore the processes of their students’ learning through the arts and the evolving understandings they develop. For instance, Barrett and Greenwood ( 2013 ) report exploration of the epistemological third space through which place-conscious education and visual arts pedagogy can be interwoven and through which students, many of whom do not aspire to become artists, can use art-making to re-imagine and re-mark their understandings of their physical and social context and of their relationship with community. The value of this kind of research is posed in terms of the insights it affords rather than its capacity for presenting authoritative conclusions.

A Conference Debate, and the Politics of Research

Whether the provision of insights is enough to make art-making into research is a question that is frequently and sometimes fiercely contested. One such debate took place at a European conference I recently attended. It occurred in an arts-based research stream, and it began with the presentation of two films. The films were relatively short, and a discussion followed and became increasingly heated. Personally, I liked the films. The first reported a dance process that became an undergraduate teaching text. The second, in layers of imagery and fragments of dialogue, explored the practice of two artists. However, I was not sure what the added value was in calling either research. I saw art responding to art, and that seemed valuable and interesting enough. Why was the construct of research being privileged? The filmmakers defended the claim to research on the grounds that there was inquiry, on the grounds that art spoke in languages that were best discussed through art, and on the grounds that research was privileged in their institutions. Then a respected professor of fine arts put forward more direct criticism. Research, he argued, needed to make explicit the decisions that were made in identifying and reporting findings so that these would be accessible for peer review. Neither film, he said, did so. Defenses from the audience were heated. Then another senior art educator argued that art itself could not just be self-referential: it had to open a space for others to enter. The debate continued in corridors long after the session ended.

That the criticisms were unrelenting seemed an indication of how much was at stake. The space held by arts-based research within the European academic congregation is still somewhat fragile. The arts-based network was formed because of advocates’ passionate belief in the extended possibilities that arts-based methods offer, and this year again it expressed its eagerness to receive contributions in film and other art media as well as PowerPoint and verbal presentations. However, the network also saw itself as a custodian of rigor.

The participants in the session re-performed an argument that lingers at the edges of arts-based research. At the far ends of the spectrum, art and research are readily recognizable, and when art is borrowed as a tool in research, the epistemological and methodological assumptions are explicable. But the ground is more slippery when art and research intersect more deeply. When is the inquiry embedded within art, and when does it become research? Is it useful to attempt demarcations? What is lost from art or from research if demarcations are not attempted? The questions, as well as possible answers, are, as Eisner suggested, political as well as philosophical and methodological.

The doing of research and its publication have become big academic business. Universities around the world are required to report their academics’ research outputs to gain funding. My university, for example, is subject to a six-yearly round of assessment of research performance, based primarily on published and on funded research outputs. Each academic’s outputs are categorized and ranked, and the university itself is ranked and funded, in comparison with the other universities in the country. There is pressure on each academic to maximize research publications, even at the cost, it often seems, of other important academic activities, such as teaching. The competitive means of ranking also increases contestations about what is real research, serving both as a stimulus for positioning differing forms of inquiry as research and as a guarded gateway that permits some entries and denies others. Politicians and policymakers, in their turn, favor and fund research that can provide them with quotable numbers or clear-cut conclusions. Arts-based research still battles for a place within this politico-academic ground, although there appears to be growing acceptance of the use of art tools as means to elicit data.

Site for Possibilities—and Questions

The politics of research do matter, but for researchers who are committed to doing useful research, there are other factors to consider when choosing research approaches. These include the potentialities of the tools, the matter that is to be investigated, and the skills and practice preferences of the researcher.

The emergence and development of processes of arts-based research are grounded in belief that there are many ways of knowing oneself and the world, and these include emotions and intuitive perceptions as well as intellectual cognition. The epistemology of arts-based research is based on understandings that color, space, sound, movement, facial expression, vocal tone, and metaphor are as important in expressing and understanding knowledge as the lexical meanings of words. It is based on understandings that symbols, signs, and patterns are powerful means of communication, and that they are culturally and contextually shaped and interpreted. Arts-based research processes tolerate, even sometimes celebrate, ambiguity and ambivalence. They may also afford license to manipulate emotions to evoke empathy or direct social action.

The use of arts-based processes for eliciting participants’ responses considerably increases researchers’ repertoire for engaging participants and for providing them with means of expression that allow them to access feelings and perceptions that they might not initially be able to put into words as well as giving them time and strategies for considering their responses. The use of arts-based processes for analysis and representation allow opportunities for multidimensional, sensory, and often communal explorations of the meaning of what has been researched. It also presents new challenges to receivers of research who need to navigate their way not only through the overt ambiguities and subjective expression, but also through the invisible layers of affect that are embedded in art processes.

The challenges signal continuing areas of discussion, and perhaps work, for both arts-based researchers and for the wider research community. Does the use of art in representation of research findings move beyond the scope of critical peer review? Or do we rather need to develop new languages and strategies for such review? Do we need critical and recursive debate about when art becomes research and when it does not? Are the ambiguities and cognitive persuasions that are inherent in arts-based representations simply other, and useful, epistemological stances? Does the concept of research lose its meaning if it is stretched too far? Does art, which already has a useful role in interpreting and even shaping society, need to carve out its position as research? Does the entry of arts-based research into the arena of research call for revisions to the way we consider ethics? How do the procedures of institutional ethics committees need to be adapted to accommodate the engagement of the human body as well as the emergent design and ambiguities of the arts-based research processes? What are the more complex responsibilities of arts-based researchers toward their participants, particularly in terms of cultural protocols, reciprocity of gains, and the manipulation of emotions and cognition through visually or dramatically powerful presentations?

The already existing and expanding contribution of arts-based researchers argues vigorously for the place of arts processes in our congregations of research discussion and production. Quite simply, the arts address aspects of being human that are not sufficiently addressed by other methodologies. They are needed in our repertoire of tools for understanding people and the world. However, like other research approaches, they bring new challenges that need to be recognized and debated.

Research Based Learning: a Lifelong Learning Necessity

“Give a person a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a person to fish and she will eat for a lifetime.” – Adapted from a saying by an unknown author

What is Research-Based Learning? Research-based learning (RBL) consists of a framework that helps to prepare students to be lifelong inquirers and learners. The term “research,” which often conjures up a picture of students writing research reports, is here defined as a way of thinking about teaching and learning, a perspective, a paradigm. It is a specific approach to classroom teaching that places less emphasis on teacher-centered learning of content and facts and greater emphasis on students as active researchers.

In a research-based learning approach, students actively search for and then use multiple resources, materials, and texts in order to explore important, relevant, and interesting questions and challenges. They find, process, organize and evaluate information and ideas as they build reading skills and vocabulary. They learn how to read for understanding, form interpretations, develop and evaluate hypotheses, and think critically and creatively. They learn how to solve problems, challenges, and dilemmas. Finally, they develop communication skills through writing and discussion.

In the five stages of research-based learning, students:

a. Identify and clarify issues, questions, challenges, and puzzles. A key component of research-based learning is the identification and clarification of issues, problems, challenges and questions for discussion and exploration. The learner is able to seek relevancy in the work they are doing and to become deeply involved in the learning process. b. Find and process information. Students are tasked with searching for, finding, closely reading, processing, and using information related to the identified issue and question from one or more sources. As they seek out resources and read information, and then organize, classify, categorize, define, and conceptualize data. In the process, they become better readers. c. Think critically and creatively. Students are provided with the opportunity to use their researched information to compare and contrast, interpret, apply, infer, analyze, synthesize, and think creatively. d. Apply knowledge and ideas and draw conclusions. Students use what they have learned to draw conclusions, complete an authentic task, summarize results, solve problems, make decisions, or answer key questions. e. Communicate results. Students communicate results of their research activities in a number of possible ways, such as through a written research report, a persuasive essay, a book designed to teach younger students, a math problem solution, a plan of action, or a slide presentation to members of the community.

The Teacher’s Role Teachers play a key role in the success of research-based instruction by engaging and involving students in information gathering and processing. While teachers might occasionally provide information through lectures, and textbooks are used as a source of information, there is an emphasis placed on students learning how to seek out and process resources themselves. A teacher provides a climate that supports student curiosity and questioning . Teachers enable students to ask questions and pose problems. Students are invited to ask and answer questions. The classroom climate is conducive to using higher-order thinking and problem-solving skills to apply knowledge to solve problems. Teachers attempt to build ways for students to take ownership of their learning, to create a value and a purpose for learning.

In a research-based learning classroom, teachers often act more like a coach, guiding students as they develop questions and problems, helping students to find, read, sort, and evaluate information, giving students the opportunity to draw their own conclusions, and providing the time and the opportunity for students to communicate results.

Finally, one of the most important components of a successful research-based learning program is the ability to help students understand and apply this approach consistently, by providing them with research-based opportunities for learning. Thus students are encouraged to bring in additional materials and resources to help the class understand a topic, choose and complete projects and performance tasks as part of their units of study, and discuss issues using evidence from sources of information. The classroom climate and environment continually encourage students to express their opinions, problem solve, and think at higher levels.

Student Outcomes Significant outcomes occur when this approach is utilized over time. Learning how to search for and find reliable information and resources is a skill that is important for a lifetime of learning, Reading many different kinds of texts strengthens reading skills and builds vocabulary. Thinking skills are developed as students classify, organize, and synthesize information. “Habits of mind,” such as perseverance and resilience are strengthened through long-term projects. Writing skills are developed through note-taking, reflection activities, and many different types of writing tasks.

In addition, students feel greater ownership for their learning and the learning process and thus develop greater self-esteem with regard to learning. There is greater interest in and curiosity about learning and a willingness to work harder to learn. Students are more likely to retain information longer because it is more meaningful to them and organized in a more interesting fashion.

Finally, students are able to learn the difference between reliable and unreliable information, ideas, and resources, a key need in today’s world with so much misleading and erroneous information.

Summary The stages of research-based learning, key activities, and student outcomes are summarized in chart one, below. This framework also fits nicely with the four-phase model of instruction examined in my book Teaching for Lifelong Learning: How to Prepare Students for a Changing World (Solution Tree Press, 2021) and in a previous Solution Tree blog post: Using a Four-Phase Instructional Model to Plan and Teach for Lifelong Learning .

Teachers who provide a structure for research-based learning as part of their regular teaching routine should experience greater interest and involvement on the part of their students, and help students develop both skills and a fundamental knowledge base that are important for a lifetime of learning.

Zorfass, Judith and Copel. Harriet. The I-Search: Guiding Students Toward Relevant Research. In Educational Leadership, Volume 53, Number 1, September 1995, pp. 48-51.

Zorfass, Judith and Copel, Harriet (1998) Teaching Middle School Students to be Active Researchers. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Solution Tree

Here's some awesome bio info about me! Short codes are not allowed, but perhaps we can work something else out.

Subscribe to Our Blog

3 Key Learning Outcomes and How to Question Them

Getting to Know Differentiation in the Classroom

3 Books to Fire Up Your Imagination This Summer

How to Foster Civil Mindsets in Classroom Communities

Have a language expert improve your writing

Run a free plagiarism check in 10 minutes, generate accurate citations for free.

Knowledge Base

Methodology

Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on August 20, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on June 22, 2023.

Survey research means collecting information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. To conduct an effective survey, follow these six steps:

Determine who will participate in the survey
Decide the type of survey (mail, online, or in-person)
Design the survey questions and layout
Distribute the survey
Analyze the responses
Write up the results

Surveys are a flexible method of data collection that can be used in many different types of research .

What are surveys used for, step 1: define the population and sample, step 2: decide on the type of survey, step 3: design the survey questions, step 4: distribute the survey and collect responses, step 5: analyze the survey results, step 6: write up the survey results, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about surveys.

Surveys are used as a method of gathering data in many different fields. They are a good choice when you want to find out about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.

Common uses of survey research include:

Social research : investigating the experiences and characteristics of different social groups
Market research : finding out what customers think about products, services, and companies
Health research : collecting data from patients about symptoms and treatments
Politics : measuring public opinion about parties and policies
Psychology : researching personality traits, preferences and behaviours

Surveys can be used in both cross-sectional studies , where you collect data just once, and in longitudinal studies , where you survey the same sample several times over an extended period.

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Discover proofreading & editing

Before you start conducting survey research, you should already have a clear research question that defines what you want to find out. Based on this question, you need to determine exactly who you will target to participate in the survey.

