Original Research - Special Collection: Primary Care Research Methods

African primary care research: Choosing a topic and developing a proposal

Bob Mash
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine | Vol 6, No 1 | a580 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v6i1.580 | © 2014 Bob Mash | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 12 August 2013 | Published: 06 February 2014

About the author(s)

Bob Mash, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Abstract

This is the first in a series of articles on primary care research in the African context. The aim of the series is to help build capacity for primary care research amongst the emerging departments of family medicine and primary care on the continent. Many of the departments are developing Masters of Medicine programmes in Family Medicine and their students will all be required to complete research studies as part of their degree. This series is being written with this audience in particular in mind – both the students who must conceptualise and implement a research project as well as their supervisors who must assist them.This article gives an overview of the African primary care context, followed by a typology of primary care research. The article then goes on to assist the reader with choosing a topic and defining their research question. Finally the article addresses the structure and contents of a  research proposal and the ethical issues that should be considered.


Keywords

Primary care research, research ethics, research proposal writing

Metrics

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Crossref Citations

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