Research question pages
Research question
A clear and precise research question is the most important aspect and starting point of any malaria clinical trial.
Define a question
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The research question is the most important step in the whole pathway, since it will drive your clinical trial.
- Your question should address gaps in what is known, so it is important to understand what has been done already; an indepth review of previous and ongoing work is key. Check trial registers as well as published literature through PubMed and other databases, and the WWARN Literature Reviews. See also the huge amount of information on the WWARN Explorer map and the Molecular Surveyors for artemisinin, ACT partner drugs, sulphadoxine pyrimethamine, and chloroquine resistance (P Vivax). These allow you to visualise results of data from antimalarial resistance studies in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania stored in the secure WWARN Data Centre, thereby understanding gaps in knowledge.
- For example, if the overall efficacy of a drug in whole populations of people is known, you might then consider addressing its efficacy in particular in young children or some other specific group.
- Your question should generally include specific information on participants, intervention(s), comparator(s), and outcomes (PICO format).
- As you make choices on these, focus on the target groups - people or organisations who might use your evidence. Is the information most useful to a local, regional, national or international audience?