Populations

The target population is the specific group of people that you want to find out about. This group can be very broad or relatively narrow. For example:

The population of Brazil
US college students
Second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands
Customers of a specific company aged 18-24
British transgender women over the age of 50

Your survey should aim to produce results that can be generalized to the whole population. That means you need to carefully define exactly who you want to draw conclusions about.

Several common research biases can arise if your survey is not generalizable, particularly sampling bias and selection bias . The presence of these biases have serious repercussions for the validity of your results.

It’s rarely possible to survey the entire population of your research – it would be very difficult to get a response from every person in Brazil or every college student in the US. Instead, you will usually survey a sample from the population.

The sample size depends on how big the population is. You can use an online sample calculator to work out how many responses you need.

There are many sampling methods that allow you to generalize to broad populations. In general, though, the sample should aim to be representative of the population as a whole. The larger and more representative your sample, the more valid your conclusions. Again, beware of various types of sampling bias as you design your sample, particularly self-selection bias , nonresponse bias , undercoverage bias , and survivorship bias .

There are two main types of survey:

A questionnaire , where a list of questions is distributed by mail, online or in person, and respondents fill it out themselves.
An interview , where the researcher asks a set of questions by phone or in person and records the responses.

Which type you choose depends on the sample size and location, as well as the focus of the research.

Questionnaires

Sending out a paper survey by mail is a common method of gathering demographic information (for example, in a government census of the population).

You can easily access a large sample.
You have some control over who is included in the sample (e.g. residents of a specific region).
The response rate is often low, and at risk for biases like self-selection bias .

Online surveys are a popular choice for students doing dissertation research , due to the low cost and flexibility of this method. There are many online tools available for constructing surveys, such as SurveyMonkey and Google Forms .

You can quickly access a large sample without constraints on time or location.
The data is easy to process and analyze.
The anonymity and accessibility of online surveys mean you have less control over who responds, which can lead to biases like self-selection bias .

If your research focuses on a specific location, you can distribute a written questionnaire to be completed by respondents on the spot. For example, you could approach the customers of a shopping mall or ask all students to complete a questionnaire at the end of a class.

You can screen respondents to make sure only people in the target population are included in the sample.
You can collect time- and location-specific data (e.g. the opinions of a store’s weekday customers).
The sample size will be smaller, so this method is less suitable for collecting data on broad populations and is at risk for sampling bias .

Oral interviews are a useful method for smaller sample sizes. They allow you to gather more in-depth information on people’s opinions and preferences. You can conduct interviews by phone or in person.

You have personal contact with respondents, so you know exactly who will be included in the sample in advance.
You can clarify questions and ask for follow-up information when necessary.
The lack of anonymity may cause respondents to answer less honestly, and there is more risk of researcher bias.

Like questionnaires, interviews can be used to collect quantitative data: the researcher records each response as a category or rating and statistically analyzes the results. But they are more commonly used to collect qualitative data : the interviewees’ full responses are transcribed and analyzed individually to gain a richer understanding of their opinions and feelings.

Next, you need to decide which questions you will ask and how you will ask them. It’s important to consider:

The type of questions
The content of the questions
The phrasing of the questions
The ordering and layout of the survey

Open-ended vs closed-ended questions

There are two main forms of survey questions: open-ended and closed-ended. Many surveys use a combination of both.

Closed-ended questions give the respondent a predetermined set of answers to choose from. A closed-ended question can include:

A binary answer (e.g. yes/no or agree/disagree )
A scale (e.g. a Likert scale with five points ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree )
A list of options with a single answer possible (e.g. age categories)
A list of options with multiple answers possible (e.g. leisure interests)

Closed-ended questions are best for quantitative research . They provide you with numerical data that can be statistically analyzed to find patterns, trends, and correlations .

Open-ended questions are best for qualitative research. This type of question has no predetermined answers to choose from. Instead, the respondent answers in their own words.

Open questions are most common in interviews, but you can also use them in questionnaires. They are often useful as follow-up questions to ask for more detailed explanations of responses to the closed questions.

The content of the survey questions

To ensure the validity and reliability of your results, you need to carefully consider each question in the survey. All questions should be narrowly focused with enough context for the respondent to answer accurately. Avoid questions that are not directly relevant to the survey’s purpose.

When constructing closed-ended questions, ensure that the options cover all possibilities. If you include a list of options that isn’t exhaustive, you can add an “other” field.

Phrasing the survey questions

In terms of language, the survey questions should be as clear and precise as possible. Tailor the questions to your target population, keeping in mind their level of knowledge of the topic. Avoid jargon or industry-specific terminology.

Survey questions are at risk for biases like social desirability bias , the Hawthorne effect , or demand characteristics . It’s critical to use language that respondents will easily understand, and avoid words with vague or ambiguous meanings. Make sure your questions are phrased neutrally, with no indication that you’d prefer a particular answer or emotion.

Ordering the survey questions

The questions should be arranged in a logical order. Start with easy, non-sensitive, closed-ended questions that will encourage the respondent to continue.

If the survey covers several different topics or themes, group together related questions. You can divide a questionnaire into sections to help respondents understand what is being asked in each part.

If a question refers back to or depends on the answer to a previous question, they should be placed directly next to one another.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Before you start, create a clear plan for where, when, how, and with whom you will conduct the survey. Determine in advance how many responses you require and how you will gain access to the sample.

When you are satisfied that you have created a strong research design suitable for answering your research questions, you can conduct the survey through your method of choice – by mail, online, or in person.

There are many methods of analyzing the results of your survey. First you have to process the data, usually with the help of a computer program to sort all the responses. You should also clean the data by removing incomplete or incorrectly completed responses.

If you asked open-ended questions, you will have to code the responses by assigning labels to each response and organizing them into categories or themes. You can also use more qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis , which is especially suitable for analyzing interviews.

Statistical analysis is usually conducted using programs like SPSS or Stata. The same set of survey data can be subject to many analyses.

Finally, when you have collected and analyzed all the necessary data, you will write it up as part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper .

In the methodology section, you describe exactly how you conducted the survey. You should explain the types of questions you used, the sampling method, when and where the survey took place, and the response rate. You can include the full questionnaire as an appendix and refer to it in the text if relevant.

Then introduce the analysis by describing how you prepared the data and the statistical methods you used to analyze it. In the results section, you summarize the key results from your analysis.

In the discussion and conclusion , you give your explanations and interpretations of these results, answer your research question, and reflect on the implications and limitations of the research.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Student’s t -distribution
Normal distribution
Null and Alternative Hypotheses
Chi square tests
Confidence interval
Quartiles & Quantiles
Cluster sampling
Stratified sampling
Data cleansing
Reproducibility vs Replicability
Peer review
Prospective cohort study

Research bias

Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Placebo effect
Hawthorne effect
Hindsight bias
Affect heuristic
Social desirability bias

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. It is made up of 4 or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with 5 or 7 possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

Individual Likert-type questions are generally considered ordinal data , because the items have clear rank order, but don’t have an even distribution.

Overall Likert scale scores are sometimes treated as interval data. These scores are considered to have directionality and even spacing between them.

The type of data determines what statistical tests you should use to analyze your data.

The priorities of a research design can vary depending on the field, but you usually have to specify:

Your research questions and/or hypotheses
Your overall approach (e.g., qualitative or quantitative )
The type of design you’re using (e.g., a survey , experiment , or case study )
Your sampling methods or criteria for selecting subjects
Your data collection methods (e.g., questionnaires , observations)
Your data collection procedures (e.g., operationalization , timing and data management)
Your data analysis methods (e.g., statistical tests or thematic analysis )

Cite this Scribbr article

If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

McCombes, S. (2023, June 22). Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods. Scribbr. Retrieved June 18, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/survey-research/

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Other students also liked, qualitative vs. quantitative research | differences, examples & methods, questionnaire design | methods, question types & examples, what is a likert scale | guide & examples, what is your plagiarism score.

See us on facebook
See us on twitter
See us on youtube
See us on linkedin
See us on instagram

Six distinct types of depression identified in Stanford Medicine-led study

Brain imaging, known as functional MRI, combined with machine learning can predict a treatment response based on one’s depression “biotype.”

June 17, 2024 - By Rachel Tompa

Researchers have identified six subtypes of depression, paving the way toward personalized treatment. Damerfie - stock.adobe.com

In the not-too-distant future, a screening assessment for depression could include a quick brain scan to identify the best treatment.

Brain imaging combined with machine learning can reveal subtypes of depression and anxiety, according to a new study led by researchers at Stanford Medicine. The study , published June 17 in the journal Nature Medicine , sorts depression into six biological subtypes, or “biotypes,” and identifies treatments that are more likely or less likely to work for three of these subtypes.

Better methods for matching patients with treatments are desperately needed, said the study’s senior author, Leanne Williams , PhD, the Vincent V.C. Woo Professor, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and the director of Stanford Medicine’s Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness . Williams, who lost her partner to depression in 2015, has focused her work on pioneering the field of precision psychiatry .

Around 30% of people with depression have what’s known as treatment-resistant depression , meaning multiple kinds of medication or therapy have failed to improve their symptoms. And for up to two-thirds of people with depression, treatment fails to fully reverse their symptoms to healthy levels.

That’s in part because there’s no good way to know which antidepressant or type of therapy could help a given patient. Medications are prescribed through a trial-and-error method, so it can take months or years to land on a drug that works — if it ever happens. And spending so long trying treatment after treatment, only to experience no relief, can worsen depression symptoms.

“The goal of our work is figuring out how we can get it right the first time,” Williams said. “It’s very frustrating to be in the field of depression and not have a better alternative to this one-size-fits-all approach.”

Biotypes predict treatment response

To better understand the biology underlying depression and anxiety, Williams and her colleagues assessed 801 study participants who were previously diagnosed with depression or anxiety using the imaging technology known as functional MRI, or fMRI, to measure brain activity. They scanned the volunteers’ brains at rest and when they were engaged in different tasks designed to test their cognitive and emotional functioning. The scientists narrowed in on regions of the brain, and the connections between them, that were already known to play a role in depression.

Using a machine learning approach known as cluster analysis to group the patients’ brain images, they identified six distinct patterns of activity in the brain regions they studied.

Leanne Williams

The scientists also randomly assigned 250 of the study participants to receive one of three commonly used antidepressants or behavioral talk therapy. Patients with one subtype, which is characterized by overactivity in cognitive regions of the brain, experienced the best response to the antidepressant venlafaxine (commonly known as Effexor) compared with those who have other biotypes. Those with another subtype, whose brains at rest had higher levels of activity among three regions associated with depression and problem-solving, had better alleviation of symptoms with behavioral talk therapy. And those with a third subtype, who had lower levels of activity at rest in the brain circuit that controls attention, were less likely to see improvement of their symptoms with talk therapy than those with other biotypes.

The biotypes and their response to behavioral therapy make sense based on what they know about these regions of the brain, said Jun Ma, MD, PhD, the Beth and George Vitoux Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago and one of the authors of the study. The type of therapy used in their trial teaches patients skills to better address daily problems, so the high levels of activity in these brain regions may allow patients with that biotype to more readily adopt new skills. As for those with lower activity in the region associated with attention and engagement, Ma said it’s possible that pharmaceutical treatment to first address that lower activity could help those patients gain more from talk therapy.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time we’ve been able to demonstrate that depression can be explained by different disruptions to the functioning of the brain,” Williams said. “In essence, it’s a demonstration of a personalized medicine approach for mental health based on objective measures of brain function.”

In another recently published study , Williams and her team showed that using fMRI brain imaging improves their ability to identify individuals likely to respond to antidepressant treatment. In that study, the scientists focused on a subtype they call the cognitive biotype of depression, which affects more than a quarter of those with depression and is less likely to respond to standard antidepressants. By identifying those with the cognitive biotype using fMRI, the researchers accurately predicted the likelihood of remission in 63% of patients, compared with 36% accuracy without using brain imaging. That improved accuracy means that providers may be more likely to get the treatment right the first time. The scientists are now studying novel treatments for this biotype with the hope of finding more options for those who don’t respond to standard antidepressants.

Further explorations of depression

The different biotypes also correlate with differences in symptoms and task performance among the trial participants. Those with overactive cognitive regions of the brain, for example, had higher levels of anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure) than those with other biotypes; they also performed worse on executive function tasks. Those with the subtype that responded best to talk therapy also made errors on executive function tasks but performed well on cognitive tasks.

