ArticleClinical epidemiology2018
From ideas to studies: how to get ideas and sharpen them into research questions.
Article in Clinical epidemiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Framework for Thinking About the Potential Public Health Impact of Epidemiologic Research.Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2026Article
- Strategies to Enhance Satisfaction and Success in an Academic Career in Pharmacoepidemiology.Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety · 2026Article
- Clinical epidemiology for comprehensive kidney care: a framework for developing clinical research questions, from biomarkers to patient-reported outcomes.Clinical and experimental nephrology · 2026Review
- Large language model-assisted research question development in public health: a case study in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.Public health nutrition · 2026Article
- Navigating qualitative methods choices in dissemination and implementation research.Implementation science : IS · 2025Article
- Biomedical Research: Formulating a Well-Built and Worth-Answering Research Question.Addiction & health · 2025Review
- Biomedical Research: The Research Problem Matters.Addiction & health · 2025Review
- Understanding the Experiences of Clinicians Accessing Electronic Databases to Search for Evidence on Pain Management Using a Mixed Methods Approach.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Must-have Qualities of Clinical Research on Artificial Intelligence and Machine LearningBalkan medical journal · 2023Review
- Prediction or causality? A scoping review of their conflation within current observational research.European journal of epidemiology · 2021Article
- Comparisons between countries are essential for the control of COVID-19.International journal of epidemiology · 2020Article
- Formulating a good research question: Pearls and pitfalls.Indian journal of anaesthesia · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Where do new research questions come from? This is at best only partially taught in courses or textbooks about clinical or epidemiological research. Methods are taught under the assumption that a researcher already knows the research question and knows which methods will fit that question. Similarly, the real complexity of the thought processes that lead to a scientific undertaking is almost never described in published papers. In this paper, we first discuss how to get an idea that is worth researching. We describe sources of new ideas and how to foster a creative attitude by "cultivating your thoughts". Only a few of these ideas will make it into a study. Next, we describe how to sharpen and focus a research question so that a study becomes feasible and a valid test of the underlying idea. To do this, the idea needs to be "pruned". Pruning a research question means cutting away anything that is unnecessary, so that only the essence remains. This includes determining both the latent and the stated objectives, specific pruning questions, and the use of specific schemes to structure reasoning. After this, the following steps include preparation of a brief protocol, conduct of a pilot study, and writing a draft of the paper including draft tables. Then you are ready to carry out your research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.