Good Research Practice Research Articles

Psychedelics and the essential importance of context.

Psychedelic drugs are making waves as modern trials support their therapeutic potential and various media continue to pique public interest. In this opinion piece, we draw attention to a long-recognised component of the psychedelic treatment model, namely ‘set’ and ‘setting’ – subsumed here under the umbrella term ‘context’. We highlight: (a) the pharmacological mechanisms of classic psychedelics (5-HT2A receptor agonism and associated plasticity) that we believe render their effects exceptionally sensitive to context, (b) a study design for testing assumptions regarding positive interactions between psychedelics and context, and (c) new findings from our group regarding contextual determinants of the quality of a psychedelic experience and how acute experience predicts subsequent long-term mental health outcomes. We hope that this article can: (a) inform on good practice in psychedelic research, (b) provide a roadmap for optimising treatment models, and (c) help tackle unhelpful stigma still surrounding these compounds, while developing an evidence base for long-held assumptions about the critical importance of context in relation to psychedelic use that can help minimise harms and maximise potential benefits.

Good Clinical Practices: An Indian Perspective

Clinical research is a mechanism or a process that provides concrete evidence that new treatments or remedies suggested are safe and effective. The ultimate aim of clinical research is the identification and discovery of contemporary diagnostic methods as well as the establishment of advanced standards of therapy. Good clinical practice (GCP) is an ethical and scientific quality standard for designing, conducting and recording trials that involve the participation of human subjects. Acquiescence with the guideline gives a pledge to the public that the morality, integrity and welfare of humans participating in the trials are protected. India offers distinctive opportunities for performing clinical trials with large patient population, experienced and well-equipped investigators and leading medical institutions with low patient trial cost when compared to the regulated nations. However, to ensure a uniform standard of clinical research in the entire nation and to provide data for registration for new drugs before use in human population in India, there was a need for our own Indian Guidelines. GCP guidelines were developed by an accomplished committee set up by CDSCO along with the clinical experts. This article elucidates the significance of Good Clinical Practice from an Indian Clinical Research perspective, whilst defining and outlining the goals and objectives of GCP. It addresses the historical events that led to the emergence of Good Clinical Practices and examines the current scenario with regards to the application of GCP in Clinical trials in India. Finally, the article analyses the challenges faced with regards to maintaining an evidential and competitive system and also suggest a way forward for further enhancing the credibility and efficiency of Good Clinical Practice in Clinical Research.

Utilisation of academic nursing competence in Europe — A survey among members of the European Academy of Nursing Science

BackgroundIn line with national and international strategies in Europe, the number of nurses with a doctoral degree has increased. The European Academy of Nursing Science (EANS) has for 18years delivered a three-year doctoral summer school for nurses. Questions have been raised in terms of how academic nurses' competencies are used and in what positions. AimTo understand the progression of nurses' academic careers following completion of the EANS Summer School and to picture how research and academic skills of the nurses are being used for research and/or other fields in nursing. MethodsWe commenced a cross-sectional survey. Former EANS Summer School participants were invited to take part in the online survey with questions developed specifically for this study. The study conformed to the principle of good clinical research practice and was reviewed and approved by the EANS Board. ResultsOf 380 former participants, 308 were eligible for participating in the survey. A total of 140 (45%) responded. The respondents originated from 21 countries. Sixty-nine percent had their main position in universities or university colleges and 25% in healthcare organisations. More than 80% were involved in research, teaching and supervision, and 26% were involved in direct client/patients care while 71% reported doing postdoctoral research where descriptive research designs dominated. The research topics covered a large variety of aspects in clinical nursing, education, development and theory. ConclusionThe EANS Summer School is an example of an effort to improve nurses' academic competencies. The survey indicates that the competencies of academically trained nurses in Europe primarily are used in universities and educational institutions. However, a large proportion is working close to and in collaboration with clinical practice. Evidence of the legacy of having undergone the EANS Summer School includes using advanced research methods and collaboration with the international EANS network.