One of the six biotypes uncovered in the study showed no noticeable brain activity differences in the imaged regions from the activity of people without depression. Williams believes they likely haven’t explored the full range of brain biology underlying this disorder — their study focused on regions known to be involved in depression and anxiety, but there could be other types of dysfunction in this biotype that their imaging didn’t capture.

Williams and her team are expanding the imaging study to include more participants. She also wants to test more kinds of treatments in all six biotypes, including medicines that haven’t traditionally been used for depression.

Her colleague Laura Hack , MD, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has begun using the imaging technique in her clinical practice at Stanford Medicine through an experimental protocol . The team also wants to establish easy-to-follow standards for the method so that other practicing psychiatrists can begin implementing it.

“To really move the field toward precision psychiatry, we need to identify treatments most likely to be effective for patients and get them on that treatment as soon as possible,” Ma said. “Having information on their brain function, in particular the validated signatures we evaluated in this study, would help inform more precise treatment and prescriptions for individuals.”

Researchers from Columbia University; Yale University School of Medicine; the University of California, Los Angeles; UC San Francisco; the University of Sydney; the University of Texas MD Anderson; and the University of Illinois Chicago also contributed to the study.

Datasets in the study were funded by the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R01MH101496, UH2HL132368, U01MH109985 and U01MH136062) and by Brain Resource Ltd.

Rachel Tompa Rachel Tompa is a freelance science writer.

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu .

Hope amid crisis

Psychiatry’s new frontiers

Stanford Medicine magazine: Mental health

Information

Author Services

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

Active Journals
Find a Journal
Proceedings Series
For Authors
For Reviewers
For Editors
For Librarians
For Publishers
For Societies
For Conference Organizers
Open Access Policy
Institutional Open Access Program
Special Issues Guidelines
Editorial Process
Research and Publication Ethics
Article Processing Charges
Testimonials
Preprints.org
SciProfiles
Encyclopedia

Article Menu

Subscribe SciFeed
Recommended Articles
Google Scholar
on Google Scholar
Table of Contents

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

JSmol Viewer

Complete blood counts and research parameters in the detection of myelodysplastic syndromes.

Share and Cite

Urrechaga, E.; Fernández, M.; Aguirre, U. Complete Blood Counts and Research Parameters in the Detection of Myelodysplastic Syndromes. Diagnostics 2024 , 14 , 1322. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14131322

Urrechaga E, Fernández M, Aguirre U. Complete Blood Counts and Research Parameters in the Detection of Myelodysplastic Syndromes. Diagnostics . 2024; 14(13):1322. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14131322

Urrechaga, Eloísa, Mónica Fernández, and Urko Aguirre. 2024. "Complete Blood Counts and Research Parameters in the Detection of Myelodysplastic Syndromes" Diagnostics 14, no. 13: 1322. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics14131322

Article Metrics

Further information, mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

Identification of groundwater pollution sources based on optimal layout of groundwater pollution monitoring network

ORIGINAL PAPER
Published: 19 June 2024

Cite this article

Xi Ma 1 , 2 , 3 ,
Jiannan Luo 1 , 2 , 3 ,
Xueli Li 1 , 2 , 3 &
Zhuo Song 1 , 2 , 3

The accuracy of pollution source identification significantly depends on the amount of effective information derived from monitoring data. Currently, most of the comprehensive studies on groundwater contamination source identification and optimal design of monitoring solutions are based on hypothetical cases, whereas relevant studies on actual cases only consider one characteristic of the pollution source (either locations or fluxes). An optimal monitoring network (OMN)-based pollution source characterisation framework that takes source locations and source fluxes into account is presented to enhance the accuracy of pollution source identification. The genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) were used to solve the optimization model of pollution source characteristics identification. The framework is applied to a landfill for waste located in Baicheng City, China. The results showed that the identification results based on OMN has a smaller mean relative error and higher accuracy, compared with those based on random monitoring network (RMN). This study shows that OMNs can provide more effective information for pollution source identification and effectively enhance the accuracy of the groundwater sources characteristics identification.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

Alapati S, Kabala ZJ (2000) Recovering the release history of a groundwater contaminant using a non-linear least-squares method. Hydrol Process 14(6):1003–1016. https://doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(20000430)14:6

Article Google Scholar

Atmadja J, Bagtzoglou AC (2001) State of the art report on mathematical methods for groundwater pollution source identification. Environ Forensics 2(3):205–214. https://doi.org/10.1006/enfo.2001.0055

Article CAS Google Scholar

Bagley JD (1967) The behavior of adaptive systems which employ genetic and correlation algorithms: technical report

Bashi-Azghadi SN, Kerachian R, Bazargan-Lari MR, Nikoo MR (2016) Pollution source identification in groundwater systems: application of regret theory and bayesian networks. Iranian J Sci Technol-Trans Civil Eng 40(3):241–249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-016-0022-3

Borah T, Bhattacharjya RK (2016) Development of an improved pollution source identification model using numerical and ANN based simulation-optimization model. Water Resour Manage 30(14):5163–5176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-016-1476-6

Capilla JE (2003) Stochastic inversion in hydrogeology - Preface. J Hydrol 281(4):249–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-1694(03)00189-6

Chakraborty A, Prakash O (2020) Identification of clandestine groundwater pollution sources using heuristics optimization algorithms: a comparison between simulated annealing and particle swarm optimization. Environ Monit Assess 192(12) https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08691-7

Chakraborty A, Prakash O (2022) Optimal monitoring locations for identification of ambivalent characteristics of groundwater pollution sources. Environ Monit Assess 194(9). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10313-3

Chen Z, Gómez-Hernández JJG, Xu T, Zanini A (2018) Joint identification of contaminant source and aquifer geometry in a sandbox experiment with the restart ensemble Kalman filter. J Hydrol 564:1074–1084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.07.073

Chen Z, Xu T, Gómez-Hernández JJ, Zanini A, Zhou QP (2023) Reconstructing the release history of a contaminant source with different precision via the ensemble smoother with multiple data assimilation. J Contam Hydrol 252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2022.104115

Datta B, Chakrabarty D, Dhar A (2009) Optimal dynamic monitoring network design and identification of unknown groundwater pollution sources. Water Resour Manage 23(10):2031–2049. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-008-9368-z

Datta B, Chakrabarty D, Dhar A (2011) Identification of unknown groundwater pollution sources using classical optimization with linked simulation. J Hydro-Environ Res 5(1):25–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jher.2010.08.004

Dokou Z, Pinder GF (2009) Optimal search strategy for the definition of a DNAPL source. J Hydrol 376(3–4):542–556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.07.062

Dokou Z, Pinder GF (2011) Extension and field application of an integrated DNAPL source identification algorithm that utilizes stochastic modeling and a Kalman filter. J Hydrol (amsterdam) 398(3–4):277–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2010.12.029

Esfahani HK, Datta B (2018) Fractal Singularity–based multiobjective monitoring networks for reactive species contaminant source characterization. J Water Resour Plan Manage 144(6). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WR.1943-5452.0000880

Gaur S, Chahar BR, Graillot D (2011) Analytic elements method and particle swarm optimization based simulation–optimization model for groundwater management. J Hydrol (amsterdam) 402(3):217–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.03.016

Godoy VA, Napa-García GF, Gómez-Hernández JJ (2022) Ensemble random forest filter: an alternative to the ensemble Kalman filter for inverse modeling. J Hydrol 615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2022.128642

Gómez-Hernández JJ, Xu T (2022) Contaminant source identification in aquifers: a critical view. Math Geosci 54(2):437–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11004-021-09976-4

Gorelick SM, Evans B, Remson I (1983) Identifying sources of groundwater pollution: An optimization approach. Water Resour Res 19(3):779–790. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR019i003p00779

Guneshwor L, Eldho TI, Kumar AV (2018) Identification of groundwater contamination sources using meshfree rpcm simulation and particle swarm optimization. Water Resour Manage 32(4):1517–1538. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1885-1

Han KX, Zuo R, Ni PC, Xue ZK, Xu DH, Wang JS, Zhang D (2020) Application of a genetic algorithm to groundwater pollution source identification. J Hydrol 589. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125343

Hazrati-Yadkoori S, Datta B (2017) Characterization of groundwater contaminant sources by utilizing MARS based surrogate model linked to optimization model, pp 153–162, Thailand

Hendricks Franssen HJ (2001) Inverse stochastic modelling of groundwater flow and mass transport, pp 353–363. Spain

Jha M, Datta B (2013) Three-dimensional groundwater contamination source identification using adaptive simulated annealing. J Hydrol Eng 18(3):307–317. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)he.1943-5584.0000624

Jin Y (2005) A comprehensive survey of fitness approximation in evolutionary computation. Soft Comput 9(1):3–12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-003-0328-5

Li JH, Lu WX, Wang H, Fan Y, Chang ZB (2020) Groundwater contamination source identification based on a hybrid particle swarm optimization-extreme learning machine. J Hydrol 584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124657

Luo J, Liu Y, Li X, Xin X, Lu W (2022) Inversion of groundwater contamination source based on a two-stage adaptive surrogate model-assisted trust region genetic algorithm framework. Appl Math Model 112:262–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2022.07.035

Luo JN, Li XL, Xiong Y, Liu Y (2023) Groundwater pollution source identification using Metropolis-Hasting algorithm combined with Kalman filter algorithm. J Hydrol 626. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130258

Mahar PS, Datta B (2000) Identification of pollution sources in transient groundwater systems. Water Resour Manage 14(3):209–227. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1026527901213

Mahar Pooran S, Datta B (1997) Optimal monitoring network and ground-water–pollution source identification. J Water Resour Plan Manag 123(4):199–207. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9496(1997)123:4(199)

Meenal M, Eldho TI (2012) Simulation–optimization model for groundwater contamination remediation using meshfree point collocation method and particle swarm optimization. Sadhana (bangalore) 37(3):351–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-012-0086-0

Neuman SP (1973) Calibration of distributed parameter groundwater flow models viewed as a multiple-objective decision process under uncertainty. Water Resour Res 9(4):1006–1021. https://doi.org/10.1029/WR009i004p01006

Pan Z, Lu W, Bai Y (2022) Groundwater contamination source estimation based on a refined particle filter associated with a deep residual neural network surrogate. Hydrogeol J 30(3):881–897. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-022-02454-z

Prakash, O. and Datta, B. 2014. Multiobjective monitoring network design for efficient identification of unknown groundwater pollution sources incorporating genetic programming–based monitoring. J Hydrol Eng 19(11). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000952

Prakash O, Datta B (2013) Sequential optimal monitoring network design and iterative spatial estimation of pollutant concentration for identification of unknown groundwater pollution source locations. Environ Monit Assess 185(7):5611–5626. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-012-2971-8

Prakash O, Datta B (2015) Optimal characterization of pollutant sources in contaminated aquifers by integrating sequential-monitoring-network design and source identification; methodology and an application in Australia. Hydrogeol J 23(6):1089–1107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-015-1292-8

Rumelhart DE, Hinton GE, Williams RJ (1986) Learning representations by back-propagating errors. Nature (London) 323(6088):533–536. https://doi.org/10.1038/323533a0

Singh RM, Datta B (2006) Identification of groundwater pollution sources using GA-based linked simulation optimization model. J Hydrol Eng 11(2):101–109. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)1084-0699(2006)11:2(101)

Sun AY, Painter SL, Wittmeyer GW (2006) A constrained robust least squares approach for contaminant release history identification. Water Resour Res 42(4). https://doi.org/10.1029/2005wr004312

Toal DJJ, Keane AJ (2013) Performance of an ensemble of ordinary, universal, non-stationary and limit Kriging predictors. Struct Multidiscip Optim 47(6):893–903. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00158-012-0866-5

Todaro V, D'Oria M, Tanda MG, Gómez-Hernández JJ (2021) Ensemble smoother with multiple data assimilation to simultaneously estimate the source location and the release history of a contaminant spill in an aquifer. J Hydrol 598. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126215

Wagner BJ (1992) Simultaneous parameter estimation and contaminant source characterization for coupled groundwater flow and contaminant transport modelling. J Hydrol (amsterdam) 135(1–4):275–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(92)90092-A

Wang Y, Cui Y, Shao J, Zhang Q (2019) Study on optimal allocation of water resources based on surrogate model of groundwater numerical simulation. Water (basel) 11(4):831. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040831

Wang H, Lu WX, Chang ZB (2021) An iterative updating heuristic search strategy for groundwater contamination source identification based on an ACPSO-ELM surrogate system. Stoch Env Res Risk Assess 35(10):2153–2172. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-021-01994-2

Woodbury AD, Ulrych TJ (1996) Minimum relative entropy inversion: theory and application to recovering the release history of a groundwater contaminant. Water Resour Res 32(9):2671–2681. https://doi.org/10.1029/95WR03818

Xu T, Gómez-Hernández JJ (2016) Joint identification of contaminant source location, initial release time, and initial solute concentration in an aquifer via ensemble Kalman filtering. Water Resour Res 52(8):6587–6595. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr019111

Xu T, Gómez-Hernández JJ (2018) Simultaneous identification of a contaminant source and hydraulic conductivity via the restart normal-score ensemble Kalman filter. Adv Water Resour 112:106–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.12.011

Zeng W, Yang Y, Xie H, Tong LJ (2016) CF-Kriging surrogate model based on the combination forecasting method. Proc Inst Mech Eng Part C: J Mech Eng Sci 230(18):3274–3284. https://doi.org/10.1177/0954406215610149

Zhao Y, Lu W, Xiao C (2016) A Kriging surrogate model coupled in simulation-optimization approach for identifying release history of groundwater sources. J Contam Hydrol 185:51–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2016.01.004

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42072279).

