From

Proposal to
Report
Writing

Sudigdo Sastroasmoro
 Prologue
Scientific knowledge is knowledge obtained
by scientific procedures
Professionals should always use scientific
knowledge to solve their professional
problems
Good professionals is obliged to participate
in scientific development by doing (however
small) research in their relevant field
 Science is made of facts
as a house is made of stones
But a bulk of facts
is not necessarily a science
as a mass of stones is not a house
 Before you start.

Think very carefully what

you will do for your
research
 FINER
Feasible: Time, expertise / manpower,
material, money, study subjects
Interesting to the investigator
Novel: Original, replicative
Ethical: Research Ethics Committee
Relevant to patient care, health care,
scientific development
 Questions about Relevance
Is the magnitude of the problem really important?
Is the topic appropriate to answer the big question?
Does literature study support the need for
investigation?
Can you develop one or more hypothesis?
Do you think your peer group has the same
perception about the topic?
Does the topic consist knowledge gap that is
appropriate to be answered by doing research?
 Questions about Novelty
Cant find similar study home and abroad?
Are there similar studies but give controversial
results?
Are there similar studies but had a low validity?
Have not been studied in Indonesia?
Have a prediction that different results may be
found?
Other aspects: see originality
Characteristics of high quality
research

Original
Independent
Substantial contribution (Rigor)
 Originality in research
The following studies are labeled to as original
research, original contribution, or original article
Knipscheer HC, et al. Short-term efficacy and safety of
pravastatin in 72 children with familial hypercholesterolemia.
Pediatr Res. 1996;39:867 871.
de Jongh S, et al. Efficacy and safety of statin therapy in
children with familial hypercholesterolemia: a randomized,
double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with simvastatin.
Circulation. 2002;106:22312237.
Wiegman A, et al. Efficacy and safety of statin therapy in
children with familial hypercholesterolemia: a randomized
controlled trial. J Am Med Assoc. 2004;292:331337.
 What is original research?
1. Never done before
2. Continuing others original study
3. Developing others original idea
4. Using new technique to find old data
5. Proposing / designing everything & ask investigators /
technicians to perform the study under your guidance
6. Finding new empirical data
7. Have not been done in Indonesia
8. Using old technique to explore new area
9. New evidence for old issue
10. Examining others idea with original technique
11. Multidisciplinary approach to solve old issue
12. Applying others findings in different populations
 Questions about Interesting
Are you really interested?
Why? Give reasons
Have you done similar study before?
Should someone offer you other topic, do you
tend to change your topic or try your best with
your original topic?
 Questions about Ethics
Can you perform the study in line with ethical
principles?
If you plan to use humans, especially patients, have
you considered carefully that appropriate protection
can be applied?
In the case that the subject would be incompetent to
give consent, have you considered from whom the
consent can be obtained?
Have you considered the subjects response for
participating in the study?
 Questions about Feasibility
Are you sure that the topic is within your area of
expertise?
Are there literature to be the basis for developing
sensible hypothesis?
What about the availability of
medical, laboratory, other facilities
expertise
drugs
study subjects (Lasagnas law)
time, money,
consultants, etc?
 Study Protocol
Aims as guidance for the investigator in the
whole process of the planned research
Different formats or styles, depending on
institutions: should be followed rigidly
Followings are general requirements of most
research proposal
Anatomy & Physiology
I. Introduction
II. Literature review
III. Methodology
IV. References
V. Appendices
 I. Introduction
A. Background
B. Research question(s)
C. Hypotheses
D. Purpose
E. Significance
A. Background: Why do research?

Most important part of research proposal

Should be arranged as the following:
What is the problem?
What is known?
What is unknown? (knowledge gap)
What your study will add?
 Background
Typically 4-8 pages
I personally recommend to make subtitles for
Background, so that the information provided
and the logical sequence are better understood.
Six-page long background without subtitles may
result in to and fro information that make the
reader or even the writer get confused.
Adequate and strong references
 Single gene-mutation in familial hypercholesterolemia
in children of young patients with myocardial
infarction a screening method and economic analysis