Ethical uneasiness and the need for open-ended reflexivity: the case of research into older people with a wish to die

This article focuses on research ethics in highly intimate research with possible impact on life and death. In order to stimulate an open-ended dialogue about research ethics, we reflect on four ethical challenges that came up during our research into older people with a wish to die. Drawing on our experiences, we discuss (1) the possibly confirming influence of our research on the death wish (moral experience of whether or not to disregard responsibility); (2) the suggested duty to intervene (moral experience of whether or not to compromise the person’s autonomy); (3) the researcher’s authority and power over the data (moral experience of threatening a person’s self-narrative) and (4) the dilemma of intimacy (moral experience of encountering the tragic). For guidance in addressing these challenges, we draw upon work on research ethics from phenomenological and care ethics scholars, as well as from those writing about relational ethics in health research. We suggest that being open about ethical uneasiness is important, because in most cases of a grey area, there are only open-ended answers needing an enquiring mind, rather than clear and fixed guidelines. Acknowledgement of ethical uneasiness and open-ended reflexivity are indispensable to constitute a morally good research practice.

Scientists’ Conceptions of Good Research Practice

This study examines how working scientists themselves understand, conceptualize, apply, and communicate norms and standards for good research practice. Drawing on semi-structured, detailed narrative interviews with more than 80 scientists, we highlight various topics of concern, including tensions between methodological requirements for good research practice and individual career goals, uncertainty about how exactly certain acknowledged methodological imperatives—such as replication—should be interpreted and turned into practice and the delegation of the responsibilty for ensuring good practice.

Developing Ethical Research Practices Between Institutional and Community Partners: A Look at the Current Base of Literature Surrounding Memorandums of Understanding in Canada

Few institutionalized examples exist wherein Indigenous communities have participated in the co-development of ethics initiatives. This article explores one such process—the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). A MOU is a document created between institutional and community research partners to outline project guidelines. Based on Canadian MOUs developed between 1980 and 2016, this research has four objectives; (a) to describe current trends of MOU use and recognition in research; (b) to describe the challenges of collaborative research and how MOUs might mitigate them; (c) to understand if a standard MOU is feasible; and (d) to offer policy suggesting for implementing MOUs. Local MOUs mark a way for engaging in good research practices that actually benefit the involved community.

What Relationship Researchers and Relationship Practitioners Wished the Other Knew: Integrating Discovery and Practice in Couple Relationships

As we consider what both family scientists and practitioners can learn from each other, we discuss important advances in relationship and marriage education (RME). We note best practices for research and review recent evaluative findings from randomized controlled trial studies that have important implications for RME. An almost singular RME focus on teaching communication and conflict resolution skills may not be as valuable as it was believed to be. We discuss recent shifts in RME, share results from recent research, and advocate for a balanced approach that incorporates both skill‐based and principles‐based approaches. Important insights can be gained from disciplines outside of family and relationship science, and we encourage both family scientists and practitioners to broaden the scope of models of healthy relationship functioning. Finally, we offer some direction for future progress and issue a call for more integrative and rigorous efforts in both the science of discovery and practice.

Sophorolipid production by yeasts: a critical review of the literature and suggestions for future research.

Sophorolipids are well-known biosurfactants produced by yeasts, having potential applications ranging from nanomaterials, medicine, and cosmetics to large-volume applications such as cleaning and soil remediation. Because of their environmentally friendly nature, they attained much interest during the past decades as a sustainable and ecological alternative to petroleum-derived surfactants. Stronger yet, research activities and scientific publications on the topic are ever increasing. However, often these studies lack proper producer strain identification and detailed structural product characterization. Flaws regarding strain identity can have huge consequences when moving to valorization and moreover tend to persist quite long in scientific literature. Furthermore, too often sophorolipid production is proposed where other biosurfactant structures cannot be ruled out based on the chemical analysis. Finally, absolute quantitative yield determination frequently occurs with variable product purity and without proper calibration standards. This review aims to highlight and discuss these discrepancies and proposes some guidelines for good practice in future sophorolipid research.