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment (Jilin University), Ministry of Education, Changchun, 130021, China

Xi Ma, Jiannan Luo, Xueli Li & Zhuo Song

Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

College of New Energy and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

XM: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing, Visualization. JL: Methodology, Software, Formal analysis, Data curation, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing, Funding acquisition. XL: Software, Visualization. ZS: Data curation, Writing-review & editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jiannan Luo .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Ma, X., Luo, J., Li, X. et al. Identification of groundwater pollution sources based on optimal layout of groundwater pollution monitoring network. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-024-02756-6

Download citation

Accepted : 06 June 2024

Published : 19 June 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-024-02756-6

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Groundwater pollution
Identification of pollution source characteristics
Surrogate model
Monitoring network optimal design
Find a journal
Publish with us
Track your research

Open access
Published: 17 June 2024

Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) concept and access to healthcare delivery in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal, Ghana

Abraham D. Koyaara 1 ,
Benjamin Noble Adjei 2 ,
Eric Adjei Boadu 3 &
Edward T. Dassah 3

BMC Health Services Research volume 24 , Article number: 742 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

57 Accesses

Metrics details

In spite of the successes of the community-based health planning and services (CHPS) policy since its inception in the mid-1990s in Ghana, data pertaining to the implementation and use of CHPS facilities in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal is scant. We assessed access to healthcare delivery and factors influencing the use of CHPS in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal.

An analytical community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Sefwi Wiawo Municipal from September to October 2020. Respondents for the study were recruited through multi-stage sampling. Information was collected on their socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge and use of CHPS facilities through interviews using a structured pre-tested questionnaire. Factors influencing the use of CHPS facilities were assessed using univariable and multivariable logistic regression to generate crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

A total of 483 respondents were recruited for the study. The mean age of the respondents was 43.0 ± 16.3 years, and over 70% were females or married/cohabiting with their partners. Most respondents (88.2%) knew about the CHPS concept and more than half (53.4%) accessed healthcare in the CHPS facilities. Most respondents rated the quality of health services (> 65%) and staff attitude (77.2%) very positively. Significant factors influencing the use of the CHPS facilities were; knowledge of the CHPS concept (AOR 6.57, 95% CI 1.57–27.43; p = 0.01), longer waiting time for a vehicle to the facility, and shorter waiting time at the facility before being provided with care. People who waited for 30–60 min (AOR 2.76, 95% CI 1.08–7.07; p = 0.01) or over an hour (AOR 10.91, 95% CI 3.71–32.06; p = 0.01) before getting a vehicle to the facility, while patients who waited for less than 30 min (AOR 5.74, 95% CI 1.28–25.67; p = 0.03) or 30–60 min (AOR 2.60, 95% CI 0.57–11.78; p = 0.03) at the CHPS facility before receiving care were more likely to access care at the CHPS facilities.

Knowledge, and use of healthcare services at the CHPS facilities were high in this population. Interventions aimed at reducing waiting time at the CHPS facilities could greatly increase use of healthcare services at these facilities.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Globally, healthcare systems still fall short of providing accessible, quality, comprehensive, and integrated care [ 1 ]. Major stakeholders, policy planners, development partners, and healthcare decision-makers require a better understanding of the Primary Health Care (PHC) concept. In 2005, the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service adopted Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) as a nationwide strategy for delivering primary health care services to address a myriad of health challenges confronting the majority of the people residing in rural areas[ 2 , 4 ] Using the CHPS initiative together with other interventions, the Ghana Health Service has made several strides in achieving universal health coverage over the years [ 5 ].

The CHPS policy as a community-initiated health intervention is unique given its acclamation as a remarkable innovation to reducing inequalities in accessing health care delivery[ 6 , 7 ]. It has advanced primary health care in Ghana by improving access to healthcare services, enhancing equity, and increasing coverage of essential healthcare services. It has specifically targeted underserved communities, addressing disparities in access and providing a wide range of services including maternal and child health, family planning, preventive health care such as immunizations, and treatment for common ailments[ 3 , 4 , 8 , 9 ]. CHPS has demonstrated tangible impacts on health outcomes, including reductions in maternal and child mortality rates and improvements in healthcare-seeking behaviors [ 10 , 12 ] Moreover, it has proven to be cost-effective, efficient, scalable, and sustainable, making it a viable model for PHC in Ghana [ 3 , 8 ].

Despite the successes of the CHPS policy, some barriers mitigating access to health care among the rural populace have been identified [ 12 , 16 ]. Consequently, the CHPS concept is not meeting its expected outcomes due to several factors[ 12 , 15 ]. These include lack of practical understanding of CHPS implementation by district-level managers; CHPS evolving into static clinic services focused on constructing health posts rather than its community-driven approach; managers often delaying CHPS implementation, waiting for central government resources instead of mobilizing local community resources; no central government budgetary allocation to cover startup costs as anticipated; heavy investment in CHPS staff recruitment and training without accompanied adequate investment in equipment; and poor leadership and supervision hindering effective implementation[ 14 , 17 ].

Previous studies on CHPS concept in Ghana have focused on access to maternal health, family planning, and child health services[ 6 , 9 , 10 , 18 ], with few studies looking at CHPS utilization among the general populace [ 19 ]. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the CHPS implementation processes have been inconsistent in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal, coupled with logistical and organizational challenges. There is limited information on the contribution of CHPS to health care access in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal. This study examined access to healthcare delivery as well as factors influencing the use of CHPS in the municipal.

Study design

This is an analytical cross-sectional study that was conducted in 21 selected communities within the Sefwi Wiawso Municipality from September to October 2020.

Study setting

Sefwi Wiawso is the capital town of the Western-North Region of Ghana, which has a population of 151,220 with similar proportions of males (50.1%) and females (49.9%) [ 20 ]. The municipality has 135 communities. Majority of the communities are engaged in active agricultural activities in rural communities. Hence traveling to the few health facilities to access health care services is often associated with diverse challenges stemming from distance barriers, poor road network, irregular transport system as well as socio-cultural beliefs( 20 ). These pose a great threat to rural communities in the Sefwi Wiawso Municipal especially in accessing health care at the CHPS facilities. The municipal is divided into seven sub-municipals to enhance comprehensive public health coverage. The sub-municipals are: Wiawso, Datano, Paboasi, Anyinabrim, Abrabra, Asafo and Asawinso. The municipal has 35 health facilities comprising four hospitals, two clinics, three health centres, one maternity home and 25 CHPS facilities. The CHPS facilities are Abrabra, Nkonya, Sui, Akurafo, Boako, Bechiwa, Aboagyekrom, Domeabra, Bowobra-Appentemedi, Datano, Ahukwa, Nyamegyiso, Nsuonsua, Aboduam, Bosomoiso, Aboanidua, Ahwiaa, Ahwiam, Ntrentrenso, Amafie, Futa, Akoti-Etwebo, Penakrom-Nyamebekyere, Old Adiembra, and Watico CHPS [ 21 ].

Sample size determination

Sample size for the study was estimated using Epi Info, version 7.1.1.14 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA) at 80% power, with 95% confidence level and 5% margin of error. It was assumed that the factors influencing utilization of the CHPS services in Sefwi Wiawso were similar to those observed in Kintampo by Wiru et al.[ 19 ], in terms of residents’ age, education and income status, and by allowing for 10% contingency, an estimated sample size of 483 was determined to have adequate power to detect the factors influencing use of CHPS facilities in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal.

Selection of respondents

Individuals who were at least 18 years old, had been resident in the municipal for at least six months and had visited a health facility within the six months preceding the study were eligible for inclusion into the study. Individuals who were unwilling or unable to provide consent were excluded.

The respondents for the study were selected through multi-stage sampling. The sub-municipals and communities were selected by simple random sampling through balloting using the lists of sub-municipals and communities respectively as the sampling frames. Seven sub-municipals with at least three communities each were chosen for the study. The number of individuals selected from each sub-municipal was in proportion to the size of the sub-municipal. The estimated number of household members in each sub-municipal was obtained from the Municipal Health Directorate.

In each community, a central location such as the chief’s palace, a church or mosque was chosen. A pen was spun and the first house in the direction the pen pointed to was selected. Walking in the chosen direction, every other house was selected. If a selected house was locked, the research assistants made multiple attempts to contact occupants of the house. If the occupants could not be reached or were not available, they moved to the next available house. Within each selected household, one eligible household member was chosen by balloting and invited to participate in the study. Where there was only one eligible person, the individual was invited to participate. Selected households that had no eligible respondents were replaced by the next consecutive household. In the event that the expected number of respondents for that community was not achieved, the researcher returned to the reference point and the procedure was repeated until the desired number was attained.

After explaining the purposes and benefits of the study, each consenting individual was invited to participate in the study. The respondents were assured of confidentiality of the information that was collected during the study. Consenting individuals were interviewed in English, Twi or Sefwi (vernacular) using a pre-tested structured questionnaire comprising closed and open-ended questions. The respondents were interviewed face-to-face with an android tablet loaded with the questionnaire and enabled with Open Data Kit (ODK). Data was collected on their socio-demographic characteristics, awareness and access to service delivery, and factors influencing their access to health service delivery. During the interview process amid the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, safety measures were rigorously implemented to safeguard all individuals involved in the research activities. All respondents and research assistants washed their hands with soap and water, or used hand sanitizers, and were provided with face masks if needed. They were educated on proper face mask usage and maintained a physical distance of at least 1 m throughout the interview. Additionally, they also complied with other COVID-19 restrictions imposed by national or local authorities.

The questionnaire was translated into Twi and Sefwi, and back translated into English. Pre-testing was done among 20 respondents who were conveniently selected in two communities in Juaboso District, ensuring representation of the target population’s demographic characteristics and language proficiency. Participants provided feedback on the clarity, language, and overall comprehensibility of the questionnaire, guiding revisions to improve reliability and validity. Overall, all participants indicated the language was easy to understand, and most found the questions easy to understand and answer. Revisions included clarifying ambiguous questions, and ensuring logical flow. The revised schedule underwent further review by the research team and experts to ensure its effectiveness for the main study. We employed cognitive interviewing and expert review to enhance the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.

Study variables

The main outcome variable for the study was use of CHPS facility. This was measured as respondents’ usage of CHPS facility for healthcare services during the year prior to the study. Those who visited CHPS were coded as 1 (yes) and those who used other health facilities such as the district hospital, private hospitals/clinics, faith-based, or any other form of health facility were coded as 0 (no).

The independent variables were age, gender, marital status, educational level, occupation, monthly income, household size, cost of transportation, time spent before getting access to vehicle to CHPS facility (measured in minutes), waiting time at the CHPS facility, satisfaction with cost of services at CHPS facilities, satisfaction with availability of drugs and suppliers and basic equipment, knowledge of the CHPS concept, and staff attitude. These variables were chosen on the basis of biologic plausibility and evidence from literature [ 3 , 7 , 14 , 22 ].

