How to do research

  1. Research is just a word for trying to figure something out 
    1. There are no formulas or recipes for good research
    2. There are many recipes for disaster (e.g., being carelessness)
  2. Generating a topic
    1. Do background reading (e.g., Rosen, 1993) 
    2. Find out what motivates you. What do you want to learn about? We talked about this last week, and it seems that some of you were motivated to learn about an affliction you or someone you know suffers from. Others are motivated by a particular type of topic (e.g., nutrition, contagion). Remember that the course concerns scholarly historical research, with a focus on the period 1500 - 1950 (with most of the activity occurring in the 19th and 20th centuries)
    3. Connect your motivation to something that is scholarly, and "do-able." You may need help in this regard, so remember that I am here to guide you.
      1. Here is an example: One student wanted to study an adverse drug reaction involving a family member. An adverse drug reaction is a type of medical accident. The FDA is the public health agency responsible for detecting and preventing adverse drug reactions. Adverse drug reactions are a type of "medical accident."  But how does this relate to public health history? How do you connect this idea to the curriculum in the course? To get you on course, I might direct you to the historical work of Joseph Lister (1827-1912). This is because, in  the nineteenth century (1800s), post-operative infections accounted for many death (see web.ukonline.co.uk/b.gardner/Lister.html ). Sepsis (bacteria in the blood) was a major cause of death following medical procedures. Although this is not a an exact connection, it is a relevant one: it shows how the advancement of scientific public health is beneficial to everyone. 
      2. The Lister connection is not the only one we might have made with the students' motivation. We might have also considered the historical development of vaccination (Edward Jenner). And then this entire thing ties into the notion of acquired immunity (remember last week's lecture). 
      3. Finally, we might have tied the idea into the notion of public health agencies. This week's reading (Rosen, 1993, Chapter VI) discusses the medical police, for instance. If you are interested in regulation and policy, your research might lead you to how the FDA was created, for instance.
    4. Here's another example
      1. In reading Rosen (1993, pp. 53 - 105), I was drawn to early developments concerning the collection of health statistics (page references unavailable, as I have lent my book to Jessica). Several names were mentioned, including John Graunt (1620-1674) and William Petty (1623-1687). 
      2. I already know quite a bit about Graunt, but want to learn more. What a great opportunity for me to do library research on Graunt [discuss methods of research?]. 
      3. I know very little about William Petty, so I did a Google  search on Perry. I was surprised to find large amounts of high quality information on this man. Petty was a physician who was dubbed a merchantalist. Here's a portrait of the doctor  Photo of W.Petty from McMaster  (Source:  http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/petty.htm). Petty is mentioned most often may as an inventor of econometrics (the first "econometrician".) It seems to me that if you studied Petty, you'd have to be willing to see where it leads in terms of economics, politics, and public health (a difficult and controversial topic, but one that might be rewarding if you were interested in these topics).
    5. It takes diligence, persistence, and cleverness to move your topic forward --  don't give up, keep moving forward!