Conducting a Discrete-Choice Experiment Study Following Recommendations for Good Research Practices: An Application for Eliciting Patient Preferences for Diabetes Treatments

ObjectivesTo consolidate and illustrate good research practices in health care to the application and reporting of a study measuring patient preferences for type 2 diabetes mellitus medications, given recent methodological advances in stated-preference methods. MethodsThe International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research good research practices and other recommendations were used to conduct a discrete-choice experiment. Members of a US online panel with type 2 diabetes mellitus completed a Web-enabled, self-administered survey that elicited choices between treatment pairs with six attributes at three possible levels each. A D-efficient experimental design blocked 48 choice tasks into three 16-task surveys. Preference estimates were obtained using mixed logit estimation and were used to calculate choice probabilities. ResultsA total of 552 participants (51% males) completed the survey. Avoiding 90 minutes of nausea was valued the highest (mean −10.00; 95% confidence interval [CI] −10.53 to −9.47). Participants wanted to avoid low blood glucose during the day and/or night (mean −3.87; 95% CI −4.32 to −3.42) or one pill and one injection per day (mean −7.04; 95% CI −7.63 to −6.45). Participants preferred stable blood glucose 6 d/wk (mean 4.63; 95% CI 4.15 to 5.12) and a 1% decrease in glycated hemoglobin (mean 5.74; 95% CI 5.22 to 6.25). If cost increased by $1, the probability that a treatment profile would be chosen decreased by 1%. ConclusionsThese results are consistent with the idea that people have strong preferences for immediate consequences of medication. Despite efforts to produce recommendations, ambiguity surrounding good practices remains and various judgments need to be made when conducting stated-preference studies. To ensure transparency, these judgments should be described and justified.

A survey of practices for the use of electronic health records to support research recruitment.

Electronic health records (EHRs) provide great promise for identifying cohorts and enhancing research recruitment. Such approaches are sorely needed, but there are few descriptions in the literature of prevailing practices to guide their use. A multidisciplinary workgroup was formed to examine current practices in the use of EHRs in recruitment and to propose future directions. The group surveyed consortium members regarding current practices. Over 98% of the Clinical and Translational Science Award Consortium responded to the survey. Brokered and self-service data warehouse access are in early or full operation at 94% and 92% of institutions, respectively, whereas, EHR alerts to providers and to research teams are at 45% and 48%, respectively, and use of patient portals for research is at 20%. However, these percentages increase significantly to 88% and above if planning and exploratory work were considered cumulatively. For most approaches, implementation reflected perceived demand. Regulatory and workflow processes were similarly varied, and many respondents described substantive restrictions arising from logistical constraints and limitations on collaboration and data sharing. Survey results reflect wide variation in implementation and approach, and point to strong need for comparative research and development of best practices to protect patients and facilitate interinstitutional collaboration and multisite research.

WHAT IS GOOD SCIENCE AND HOW FAR CAN IT GO?

I have seized this opportunity to share with our readers a topic, seldom discussed among human movement professionals, which is nevertheless fundamental for our scientific endeavors: philosophy of science.In this editorial I present a few introductory topics, namely, the nature of science, what are its limits, and if and how they should be managed. An attempt is also made to prepare a well-supported list of good scientific research practices. As a researcher who has done most of his work in health and human performance, my focus is on the natural sciences and, more specifically, on human movement science.