Data analysis

Data were cleaned and analyzed using Stata version 15 (Stata Corp, College Station, Texas, USA). Descriptive statistics were used to summarize clients’ perception of the quality of health care provided at the CHPS facilities. Categorical variables were compared using the chi-square [χ 2 ]. Factors associated with use of CHPS facilities were examined using univariable and multivariable logistic regression to estimate crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs. Univariable analysis were performed to examine the association of each explanatory variable with the use of CHPS facilities and variables whose association reached statistical significance at p ≤0.05 were included in a multivariable model. Significant explanatory variables were added one at a time and those which remained independently associated with use of CHPS facilities at p ≤0.05 were retained until all variables in the model were significant at p ≤0.05. Excluded explanatory variables were retested in the final model one at a time to confirm lack of association. Variance inflation factor was computed to test for multicollinearity. All missing values were excluded from the analysis.

A total of 483 study respondents were recruited into the study. The socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the study respondents are shown in Table 1 . The mean age of the study respondents was 43.0 ± 16.3 years, range 18–92 years. Over half (52.8%) of the respondents were 40 years or older. Over 70% were females and a similar percentage were married/cohabiting. Majority (77.8%) were Akans. About 30% had no formal education and almost half (49.1%) had completed basic education (i.e. primary or junior high school). Almost three-quarters (74.5%) were in employment with nearly 20% earning over 500 Ghana cedis per month (equivalent to $87.72 at the time). The median household size was 6 (interquartile range = 4–8). Almost all (95.4%) of the respondents were permanent residents of the communities that they were interviewed.

Community members’ knowledge of services provided at the CHPS facilities

From Table 2 , most respondents (88.2%) had knowledge on the CHPS concept, with the commonest (56.6%) source of information being the community information centres. Less than a fifth (16.1%) of respondents obtained their information on CHPS through the community health workers. Majority (91.1%) knew the location of the CHPS facilities in their community and (81.4%) of the respondents were aware that the CHPS facilities provide curative services.

Access to, use and services provided in CHPS facilities

From Table 3 , about half (49.9%) of the respondents had a CHPS facility located in the communities that they resided in. More than half (53.4%) had visited the CHPS facility in their community to access healthcare during the past year with nearly two-thirds (65.5%) visiting the CHPS facility 2–5 times in the one year preceding the study. Common reasons for accessing care at the CHPS facility included treatment for minor ailments (65.9%) and proximity to their residence (47.7%).

Multiple means of transportation were used by respondents when accessing healthcare services from the CHPS facilities. About half of the respondents either walked (49.0%) or used public transport (51.4%) whereas 9.9% indicated that they used motorbikes or bicycles to the CHPS facility to access healthcare. Among those who used public transport to the CHPS facility, almost two- thirds (66.2%) indicated that they spent at least GHS 6.00 (a little over $1 at the time of the survey) on transportation to and from the health facility. Waiting time to access vehicle to the health facility for most of the respondents (84.6%) was up to an hour (see Table 3 ).

About 86% of the respondents had registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), with only 58% having valid NHIS cards as at the time of the survey and 54% obtained their prescribed medications from the CHPS facility. Most respondents considered the staff at the CHPS facilities to be friendly (87.6%) and competent (76.7%). Altogether, over three-quarters (77.2%) of the respondents considered the staff attitude towards them in the facility to be good/very good (see Table 3 ).

Factors influencing use of CHPS facilities

Factors influencing the use of the CHPS facilities are shown in Table 4 . On univariable analysis, age group, marital status, time spent before getting access to a vehicle to the CHPS facility, waiting time at the CHPS facility, satisfaction with cost of services, knowledge of the CHPS concept and respondents’ perception of staff attitude were significantly associated with the use of the CHPS facilities. On multivariable analysis, the time spent before getting access to a vehicle to CHPS facility, waiting time at the CHPS facility and knowledge of the CHPS concept remained significantly associated with CHPS facility utilization. The odds of using a CHPS facility increased with duration of waiting for a vehicle to a facility. Waiting for 30–60 min and over one hour before getting a vehicle to a facility increased the odds of using a CHPS facility by more than two and half (AOR 2.76, 95% CI 1.08–7.07) and nearly 11 times (AOR 10.91, 95% CI 3.71–32.06) respectively compared to patients who waited for less than 30 min for a vehicle. The likelihood of using a CHPS facility decreased with waiting time at the facility. Patients who waited for less than 30 min were over five and a half times more likely (AOR 5.74, 95% CI 1.28–25.67) and those who waited for 30–60 min were more than two and a half times likely (AOR 2.60, 95% CI 0.57–11.78) to use CHPS facilities compared to their counterparts who waited for over an hour. Having knowledge of the CHPS concept increased the odds of using CHPS facility by more than six and a half times (AOR 6.57, 95% CI 1.57–27.43) compared to patients who had no knowledge of the concept.

This study assessed factors influencing the use of CHPS facilities in a predominantly rural district in Ghana. Majority of the respondents knew about the CHPS concept as well as the services being provided. Most respondents accessed health care from the CHPS facility in their community at least twice in the year. The waiting time for majority of the respondents was up to one hour and they rated the competence and performance of the healthcare providers very positively. Significant determinants of the utilization of CHPS facilities were time spent before getting a vehicle to the CHPS facility, waiting time at the CHPS facility and knowledge of the CHPS concept.

The finding that more than half (53.4%) of the respondents had visited the CHPS facilities to access healthcare during the past year highlights the significant utilization of CHPS facilities among the study population. This finding is consistent with those of previous studies conducted in Kintampo North Municipality of the Bono East Region and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana, where high proportions of community members utilized the services of CHPS services for healthcare services [ 19 , 23 ]. This high utilization rate underscores the importance and relevance of CHPS facilities in providing essential healthcare services to the community. Johnson et al. argued that access to a CHPS facility is associated with utilization of healthcare services within the facility, which increases significantly with proximity to the CHPS facility [ 10 ]. Similarly, we observed that most of the respondents accessed health care services from the CHPS facility at least twice a year, where over 47% cited proximity to the CHPS facility as one of the main considerations.

Contrary to our expectation, respondents who experienced longer waiting time before accessing transportation to the facility were more likely to utilize CHPS. This could possibly be due to limited alternative options or a perceived urgency in seeking healthcare for individuals who experienced longer waiting times before accessing transportation to the facility. Given the predominantly rural nature of the communities in the municipal, healthcare services in most of these communities are largely provided by CHPS facilities and a few or no hospitals [ 20 , 21 , 24 ]. This could mean that despite the longer waiting time for transportation, there might be limited alternative options. It is also conceivable that respondents waiting for over an hour before getting access to CHPS facilities do so on the premise of the perceived quality of services they anticipate to obtain, the extent to which their health needs are met at the facility and hence not deterred by the long waiting time for vehicle to the CHPS facility to seek healthcare services. This is supported by the findings of Assan et al. where users of CHPS facilities were highly satisfied with the services provided at the CHPS and the positive attitude of community health professionals [ 17 ]. The long waiting time for transportation to CHPS facilities also highlights some of the challenges of accessing health care in such rural communities. Transportation to healthcare facilities in rural areas are problematic and hinders access to care in most communities in Ghana [ 25 ]. Therefore, improving geographic access to CHPS facilities is essential to universal health coverage [ 26 ].

Our finding that shorter waiting times at the facility were associated with increased odds of using of CHPS facilities is consistent with those of previous studies which identified long waiting time as a significant challenge to seeking healthcare services[ 5 , 13 , 17 , 22 ]. Arguably, patients who spend less time at the CHPS facility may be more inclined to seek care, reflecting a positive patient experience and potentially higher levels of satisfaction with the healthcare services provided [ 5 , 13 , 17 , 22 ]. The implementation of COVID-19 preventive measures, such as physical distancing requirements, wearing of face masks, and hand hygiene practices, likely influenced transportation facilities’ utilization and waiting times at the CHPS facility. These measures may have led to changes in travel behavior, increased waiting times due to screening protocols or reduced facility capacity, and altered patient-provider interactions.

Respondents’ knowledge of the CHPS concept increased their likelihood of using CHPS, underscoring the importance of patient understanding of the CHPS concept. Individuals who are better informed of the CHPS concept may be more inclined to use CHPS facilities, recognizing the benefits of community-based healthcare delivery and the availability of essential health services [ 15 ]. The majority of our study respondents knew about the CHPS concept as well as the services being provided. Their commonest source of information was the community information centre. These information centres are major sources of information in rural communities and most inhabitants listen to them, explaining the high level of knowledge observed in the study setting. Interestingly, less than a fifth of the respondents got their information on CHPS through the community health workers, indicating that the Municipal Health Directorate needs to intensify campaign efforts provided by the community health workers. Johnson et al.[ 10 ] revealed that health education sessions within CHPS facilities should prioritize addressing prevailing health problems, preventive measures, and care practices.

Strengths and weakness of the study

This study contributes to the literature by exploring factors influencing access to a broad scope of health care services within the CHPS system in largely rural communities. We uniquely investigated access to a wider scope of healthcare services within rural communities where the CHPS concept is predominantly operational. Key strengths of our study include, being a population-based study involving geographically diverse communities where respondents were randomly selected, the findings are generally representative of the diverse ethnic groups in the municipal and similar communities. However, the study has some limitations. First, only persons who were at least 18 years old, had visited a facility within the six months preceding the study and were available at home during the period were recruited into the study. The experiences of the younger ones (< 18 years) and those who were not at home during the research could be different and would have been worthwhile. Second, soliciting the views of the health care providers and municipal health directorate staff would have been useful especially their challenges in implementing the policy.

Knowledge of the CHPS concept and the use of healthcare services at CHPS facilities were high in this predominantly rural population. Maintaining awareness campaign strategies on the CHPS concept such as use of the community information centres and intensifying community health worker campaign efforts would be worthwhile. Interventions aimed at reducing the waiting time at the CHPS facilities could significantly improve inhabitants’ use of healthcare services in these facilities.

Data availability

The data used for this study are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.

Abbreviations

Community-based Health Planning and Services

Committee on Human Research Publication and Ethics

Confidence Interval

Ghana Health Service

Ghana Statistical Service

Junior High School

National Health Insurance Scheme

Open Data Kit

Primary Health Care

Senior High School

World Health Organization

World Health Organization & Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. Primary Health Care Systems (Primasys): Comprehensive case study from Pakistan. 2017. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/341143 .

Ghana Health Service. The National Strategic Plan for Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS), Accra G. 2005. https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/CHPS-policy-final-working-draft-for-validation.pdf .

Adongo PB, Phillips JF, Aikins M, Arhin DA, Schmitt M, Nwameme AU, et al. Does the design and implementation of proven innovations for delivering basic primary health care services in rural communities fit the urban setting: the case of Ghana’s community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS). Heal Res Policy Syst. 2014;12(1):1–10.

Google Scholar

Awoonor-Williams JK. The Mobile Technology For Community Health (MOTECH) Initiative:An M-Health System Pilot In A Rural District Of Northern Ghana. Value Heal. 2013;16(3):A270–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2013.03.1393 .

Kyei-Nimakoh M, Carolan-Olah M, McCann TV. Access barriers to obstetric care at health facilities in sub-saharan Africa-a systematic review. Syst Rev. 2017;6(1):1–16.

Article Google Scholar

Phillips JF, Bawah AA, Bink FN. Accelerating reproductive and child health programme impact with community-based services: the Navrongo experiment in Ghana. Bull World Health Organ. 2006;84(12):949–55.

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Baatiema L, Skovdal M, Rifkin S, Campbell C. Assessing participation in a community-based health planning and services programme in Ghana. BMC Health Serv Res. 2013;13(1).

Binka FN, Nazzar A, Phillips JF. The Navrongo community health and family planning project. Stud Fam Plann. 1995;26(3):121–39.

Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar

Debpuur C, Phillips JF, Jackson EF, Nazzar A, Ngom P, Binka FN. The impct of the Navrongo Project on Contraceptive Knowledge and Use, Reproductive preferences, and fertility. Stud Fam Plann. 2002;33(2):141–64.

Article PubMed Google Scholar

Johnson FA, Frempong-Ainguah F, Matthews Z, Harfoot AJP, Nyarko P, Baschieri A, et al. Evaluating the impact of the community-based health planning and services initiative on uptake of skilled birth care in Ghana. PLoS ONE. 2015;10(3):1–18.

Article CAS Google Scholar

Adu J, Mulay S, Owusu MF. Reducing maternal and child mortality in rural Ghana. Pan Afr Med J. 2021;39.

Sakeah E, Bawah AA, Asuming PO, Debpuur C, Welaga P, Awine T, et al. Impact of community health interventions on maternal and child health indicators in the upper east region of Ghana. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2023;23(1):1–15.

