Starting own research..

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MexicanDr

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So how do you go about starting your own research study? I am not interested in basic science research; the Study I would like to focus on deals with clinical research more or less. The purpose of this study would be to obviously show a connection of my ideas and create some sort of preventive health education program for the issue at hand. My university doesn't really have anyone whom I think would be guiding me or working with me on these, so where can I look for assistance?

Thanks,

Eddie
 
Have you done any research before? Do you have a good research methods course under your belt? (Or at least some sort of research training?) You really need to have some experience as a researcher before setting out on your own. What skills do you have already? What do you want to study, exactly?

Edit: Looking at your research "proposal" in the OP, it sounds like you need to develop your interests a bit. It's extremely nebulous. The questions I gave are general ones you'd want to consider before embarking on a project of your own, but I'm not convinced you have any research background from which to start your own project. The poster below gave some decent ideas as far as talking to other faculty. You should realize, however, that it is unlikely you would be able to simply begin with applied research. Most people start with basic research and then grow into applied research (of which clinical research is one type). Some questions I have on looking over your post:

What is the issue at hand?
What kind of preventative health ed program are we talking about?
Have you done a literature review of health education programs so far? (There are a lot out there and most aren't being implemented as is. As I recall, the primary issue at hand in health ed research has nothing to do w/ developing new programs, but I'll let you discover what it does have to do with for yourself....)
What ideas are you trying to connect through your research?
Basic research is critical to applied (clinical) research; how do you intend to become proficient at applied research w/o having ever done basic research?
Have you looked outside the bio dept for research opportunities? (Your research interests don't sound like any pure science to me at all. It actually sounds like your research interests are more likely to find a compatible faculty member in the psychology dept w/ a health psychologist -- and health psych happens to be a very hot field right now w/ some great NIH funding....)
 
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Talk with faculty members at your school which normally get the research ball rolling for undergrads. There has to be SOME. I talked with our microbiologist and ended up starting a research project involving Cystic Fibrosis.
 
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