Power and politics in research design and practice: Opening up space for social equity in interdisciplinary, multi-jurisdictional and community-based research

Working collaboratively with communities is commonly considered a cornerstone of good practice in research involving social-ecological concerns. Increasingly, funding agencies also recognise that such collaborations are most productive when community partners have some influence on the design and implementation of the projects that benefit from their participation. However, researchers engaged with this work often struggle to actively engage community members in this way and, in particular, Indigenous peoples. In this article, we argue that useful strategies for facilitating such engagement are to leave space in the research plan for questions of interest to community partners and to encourage equitable interactions between all participants through the use of forums in which power dynamics are intentionally flattened. We demonstrate the use of this technique in an interdisciplinary, multi-jurisdictional research study involving the fate and transport of toxic compounds that lead to fish consumption advisories throughout the world. In this project, the use of participatory forums resulted in community partners in Michigan’s Keweenaw Bay area of Lake Superior shaping a key aspect of the research by raising the simple but significant question: ‘When can we eat the fish?’. Their interest in this question also helped to ensure that they would remain meaningful partners throughout the duration of the project. The conclusion emphasises that further integration of Indigenous and community-based research methods has the potential to significantly enhance the process and value of university-community research engagement in the future.

Connecting the Persistent Identifier Ecosystem: Building the Technical and Human Infrastructure for Open Research

The persistent identifier (PID) landscape extends to cover objects, individuals and organisations engaged in the process of research. Established services such as DataCite, Crossref, ORCID and ISNI are providing a foundation for a trusted ecosystem and a new generation of services. Scalable identifier systems will support researchers and capture research activity in a holistic way, across the entire lifecycle. Challenges remain – siloed services are not interoperable; important types of objects are not adequately covered, many processes remain manual, and adoption, while strong, is not consistent across disciplines. This article draws on the work of the EU-funded THOR project to take stock of the current state of interoperability across the PID landscape and to discuss the next steps towards an integrated research record. Examples illustrate how this interconnectivity is facilitated technically, as well as social and human challenges in fostering adoption. User stories highlight how this network of persistent identifier services is facilitating good practice in open research and where its limitations lie.

Attitudes Toward the Ethics of Research Using Social Media: A Systematic Review.

BackgroundAlthough primarily used for social networking and often used for social support and dissemination, data on social media platforms are increasingly being used to facilitate research. However, the ethical challenges in conducting social media research remain of great concern. Although much debated in the literature, it is the views of the public that are most pertinent to inform future practice.ObjectiveThe aim of our study was to ascertain attitudes on the ethical considerations of using social media as a data source for research as expressed by social media users and researchers.MethodsA systematic review was conducted, wherein 16 databases and 2 Internet search engines were searched in addition to handsearching, reference checking, citation searching, and contacting authors and experts. Studies that conducted any qualitative methods to collect data on attitudes on the ethical implications of research using social media were included. Quality assessment was conducted using the quality of reporting tool (QuaRT) and findings analyzed using inductive thematic synthesis.ResultsIn total, 17 studies met the inclusion criteria. Attitudes varied from overly positive with people expressing the views about the essential nature of such research for the public good, to very concerned with views that social media research should not happen. Underlying reasons for this variation related to issues such as the purpose and quality of the research, the researcher affiliation, and the potential harms. The methods used to conduct the research were also important. Many respondents were positive about social media research while adding caveats such as the need for informed consent or use restricted to public platforms only.ConclusionsMany conflicting issues contribute to the complexity of good ethical practice in social media research. However, this should not deter researchers from conducting social media research. Each Internet research project requires an individual assessment of its own ethical issues. Guidelines on ethical conduct should be based on current evidence and standardized to avoid discrepancies between, and duplication across, different institutions, taking into consideration different jurisdictions.

Empirical Research: Getting Started with Stata

AbstractThis article provides a guide to approaching empirical research work for the first time, as well as obtaining a foundation in the use of the statistical software package, Stata. The emphasis revolves around data cleaning and its importance in writing a good research essay. I also cover a basic introduction to Stata, the importance of do‐files, common data problems and good coding practice. In closing, I advise that not everything in research needs to go to plan, but that good research practice makes it easier to adapt when plans do not work out.

Five years in Sports Sciences

Five years in Sports Sciences

Cost-Effectiveness of Stereotactic Radiosurgery and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy: a Critical Review.