Uchendu OC, Ilesanmi OS, Olumide AE. Factors influencing the choice of health care providing facility among workers in a local government secretariat in South Western Nigeria. Ann Ibadan Postgrad Med. 2013;11(2):87–95. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25161426%0Ahttp://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=PMC4111062.

Bassoumah B, Adam AM, Adokiya MN. Challenges to the utilization of community-based Health Planning and Services: the views of stakeholders in Yendi Municipality, Ghana. BMC Health Serv Res. 2021;21(1):1–9.

Woods H, Haruna U, Konkor I, Luginaah I. The influence of the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) program on community health sustainability in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Int J Health Plann Manage. 2019;34(1):e802–16.

Kweku M, Amu H, Awolu A, Adjuik M, Ayanore MA, Manu E et al. Community-based health planning and services plus programme in Ghana: A qualitative study with stakeholders in two Systems Learning Districts on improving the implementation of primary health care. PLoS One. 2020;15(1):1–24. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226808 .

Assan A, Takian A, Aikins M, Akbarisari A. Universal health coverage necessitates a system approach: an analysis of community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) initiative in Ghana. Global Health. 2018;14(1):1–10.

Braimah JA. Community-based Health Planning and Services and Women ’ s Access to Health Care in the Upper West Region of Ghana. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017;14(August). https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etdhttps://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4722

Wiru K, Kumi-Kyereme A, Mahama EN, Amenga-Etego S, Owusu-Agyei S. Utilization of community-based health planning and services compounds in the Kintampo North Municipality: a cross-sectional descriptive correlational study. BMC Health Serv Res. 2017;17(1):1–11.

Ghana Statistical Service. Ghana 2021 Population and Housing Census. Accra: Ghana Statistical Service; 2021.

Sefwi Wiawso Municipal Health Directorate. Municipal Annual Health Service Report. Sefwi Wiawso: Ghana Health Service; 2020.

Addi B, Doe B, Oduro-Ofori E. Towards quality primary health care: the dilemma of community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) in health service provision in Ghana. J Health Organ Manag. 2022;36(4):482–502.

Adjoa Wood E, Kwasi Esena R. Assessment of community utilization of CHPS services in Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. J Biol Agric Healthc. 2013;3(8):63–81. Available from: www.iiste.org.

Agbenyo F, Marshall Nunbogu A, Dongzagla A. Accessibility mapping of health facilities in rural Ghana. J Transp Heal. 2017;6(May):73–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2017.04.010 .

Atuoye KN, Dixon J, Rishworth A, Galaa SZ, Boamah SA, Luginaah I. Can she make it? Transportation barriers to accessing maternal and child health care services in rural Ghana. BMC Health Serv Res. 2015;15(1):1–10.

Wright KJ, Biney A, Kushitor M, Awoonor-Williams JK, Bawah AA, Phillips JF. Community perceptions of universal health coverage in eight districts of the Northern and Volta regions of Ghana. Glob Health Action. 2020;13(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2019.1705460 .

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Municipal Director of Health Services, Sefwi Wiawso and the chiefs and opinion leaders of the various communities where the study was conducted. We express our heartfelt gratitude to the respondents for sharing their experiences of the CHPS concept.

Not applicable.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Municipal Health Directorate-Ghana Health Service, Sefwi Wiawso, Western North, Ghana

Abraham D. Koyaara

Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Benjamin Noble Adjei

Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health, School of Public Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana

Eric Adjei Boadu & Edward T. Dassah

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

ADK and ETD conceived the study idea. BNA and ADK conducted the statistical analysis. ETD supervised the statistical analysis. ADK wrote the first draft of the manuscript. ETD and EAB reviewed the drafted manuscript. All authors scientifically reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abraham D. Koyaara .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

Ethical clearance was obtained from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Committee on Human Research Publication and Ethics of the School of Medical Sciences, Kumasi (CHRPE/AP/300/20). All methods employed in the study were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Also, all respondents provided written informed consent before participation. Legally authorized representatives of illiterate respondents provided informed consent for the study.

Consent for publication

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Koyaara, A.D., Adjei, B.N., Boadu, E.A. et al. Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) concept and access to healthcare delivery in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal, Ghana. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 742 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11179-6

Download citation

Received : 14 April 2023

Accepted : 05 June 2024

Published : 17 June 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11179-6

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Community-based health planning and services (CHPS)
Access to healthcare
Healthcare delivery
Sefwi Wiawso

BMC Health Services Research

ISSN: 1472-6963

General enquiries: [email protected]

Research Note
Open access
Published: 20 June 2024

FDG-PET/CT-based respiration-gated lung segmentation and quantification of lung inflammation in COPD patients

Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6953-9969 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ,
Thomas Quist Christensen 5 , 8 ,
Torben Tranborg Jensen 2 ,
Claus Bogh Juhl 2 , 6 ,
Ole Hilberg 3 , 4 ,
Else-Marie Bladbjerg 3 , 7 &
Søren Hess 3 , 5 , 9 , 10

BMC Research Notes volume 17 , Article number: 170 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Objective and results description

The study objective was to investigate the potential of quantitative measures of pulmonary inflammation by [18 F]Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) as a surrogate marker of inflammation in COPD. Patients treated with anti-inflammatory Liraglutide were compared to placebo and correlated with inflammatory markers. 27 COPD-patients (14 receiving Liraglutide treatment and 13 receiving placebo) underwent 4D-respiratory-gated FDG-PET/CT before and after treatment. Two raters independently segmented the lungs from CT images and measured activity in whole lung, mean standard uptake values (SUVmean) corrected for lean-body-mass in the phase-matched PET images of the whole segmented lung volume, and total lesion glycolysis (TLG; SUVmean multiplied by volume). Inter-rater reliability was analyzed with Bland-Altman analysis and correlation plots. We found no differences in metabolic activity in the lungs between the two groups as a surrogate of pulmonary inflammation, and no changes in inflammation markers. The purpose of the research and brief summary of main findings. The degree of and changes in pulmonary inflammation in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may be difficult to ascertain. Measuring metabolic activity as a surrogate marker of inflammation by FDG-PET/CT may be useful, but data on its use in COPD including reproducibility is still limited, especially with respiration-gated technique, which should improve quantification in the lungs. We assessed several quantitative measures of metabolic activity and correlated them with inflammation markers, and we assessed reproducibility of the methods. We found no differences in metabolic activity between the two groups (before and after 40 weeks treatment with Liraglutide vs. placebo). Bland-Altman analysis showed good agreement between the two raters.

Trial registration

The study was conducted between February 2018 and March 2020 at the Department of Pulmonary Diseases at Hospital South West Jutland and Lillebaelt Hospital, Denmark, and registered from March 2018 at clinicaltrials.gov with trial registration number NCT03466021.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

[ 18 F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography computerized tomography (FDG-PET/CT) is a well-established molecular imaging technique with an increasing role in infectious and inflammatory diseases. It assesses glucose metabolism as a surrogate marker of disease activity on the molecular level [ 1 ].

Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) affect millions of people worldwide with chronic inflammation in airway and lungs, airway limitation and significant morbidity and healthcare utilization. Inflammation plays a significant role, and quantification of inflammatory markers are essential in stable phases and during exacerbations in COPD [ 2 ].

Glucagon-Like-Peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA) are used in treatment of diabetes type 2 and for the purpose of weight loss. Among other tissues, GLP-1 receptors are expressed in the lungs and exhibit anti-inflammatory properties by reducing circulating inflammatory markers thereby reducing COPD morbidity and mortality in mice and among patients, GLP-1 RA reduce respiratory diseases including COPD exacerbations [ 3 , 4 ].

Objective and non-invasive assessment of response to medical treatment in inflammatory diseases may be challenging. FDG-PET/CT is already widely employed to assess inflammation in clinical settings and response evaluation in oncology, but there are only few results regarding response evaluation in inflammatory diseases. However, earlier studies did assess the use of FDG-PET/CT to access inflammation at various stages or to differentiate various subtypes of COPD, but studies were small and exploratory. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first RCT with a well-defined patient population with FDG-PET/CT to assess the effect of intervention.

The rationale to employ respiratory gating is the inherent challenges with movement in the lung region during the long acquisition times of PET/CT. Especially the high activity in the liver could influence the overall quantification of the expected low and diffuse lung uptake if the motion during respiration is not accounted for. Further by applying 4D-respiratory-gated PET/CT we assured alignment of CT and PET during the complete respiratory cycle, which results in improved attenuation and scatter correction and that the delineation of the lungs from CT images would accurately be transferrable to quantify lung uptake in the PET images. All of this resulted in a more robust quantification of lung FDG uptake.

We aimed to investigate if respiration gated quantitative FDG-PET/CT measures, as surrogate for pulmonary inflammation, as well as markers of systemic inflammation are reduced in patients with COPD treated with GLP-1 RA for 40 weeks. Further, we assessed the reproducibility of the FDG-PET/CT measures.

Materials & methods

We conducted a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double blinded, two-center, parallel-group trial between February 2018 and March 2020 at The Department of Medicine, Section of Pulmonary Diseases, Esbjerg Hospital and Lillebaelt Hospital, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Denmark.

We randomized 40 obese participants with COPD for treatment with Liraglutide 3.0 mg per day or placebo in a 1:1 manner and followed them for 44 weeks as previously described [ 5 ]. We included people with COPD defined as forced expiratory volume in one second relative to forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) < 70% after maximal bronchodilation in accordance with Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines.

Participants were former smokers with 20 or more pack-years history of smoking and were 40–75 years of age. BMI above 27 kg/m2 was defined as inclusion criteria.

Exclusion criteria were treatment with systemic corticosteroids; diabetes mellitus of any type; interstitial pulmonary disease; asthma or asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome (ACOS), severe hepatic, renal, or heart disease; history of pancreatitis; pregnancy or breastfeeding. As part of the study setup, we performed an FDG-PET/CT of the thorax at baseline (scan 1) and at end of medication at week 40 (scan 2) to assess any changes in pulmonary tracer uptake as a marker of inflammatory activity. Blood samples were assessed for inflammatory markers at baseline and after 40 weeks. We also conducted scans in three healthy controls and two patients with clinical COPD exacerbation.

FDG-PET/CT was performed according to department protocol based on EANM guidelines, i.e. patients fasted for at least 6 h prior to administration of a weight-adjusted dose of 4 MBq/kg FDG (min. 200 MBq-max. 400 MBq). Plasma glucose levels were routinely measured with an allowed maximum of 8 mmol/L (150 mg/dL). Time between injection and PET/CT acquisition was within 60 +/- 5 min. The 4D-respiratory-gated FDG-PET/CT was performed on a Discovery 710 (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA) using the real-time position management (RPM) respiratory gating system (Varian Medical Systems Inc., Palo Alto, CA) to monitor the participant’s respiration during acquisition.

Following the CT scan, a PET acquisition was performed over the same lung area comprised of two or three bed positions with 6 min. pr. bed and a slice overlap of 16 slices (34%) with scan field of view of 70 cm saved into list-mode files. Corrections for attenuation, randoms, deadtime, normalization and scatter were performed inside the iterative loop.

After PET reconstructions, the individual phases were summed into a single respiratory phase, using the Q.Freeze 1.0 algorithm. The best alignment between CT and PET images was ensured.

Analysis with regard to quantitative measurements were carried out using a GE Advantage Server 2.0 (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA). The analysis comprised segmenting both lungs by first applying a threshold with a maximum value of -600 Hounsfield units and manually masking out sections in the threshold that was not part of the lungs. The whole segmented lungs were then transferred as a VOI to the PET series, and the mean activity concentration was extracted. From this activity concentration, standard uptake values (SUVs) were calculated as SUV corrected for body weight (SUVbw) and SUV corrected for lean body mass (SUL). We calculated Total Lesion Glycolysis (TLG) normalizing mean SUVs for lung volume. A nuclear medicine specialist (SH) assessed all PET/CT scans visually.

In this part of the study, our aim was to quantify disease activity in the lungs at baseline and after treatment with Liraglutide 3.0 mg in terms of SUL, SUVbw and TLG. We measured systemic inflammation using the markers C-reactive protein (CRP) (Cardiophase hsCRP, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostic Products, Germany), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) (IL-6 and MCP-1 Quantikine ELISA kits, R&D Systems, UK).