Increased incidence of young people with AMI

Factors associated with young AMI
Genetic studies in children of YAMI
Abroad
In Indonesia
Gene mutation as predictor for YAMI
Population-based vs. group-based screening
Knowledge gap to be filled with the proposed study
 b. Research question(s)
Formulation of background in interrogative
sentence(s) which are:
brief and direct
clear
not multi-interpretable
Research question(s): examples
Is additional of drug A associated with better
prognosis in patients with diabetic neuropathy
compared with standard regimen?
Is neonatal asphyxia a risk factor for delayed
motoric development at 2 years of age?
Does administration of injectable contraceptive result
in undernutrition of infants who are exclusively
breast-fed at the age of 6 months?
Does passive smoking cause chronic and recurrent
cough in underfive children?
 c. Hypothesis
A tentative answer for research question that should
be validated empirically
Hypothesis should not be judged as correct or
incorrect, but valid or not valid
Not all studies need hypothesis; surveys and other
descriptive studies do not need hypothesis
Any research questions containing the words:
associated with, related to, correlated to, different
from, larger, smaller, better, worse, more, cause, risk
factor(s), etc need one or more hypothesis.
Characteristics of good hypothesis
Written in a positive sentence
Based on good scientific reasoning
Can be validated empirically
Simple:
describe the association of one or more independent
variables and one dependent variable
can be tested separately with hypothesis testing
(cf. complex hypothesis)
Formulated a priori (cf. a posteriori, data dredging,
fishing expedition)
 d. Purpose of the study
General: wider aspect of prospective nature
To reduce mortality associated with DSS

Specific: What exactly will be measured

To determine demographic and clinical factors
associated with the development of DSS in adults
To determine the effectiveness of Crystalloid A as
compared with RL in managing pts with DSS
For analytic studies, in general, specific purposes are in-
line with hypotheses
 e. Significance
Academic
Clinical
Health policy
Further research

Note: quick vs. non-quick yielding researches

 II. Literature review
Detailed, but only aspects relevant to the
substance of the research; no need to review all
aspects of the disease or problem under
investigation
Requirement: good literature search and appraisal
- Original articles, reviews, quantitative reviews,
meta-analyses
Most recent publications (use internet!); older ones
for historical perspectives
Repeated revisions, including language: words,
sentences, paragraphs, literature citations, etc.
 Theoretical & Conceptual
frameworks
Theoretical framework: Summary of literature
review related directly to planned study
Not needed for grant application (included in
Background)
Followed by conceptual framework in the form of
diagram showing inter-relationships amongst
variables
 III. Methods
All must be elaborated explicitly in great details!!!

Design(s): one study may have more than 1

designs
Time and place
Population: target, source
Criteria for inclusion and exclusion
Sample: sampling techniques
Sample size
 III. Methods (cont.)
Procedures, equipment, drugs, randomization,
blinding, measurements, interventions, follow-up,
etc
Variable identification: independents, dependents,
confounders, extraneous, etc
Definitions
Ethics Committee approval
Plan of analyses: types of tests, computer
programs used (appropriate, please!!), p value,
confidence intervals, etc
 IV. References
Consistent style; FMUI: Vancouver style
Follow rigidly every aspects {Number of authors
included, editor(s), abbreviations of journals, first & last
pages, etc}, incl. punctuation (comma, colon, semicolon,
full-stop, etc)
Important: fit the citation numbers in text and numbers
in the reference list!
Electronic materials not published in printed format
should be considered as unpublished materials, as are
theses, dissertations, personal communications (use them
if no comparable published sources exist)
 V. Appendices
Investigator(s), incl. curriculum vitae and research tract
records / previous publications
Sponsors
Time table
Plan of budget
Formulae (sample size), specific procedures, etc
Dummy tables
Ethical clearance
Informed consent form
Other relevant materials or information
 Concluding remarks
Research proposal (protocol) development is
the very first step in research activities
Needs exercises by reading & reviewing other
proposals; much better: learning by doing
Arrangement of Title, Introduction, and
Methods must be in logical sequences,
reflecting scientific exercise
Badly written proposal will eventually result in
bad study conclusion(s)
 Be prepared for
Lasagnas law
Dissertation blue
Writers block
Technical, financial, procedural, bureaucratic aspects
Unwritten rules in PhD research:
Supervisors
Examiners
Department and related institutions
Family
Yourself

Its okay, but the show must go on

After the study is completed.
 Report
To examiners (for thesis / dissertation)
To academic society (medical journal)
To layman
To sponsor(s)

Different approach
 To medical journal

Usual format: IMRAD

Always look Instructions to Authors
In-house style: specific for that journal
A continuum from proposal to report
writing
 To medical journal
PROPOSAL REPORT
Introduction - Introduction
Literature review - None
Methods - Methods
- - Results
- - Discussion
- - Conflict of interest
References - References