This review aims to summarize and appraise published cost-effectiveness studies on stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). We performed a Medline search of cost-effectiveness studies of SRS, SBRT, and other cancer treatment modalities such as surgery and systemic therapy from 2006 to 2016. We included studies that used both modeling and retrospective review techniques. We excluded studies of benign disease. We defined a strategy whose incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) is ≤$50,000/quality-adjusted life year (QALY) as "clearly cost-effective," a strategy whose ICER is ≤$100,000/QALY as "probably cost-effective," and a strategy ≤$200,000/QALY as "possibly cost-effective." We appraised modeling studies by determining whether or not they conform to the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research Good Research Practices (ISPOR) in modeling task force good research practices in model transparency and validation. We identified 24 studies that met inclusion criteria. Treatment sites included brain, bone, liver, lung, pancreas, and prostate. SRS and SBRT were clearly cost-effective strategies in 17 studies, probably cost-effective in 3 studies, and possibly cost-effective in 2 studies. Of the 16 modeling studies,15 conformed to transparency best practices; however, only 6 studies performed rigorous validation as described by the ISPOR guidelines. SRS and SBRT are likely to be cost-effective management strategies across a large variety of treatment sites and techniques. However, rigorous model validation techniques are lacking in these modeling studies.

Nutrition Support Protocols: Enhancing Delivery of Enteral Nutrition.

In critical care, malnutrition has a significant, negative impact on a patient's ability to respond to medical treatment. Enteral nutrition is known to counteract the metabolic changes associated with critical illness that increase the risk for serious complications and poor clinical outcomes. Inadequate delivery of nutrition support and underfeeding persist in intensive care units despite the availability of guidelines and current research for best practice. Recent studies have shown that nutrition support protocols are effective in promoting nutritional goals in a wide variety of intensive care patients. It is essential to find approaches that enhance early delivery of enteral nutrition that meets requirements and supports improved outcomes. Nurses are in a unique position to take an active role in promoting the best nutritional outcomes for their patients by using and evaluating nutrition support protocols.

Good practices of publishing AYUSH research: A practical checklist for authors

Since its inception, Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (J-AIM) has been constantly striving to create an environment that inculcates and strengthens “Good Publication Practices (GPP)” amongst students, practitioners and researchers in AYUSH community. The J-AIM has been doing this in the form of conducting workshops on scientific writing and research methods on different platforms. This article is based on our experiences and varied discussions that we have had with students, teachers, practitioners and researchers during these interactive sessions, and is intended at addressing the gap that prevails in the domain. The need for such awareness is felt even more strongly ever since the Beall's list of predatory journals has been unpublished. This article tries to fill the void this disappearance has created. We analyze the current scenario of AYUSH publications, enumerate the common perceptions and concerns among the workers in the field, and consider the periodicals where the doctoral and postgraduate level of Ayurveda research works are being published at present. The article also presents a practical checklist that will be helpful for students and teachers to refer authentic resources and submit their work to an appropriate scholarly journal.

Reflecting on the learning opportunities of presenting at a conference.

Background Research productivity is a major indicator of higher educational institutions' (HEI) academic performance. The increasing focus on research productivity is resulting in an expectation that academics publish their research initiatives, ideas and developments in their scope of work or area of interest. It can influence academic status and compel nursing academics to undertake higher degrees, including PhDs or other doctoral studies. Aim To articulate a nurse academic's reflection on presenting her doctoral thesis at an international conference and to encourage students to embrace the dissemination of research. Discussion In HEIs, academic work and research compete with each other. For the academic who is also a doctoral student, attending research conferences for knowledge and dissemination can be challenging and emotionally labouring. Conclusion It is important that doctoral students from the nursing professions engage in research dissemination at local and international level. This can improve their confidence, appreciation of research in terms of methodologies, findings, interventions and presenting styles. It can also help to develop confidence in articulating their own research epistemology and ontology while networking. Implications for practice Attendance at conferences contributes to the development of the doctoral student's confidence, knowledge, research capability, ability to identify good research practice and to engage in peer review.