To validate our findings from the scans, we performed the same gating and segmentation procedures in three controls, i.e. patients with no known pulmonary disorders. Finally, we performed segmentation, but not gating, in two patients with well-known exacerbation of COPD.

To investigate the reproducibility of lung segmentation and measures of pulmonary metabolic activity, a medical doctor (AD) and a physicist (TC) blinded to all information independently performed segmentation of the lungs in all study participants at scans 1 and 2. For analysis of inter-reader reliability Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement (LOA) and coefficient of variation (CV) where generated along with correlation plots with linear fit and calculated Pearson squared correlation coefficient (r 2 ) and sum of squared error (SSE). We used Wilcoxon rank sum test for statistical analysis and random effect models for calculating average group differences. The level of significance was < 5%.

Of 40 participants, 27 completed the study with both scans; 14 in the Liraglutide arm and 13 in the placebo arm. Baseline group characteristics including anthropometrics, lung function, lung volumina, disease burden and morbidity are listed in Table 1 . For further clinical results from the study, please consult [ 5 ].

We calculated results for differences between the Liraglutide and placebo group in measurements of SUL, SUVbw, and TLG. We observed no differences between baseline values of SUL, SUVbw, and TLG. At week 40, SUL was significantly higher in the Liraglutide group than in the placebo group, Table 2 .

Using mixed effect models, we estimated the effect of treatment on FDG-PET/CT parameters at week 40, separately for both raters. We calculated average group differences, defined as the difference between the average value of a measure in the Liraglutide group and the average value of the same measure in the placebo group at week 40 (scan 2).

We found no significant differences in SUL, SUVbw or TLG between the Liraglutide and placebo group after treatment (all p -values above 0.3). Results are given in Table 3 .

Figure 1 summarizes results for activity concentration, SUVbw, SUL, and TLG for Liraglutide and placebo groups at scan 2 and for COPD exacerbations and controls. We found no significant differences in any PET parameters when comparing the three controls to either Liraglutide or placebo groups. When we compared the results from the two patients with clinical COPD exacerbation to controls and the Liraglutide or placebo groups, we found a tendency towards higher values in patients with clinical COPD exacerbations. Results were most pronounced for overall tracer uptake and less pronounced for median values of SUVbw, SUL, and TLG.

Results for activity concentration, SUVbw, SUL, and TLG for Liraglutide ( N = 17) and placebo ( N = 13) (scan 2) for COPD exacerbations ( N = 2) and controls ( N = 3) (no known pulmonary disease)

When the uncorrected activity concentration were measured in the different groups, only the COPD group displayed a different and increased uptake value. When adjusting for the decay corrected injected activity and patient weight in SUVBw and SUL, this increased value in the COPD group was not found and measurements between groups was not significantly different although the placebo group had a tendency of lower values. Especially when adjusting for lean body mass in the SUL measurements the Liraglutide, COPD and control groups were almost identical, which was probably due to its correction for a non-equal distribution of male and female participants in the COPD and control group.

The TLG measurements took into consideration the total segmented lung volume of the measurements, which on average was found to be different for the different groups. However, this does not seem to be a reliable indicator of decease progress as no significant differences was found between the groups.

Both raters calculated equal values for SUL (0.31 in the Liraglutide group and 0.26 in the placebo group) and for SUVbw (0.49 and 0.43, respectively in the Liraglutide and placebo groups). The values for TLG differed more as shown in Table 2 . Bland-Altman analysis also showed good agreement between the two raters regarding activity concentration in the lungs (Figs. 2 and 3 ).

Bland-Altman plots and correlation plots for activity concentration at scan 1

Scan 1 activity concentration

Bland-Altman plots and correlation plots for activity concentration at scan 2

Scan 2 activity concentration

Inflammatory markers were measured in 30 completers (Liraglutide group, n = 17; placebo group, n = 13). Baseline concentrations of CRP and IL-6 were slightly elevated compared with normal ranges with median values of 3.69 and 4.37 mg/L for CRP and 5.05 and 4.38 pg/mL for IL-6 in the Liraglutide and placebo group, respectively. The normal ranges of inflammatory markers are given based on the laboratory’s normal ranges: CRP < 3 mg/L; MCP-1 = 72–295 pg/ml; IL-6 = 0.351–3.48 pg/ml (Table 4 ). Also MCP-1 levels were high in the normal range (72–295 pg/mL) with median values of 281 and 306 pg/mL in Liraglutide and placebo groups, respectively. We observed no between-group differences for median values of MCP-1, CRP, and IL-6 at baseline or after intervention at week 40 (Mann Whitney test). Further, we found no within-group changes in CRP, IL-6 and MCP-1 from baseline to week 40 in treatment or placebo groups (Table 4 ).

As part of a randomized clinical trial, 27 obese participants with COPD were scanned with FDG-PET/CT to quantify disease activity at baseline and after 40 weeks of treatment with Liraglutide 3.0 mg in terms of SUL, SUVbw, and TLG. We found no significant treatment effects for any of these parameters. As for plasma inflammation markers, we found no significant between-group effects and no changes from baseline to end of medication.

We compared our findings with uptake measures from three controls and two COPD patients with exacerbation. We found no difference in PET-based metabolic activity between project patients (Liraglutide and placebo) and controls. In patients with COPD exacerbation, we found higher values for tracer uptake resulting in higher values for SUL, SUVbw and TLG.

Bland-Altman plots showed that lung segmentation and the derived quantifications were reproducible.

Due to reported anti-inflammatory properties of GLP-1 RA, we expected the Liraglutide group to exhibit a reduction in systemic inflammatory markers. Similarly, we expected reduced PET-based metabolic activity in the lungs as a surrogate for inflammatory activity. Some previous studies on FDG-PET/CT found increased FDG lung uptake in COPD patients or current smokers compared to never-smokers as well as a correlation between FDG lung uptake and CRP. This inflammatory response in the airways with active neutrophils showed the potential of FDG as a surrogate marker of pulmonary inflammation [ 6 ]. Other studies found a correlation between metabolic activity in the intercostal accessory respiration muscles as a surrogate marker of COPD severity or increased FDG uptake in right ventricle indicating cor pulmonale secondary to pulmonary hypertension with increased severity of COPD [ 7 ].

However, we could not reproduce any of these findings in our study, for neither the inflammatory markers nor the PET-findings, and one explanation may be our study population; the inflammation markers were only slightly elevated or high in the normal range perhaps reflecting limited chronic disease activity. In addition, we measured inflammation markers in stable phases and not under exacerbations, where they are usually elevated. We cannot exclude statistical type II errors due to the relatively low number of study completers. Finally, differences in underlying methodology between the studies hamper direct comparison.

An indicator that the lack of positive findings in our primary study population may be due to overall low-level inflammation is the finding in the two patients with active COPD exacerbation, i.e. a tendency towards higher FDG-uptake in the lungs suggesting higher overall metabolism that may be due to generalized inflammation. However, motion artefacts may have influenced these results. Normal breathing motion causes motion blur artefacts in PET images. Ungated measurements may lead to falsely increased activity from liver activity measured as part of the lungs due to respiration motion. Our primary series were gated with limited impact from liver activity, but in the patients with COPD, the lack of gating may have influenced the overall lung activity. Respiration-gated PET approaches are employed to reduce the blurring effects in some clinical settings. In fact, others have found similarly equivocal results regarding whole lung quantification and proposed that the activity in whole lung may be too insensitive to detect lung inflammation at all [ 8 ]. To the best of our knowledge, there is no data on the reproducibility of respiration- gated segmentation in lung inflammation.

Limitations

There might be different limitations in our study:

The sample size is relatively small and furthermore the number of participants completing both scans were only 27 compared to the 40 patients included and randomized based on our power calculation.

The study population may not have been be severely affected by COPD. We scanned the participants and measured circulating inflammation markers in stable phases of COPD, which might neglect a potential increase in inflammation in acute phases of the disease. A higher degree of disease burden in terms MRC dyspnea scale, eosinophils, number of exacerbations and the level of inflammatory markers under exacerbations could have affected the results positively, as indicated by the two COPD patients with exacerbation.

The rationale for using respiration gating was an attempt to alleviate the potential effects of blurring from thoracic or abdominal movements from breathing which may cause a spillover of activity from the liver. The significance and impact of the methodology in this context remains unclear.

The anti-inflammatory effect of Liraglutide also remains unconvincing in this setting and treatment with a more potent GLP-1 RA, eventually for a longer period, might have more anti-inflammatory effects.

In contrast to other studies, we were not able to demonstrate differences in pulmonary inflammation using FDG-PET/CT in people with COPD before and after treatment with Liraglutide. With reference to the anti-inflammatory effects of Liraglutide and the promising role of FDG-PET/CT in the diagnosis of infectious and inflammatory diseases, we expected to find decreased uptake following treatment with Liraglutide. However, this was not the case. The inflammatory response may depend on the severity of COPD at the time of the scan (stable COPD versus exacerbation), and the patient population may simply have been in too stable stages. Based on our results, general application of FDG-PET/CT (with or without respiratory gating) in COPD cannot be recommended in relatively stable phases but whether FDG-PET-CT has a role in subset of COPD patients (e.g. more inflammatory active COPD or exacerbation) still needs further investigation.

Data availability

Datasets from the study are stored online in REDCap database. Data are available for the corresponding author and some of the other authors. Access to data is possible by contacting the authors.

Some of the datasets, especially regarding FDG-PET/CT are also are also stored in AV Server regarding calculations about PET parameters.

Data are also stored as written Case Report Forms (CRF) at the respective trial sites in locked rooms for 5 years.

The CRF are checked and monitored by the Good Clinical Practice Unit at University of Southern Denmark.

Kung BT, Seraj SM, Zadeh MZ, Rojulpote C, Kothekar E, Ayubcha C, et al. An update on the role of (18)F-FDG-PET/CT in major infectious and inflammatory diseases. Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2019;9(6):255–73.

CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Falk JA, Minai OA, Mosenifar Z. Inhaled and systemic corticosteroids in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2008;5(4):506–12.

Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Viby NE, Isidor MS, Buggeskov KB, Poulsen SS, Hansen JB, Kissow H. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) reduces mortality and improves lung function in a model of experimental obstructive lung disease in female mice. Endocrinology. 2013;154(12):4503–11.

Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar

Yu M, Wang R, Pei L, Zhang X, Wei J, Wen Y, et al. The relationship between the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and the incidence of respiratory illness: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2023;15(1):164.

Altintas Dogan AD, Hilberg O, Hess S, Jensen TT, Bladbjerg EM, Juhl CB. Respiratory effects of treatment with a Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 receptor agonist in patients suffering from obesity and chronic obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2022;17:405–14.

Vass L, Fisk M, Cheriyan J, Mohan D, Forman J, Oseni A et al. Quantitative (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography to assess pulmonary inflammation in COPD. ERJ Open Res. 2021;7(3).

Choi GG, Han Y, Weston B, Ciftci E, Werner TJ, Torigian D, et al. Metabolic effects of pulmonary obstruction on myocardial functioning: a pilot study using multiple time-point 18F-FDG-PET imaging. Nucl Med Commun. 2015;36(1):78–83.

Coello C, Fisk M, Mohan D, Wilson FJ, Brown AP, Polkey MI, et al. Quantitative analysis of dynamic (18)F-FDG PET/CT for measurement of lung inflammation. EJNMMI Res. 2017;7(1):47.

Article PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank:

OPEN (Open Patient data Explorative Network) for providing support on the establishment and maintenance of our REDCap database and for statistical support.

Unit for Thrombosis Research, Department of Clinical Biochemistry for handling blood sampling and biochemical measurements.

The study nurses at Hospital South West Jutland and Hospital Lillebælt for excellent technical assistance.

Jeppe Gram, MD., Ph.D. for invaluable scientific advises.

Novo Nordisk as a part of the Investigator Sponsored Studies Program provides study medication and running costs.

Partial financial support was received from Karola Jørgensens Forskningsfond, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark.

Partial financial support was received from Research council of Hospital South West Jutland, University hospital of Southern Denmark.

Partial financial support was received from the Region of Southern Denmark.

