Enhance the visibility and value of your research for health with reporting guidelines 2023

Enhance the visibility and value of your research for health with reporting guidelines

Introduction

This course is the result of a collaboration between the EQUATOR Network[1] and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization (WHO). It aims to increase the value of research and reduce research waste by enabling people who are planning to conduct, report, edit, publish, or appraise research for health to comply with current research reporting standards. The course aims to help participants to deliver impactful high-quality research in line with the recommendations in PAHO’s Policy on Research for Health[2] and the WHO’s Strategy on Research for Health[3].

This is an introductory course. It does not replace formal training in research methods, such as graduate degrees in epidemiology. It provides an overview of good reporting practice at all stages of the research pathway. The ideal time to take this course is as an introductory activity before beginning and finalizing your research proposal or while planning a health research manuscript.

Purpose

This course aims to train participants to use research reporting guidelines at many stages of the research process, from planning their research proposal to sharing their research findings. Using reporting guidelines will make their research processes transparent, well-reported, and relevant for national and international health agendas.

Learning objectives

At the end of this course participants will be able to:

  1. Understand the importance of good research reporting and the relevance and benefits of using reporting guidelines for research teams, research users, communicators, and research funders.

  1. Identify relevant reporting guidelines in the EQUATOR Network website for different research designs (e.g., randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, observational studies, diagnostic studies, qualitative research, economic evaluations, public health studies, etc.) and topics (e.g., developing protocols, reporting harms, and addressing equity).

  2. Efficiently use reporting guidelines to plan research and write protocols and research articles.

  3. Understand the structure and key steps in writing a well-reported report about health research.

  4. Identify relevant resources to find national and international research agendas and health priorities that can provide a framework to put their work in context and highlight its relevance to existing policies and agreements.

  5. Use the principles for knowledge translation and evidence-informed decision-making to structure the rationale of a research project.

Intended audience

Participants will be people who are conducting or planning to conduct, report, edit, publish, or appraise research for health and who are interested in improving the quality of research for health projects and increasing the usability of reports for decision-making. For example: medical students, graduate and undergraduate students, PAHO-OAS Scholars, PAHO staff, other professionals at international organizations and research institutions, researchers, research managers, editors, and peer reviewers. Participants must be able to understand English.

Course modality

This is a self-learning, self-paced course delivered entirely online through the Virtual Campus of Public Health (VCPH) Moodle learning platform. The course only involves independent study with a practical focus. Students will be exposed to different case studies and will be evaluated through multiple choice tests.

Methodology

This course has a self-management methodology, allowing participants to move through it at their own pace. It consists of text pages, case studies, and automated quizzes to apply the acquired learning. Case studies are self-reflection

Duration

Approximately 10 hours. The course is open and available in the VCPH. As it is a self-learning course, participants can choose when to spend time on the course.

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