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LBORC Workshops 1&2
Developing Osteopathic
Research Proposals
Leading to Grants
LBORC workshops in research, AAO 3/2015
Presented by Charles J Smutny III, DO, FAAO
charles.smutny.3@gmail.com
 Successful Osteopathic Researchers
 Subset goals: growing the research culture
 Understanding more than one way to do research
 Increasing literacy in doing, reading and
supervising research
 Obtaining meaningful results by asking better
questions
 Developing a team to secure improved results
1. Background of the study

Why this question, what has been done, generate
interest, give context (Sell the idea) assume reviewers
know nothing (they might not)
2. Statement of the problem or thesis statement

Must be a testable Hypothesis
3. Objectives of the study,
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specific anticipated outcomes, what you hope to
accomplish
4. Significance of the study (why should they give you money?)
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what is the potential value of the answer, how does it
matter, does it effect patient health, patient care,
physician education, diagnostic precision, clinical
efficiency, cost of care, etc.
5. Limitations of the study
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How can this be challenged, what does it leave out
that could effect its outcome, how weak might it be
as a predictor, explain in advance what cant be said
6. Definition of terms

Glossary terms, avoid new language, think key
search terms that cross disciplines
7. Literature review

Thorough, specific, relevant citations, recent and
past if needed (sometimes old has relevance, sometimes old may hurt)
8. Methodology

How will this be done, what measures, what
protocols, what trainings, what statistics, data types
 *Mentor*
 Following the requirements of the funding
organization in detail
 Draft, draft again
 Multiple pre-reviewers, sciences, grammar,
spelling, context, metrics, statistics, budget,
facilities, permissions
 Institutional Review Board (IRB) a resource not a
foe
 Funding responsibilities
 Well done protocols simplify this process
 D.O. Due Diligence First
 Follow specific application requirements to
the letter. Don’t Know? = Ask!
 Receiving a decision  or ⏎
 What to do next? ASK AGAIN!
 If the idea had meaning it is worth fighting to
meet the standards required to obtain the
funding
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Financial oversite
Protocol oversite
Training oversite
Statistician
Data collection oversite
Official help at every corner
Make your job easier facilitating your own
success
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Mentors are irreplaceable at this point
Making clear data based connections not
speculations, correlations vs. associations
Speaking to failures
Quantification of success through statistics
When does this lead to additional research?
Bigger studies? Repetition of this study for
validation? Etc.