Open access funding provided by University of Southern Denmark

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Medicine, Regional Hospital Horsens, Sundvej 30, 8700, Horsens, Denmark

Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan

Department of Medicine, Hospital South West Jutland, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan, Torben Tranborg Jensen & Claus Bogh Juhl

Department of Regional Health Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan, Ole Hilberg, Else-Marie Bladbjerg & Søren Hess

Department of Medicine, Lillebaelt Hospital, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Vejle, Denmark

Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan & Ole Hilberg

Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Hospital South West Jutland, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

Thomas Quist Christensen & Søren Hess

Steno Diabetes Center, Odense, Denmark

Claus Bogh Juhl

Department of Clinical Diagnostics, Unit for Thrombosis Research, Hospital South West Jutland, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

Else-Marie Bladbjerg

Department of Clinical Engineering, Region of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg, Denmark

Thomas Quist Christensen

IRIS – Imaging Research Initiative Southwest, Esbjerg, Denmark

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conceptualization and methodology. Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan, Claus Bogh Juhl, Else-Marie Bladbjerg, Søren Hess and Thomas Quist Christensen performed data curation, formal analysis, investigation and project administration. FDG-PET/CT scans were reported by Søren Hess and analyzed by Thomas Quist Christensen and Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan.

Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan wrote the original draft of the manuscript. Thomas Quist Christensen wrote most of methodology. All authors reviewed and edited on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ayse Dudu Altintas Dogan .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

The trial was conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki after approval by the Scientific Ethics Committee of The Region of Southern Denmark (j. no S-20170147) and Eudract (j. no. 2017-003551-32). The study was reported at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03466021) and monitored according to Good Clinical Practice (GCP) by the GCP Unit of Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study

Consent for publication

Competing interests.

CBJ serves as a speaker for Novo Nordisk, but has no financial interest in the current study. Study medication and running costs were provided by Novo Nordisk as a part of the Investigator Sponsored Studies Program. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Dogan, A.D.A., Christensen, T.Q., Jensen, T.T. et al. FDG-PET/CT-based respiration-gated lung segmentation and quantification of lung inflammation in COPD patients. BMC Res Notes 17 , 170 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-024-06820-w

Download citation

Received : 13 October 2023

Accepted : 05 June 2024

Published : 20 June 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-024-06820-w

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Respiration-gated
Inflammation

BMC Research Notes

ISSN: 1756-0500

Submission enquiries: [email protected]
General enquiries: [email protected]

COMMENTS

Evidence-Based Research Series-Paper 1: What Evidence-Based Research is
Evidence-based research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner. Results: We describe evidence-based research and provide an overview of the approach of systematically and transparently using previous ...
Evidence-Based? Research-Based? What does it all Mean?
Clarifying the Difference between Research-Based and Evidence-Based. My current working definition of research-based instruction has come to mean those practices/programs that are based on well-supported and documented theories of learning. The instructional approach is based on research that supports the principles it incorporates, but there ...
"Evidence-Based" vs. "Research-Based"
Evidence-Informed (or Research-Based ) Practices are practices that were developed based on the best research available in the field. This means that users can feel confident that the strategies and activities included in the program or practice have a strong scientific basis for their use. Unlike Evidence-Based Practices or Programs, Research ...
What Evidence-Based Research is and why is it important?
Evidence-Based Research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient and accessible ...
Evidence-Based vs. Research-Based Programs: Definitions and ...
A research-based program is a program designed based on scientific theories. With this type of program, an education researcher may develop an intervention based on research from educational theories and published studies. The researcher can describe their program as research-based because they used existing analyses and theories to develop it.
Evidence-Based Practice: A Common Definition Matters
The APA Presidential Task Force on EBP (2006) also shared its support of the original EBP definition: " Evidence-based practice in psychology (EBPP) is the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture and preferences" (p. 272).
What Is Research?
Research is the deliberate, purposeful, and systematic gathering of data, information, facts, and/or opinions for the advancement of personal, societal, or overall human knowledge. Based on this definition, we all do research all the time. Most of this research is casual research. Asking friends what they think of different restaurants, looking ...
About Evidence-Based Research (EBR)
About Evidence-Based Research (EBR) Introduction. A number of studies show that researchers, research funders, regulators, sponsors and publishers of research fail to use earlier research when preparing to start, fund, regulate, sponsor or publish the results of new studies. To embark on research without systematically reviewing the evidence of ...
Evidence-Based Research Series-Paper 1: What Evidence-Based Research is
Evidence-based research is the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner [1]. Previously we introduced evidence-based research focusing on its possible implications for different stakeholders, including researchers ...
Evidence Based Research Series
1. Introduction. This article is part of a series describing evidence-based research—the use of prior research in a systematic and transparent way to inform a new study so that it is answering questions that matter in a valid, efficient, and accessible manner [1].By prior research, we mean original studies (also called primary studies), but even when planning a new systematic review ...
Evidence-Based Definition
Evidence-Based. A widely used adjective in education, evidence-based refers to any concept or strategy that is derived from or informed by objective evidence—most commonly, educational research or metrics of school, teacher, and student performance. Among the most common applications are evidence-based decisions, evidence-based school ...
Research-Based Definition
Research-based refers to any educational concept or strategy that is derived from or informed by objective academic research or metrics of performance.
David Gauntlett
OK. But that definition we arrived at - "practice-based research in the social sciences, arts and humanities … positions the researcher as a creator, who is engaged in an exploratory creative process in order to explore their research question" - did sound like practice-based research can be autobiographical, or autoethnographic.
What Is Research, and Why Do People Do It?
Abstractspiepr Abs1. Every day people do research as they gather information to learn about something of interest. In the scientific world, however, research means something different than simply gathering information. Scientific research is characterized by its careful planning and observing, by its relentless efforts to understand and explain ...
Community-Based Research: Understanding the Principles, Practices
Community-based research challenges the traditional research paradigm by recognizing that complex social problems today must involve multiple stakeholders in the research process—not as subjects but as co-investigators and co-authors. It is an "orientation to inquiry" rather than a methodology and reflects a transdisciplinary paradigm by ...
What Is A Research Hypothesis? A Simple Definition
A research hypothesis (also called a scientific hypothesis) is a statement about the expected outcome of a study (for example, a dissertation or thesis). To constitute a quality hypothesis, the statement needs to have three attributes - specificity, clarity and testability. Let's take a look at these more closely.
Arts-Based Research
The term arts-based research is an umbrella term that covers an eclectic array of methodological and epistemological approaches. The key elements that unify this diverse body of work are: it is research; and one or more art forms or processes are involved in the doing of the research. How art is involved varies enormously.
What Is Action Research?
Action research is a research method that aims to simultaneously investigate and solve an issue. In other words, as its name suggests, action research conducts research and takes action at the same time. It was first coined as a term in 1944 by MIT professor Kurt Lewin.A highly interactive method, action research is often used in the social ...
Full article: Is research-based learning effective? Evidence from a pre
The effectiveness of research-based learning. Conducting one's own research project involves various cognitive, behavioural, and affective experiences (Lopatto, Citation 2009, 29), which in turn lead to a wide range of benefits associated with RBL. RBL is associated with long-term societal benefits because it can foster scientific careers: Students participating in RBL reported a greater ...
(PDF) Practice Based Research: A Guide
Practice-based Research is an original investigation undertaken in order to gain new knowledge partly by means of practice and the outcomes of that practice. In a doctoral thesis, claims of ...
PDF Practice Based Research: A Guide
that is commonly agreed. The research component of the practice-based research is, in most respects, similar to any definition of research, a key element of which is the transferability of the understandings reached as a result of the research process. In the UK, the Arts and Humanities Research Board (now Council) (AHRB, 2000) defined
Research Based Learning: a Lifelong Learning Necessity
A key component of research-based learning is the identification and clarification of issues, problems, challenges and questions for discussion and exploration. The learner is able to seek relevancy in the work they are doing and to become deeply involved in the learning process. b. Find and process information.
Survey Research
Survey research means collecting information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. To conduct an effective survey, follow these six steps: Determine who will participate in the survey. Decide the type of survey (mail, online, or in-person) Design the survey questions and layout.
Six distinct types of depression identified in Stanford Medicine-led
The biotypes and their response to behavioral therapy make sense based on what they know about these regions of the brain, said Jun Ma, MD, PhD, the Beth and George Vitoux Professor of Medicine at the University of Illinois Chicago and one of the authors of the study.
EULAR recommendations for the involvement of patient research partners
WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS. The updated recommendations for the involvement of PRPs in scientific projects have become more evidence based and cover subjects such as research type (including basic and translational research), involvement from the research project's inception, the recommended number of PRPs and the support, training and acknowledgement of PRPs.
Diagnostics
The diagnosis of Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) is frequently challenging, especially in terms of the distinction from the other non-neoplastic causes of cytopenia. Currently, it is based on the presence of peripheral blood cytopenias, peripheral blood and bone marrow dysplasia/blasts, and clonal cytogenetic abnormalities, but MDS diagnostic features are polymorphic and non-specific.
Research: Europe suffers lack of founders with technical expertise
Only 26% of Europe's unicorn founders have a technical background, potentially holding the region back from creating more tech giants. A study by VC firm Antler also found that less than half of the 20 most valuable Europe-based tech businesses have founders with experience in computer science, software development or data science compared to 100% in the US.
Identification of groundwater pollution sources based on ...
The accuracy of pollution source identification significantly depends on the amount of effective information derived from monitoring data. Currently, most of the comprehensive studies on groundwater contamination source identification and optimal design of monitoring solutions are based on hypothetical cases, whereas relevant studies on actual cases only consider one characteristic of the ...
Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) concept and access
Background In spite of the successes of the community-based health planning and services (CHPS) policy since its inception in the mid-1990s in Ghana, data pertaining to the implementation and use of CHPS facilities in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal is scant. We assessed access to healthcare delivery and factors influencing the use of CHPS in Sefwi Wiawso Municipal. Methods An analytical community ...
FDG-PET/CT-based respiration-gated lung segmentation and quantification
The study objective was to investigate the potential of quantitative measures of pulmonary inflammation by [18 F]Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) as a surrogate marker of inflammation in COPD. Patients treated with anti-inflammatory Liraglutide were compared to placebo and correlated with inflammatory markers. 27 COPD-patients (14 receiving ...

Save citation to file

Add to My Bibliography

Evidence-Based Research Series-Paper 1: What Evidence-Based Research is and why is it important?

Similar articles

Publication types

Related information

LinkOut - more resources

Other Literature Sources

Evidence-Based? Research-Based? What does it all Mean?

Clarifying the Difference between Research-Based and Evidence-Based

You might also be interested in

Advice for Coaches: Helping Teachers Navigate the End-of-Year Homestretch

Comprehension and Building Knowledge: From Acquiring Knowledge to Actively Using It

Seeking to Understand the Science of Reading

“Evidence-Based” vs. “Research-Based”: Understanding the Differences

So what do these terms mean, exactly?

What about assessment?

In Conclusion

What can we help you with?

Research Basics

So What Do We Mean By “Formal Research?”

Paul V. Galvin Library

Chat with us:

About Evidence-Based Research (EBR)

EBR Mulitmedia Resources

2 Responses to “What is practice-based research?”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

What Is A Research (Scientific) Hypothesis? A plain-language explainer + examples

Research Hypothesis 101

What is a hypothesis?

What is a research hypothesis?

Need a helping hand?

Hypothesis Essential #1: Specificity & Clarity

Hypothesis Essential #2: Testability (Provability)

Defining A Research Hypothesis

What about the null hypothesis?

Psst... there’s more!

You Might Also Like:

16 Comments

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Article contents

Introduction

Why Use Art?

Art, Research Purpose, and Research Validity

Different Kinds of Purpose

Using Art to Research Social Issues: Collecting Data

Art Processes as Tools for Analysis

Art as a Means to Present Findings

Emotion—and Its Power

A/r/tography and Examination of Places Between

A Conference Debate, and the Politics of Research

Site for Possibilities—and Questions

Further Reading

Related Articles

Research Based Learning: a Lifelong Learning Necessity

Solution Tree

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Subscribe to Our Blog

3 Key Learning Outcomes and How to Question Them

Getting to Know Differentiation in the Classroom

3 Books to Fire Up Your Imagination This Summer

How to Foster Civil Mindsets in Classroom Communities

Have a language expert improve your writing

Survey Research | Definition, Examples & Methods

Table of contents

Here's why students love Scribbr's proofreading services

Populations

Questionnaires

Open-ended vs closed-ended questions

The content of the survey questions

Phrasing the survey questions

Ordering the survey questions

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Cite this Scribbr article

Is this article helpful?

Shona McCombes

Six distinct types of depression identified in Stanford Medicine-led study

Biotypes predict treatment response

Further explorations of depression