The name is absent

26 Interventions for HCHHHU: technical report

Section B: Contextual information - Study aims and rationale

B.1 What are the broad aims of the study?

Please write in authors’ description if there is one.
Elaborate if necessary, but indicate which aspects are
reviewers’ interpretation. Other, more specific questions
about the research questions and hypotheses are asked
later.

B.2 What is the purpose of the study?

A: Description

Please use this keyword for studies in which the aim is to
produce a description of a state of affairs or a particular
phenomenon, and/or to document its characteristics. In
these types of studies there is no attempt to evaluate
a particular intervention programme (according to
either the processes involved in its implementation or
its effects on outcomes), or to examine the associations
between one or more variables. These types of studies
are usually, but not always, conducted at one point in
time (i.e. cross-sectional). They can include studies
such as an interviews of head teachers to count how
many have explicit policies on continuing professional
development for teachers; a study documenting student
attitudes to national examinations using focus groups; a
survey of the felt needs of parents using self-completion
questionnaires, about whether they want a school bus
service.

B: Exploration of relationships

Please use this keyword for a study type which examines
relationships and/or statistical associations between
variables in order to build theories and develop
hypotheses. These studies may describe a process or
processes (what goes on) in order to explore how a
particular state of affairs might be produced, maintained
and changed.

These relationships may be discovered using qualitative
techniques, and/or statistical analyses. For instance,
observations of children at play may elucidate the
process of gender stereotyping, and suggest the kinds of
interventions which may be appropriate to reduce any
negative effects in the classroom. Complex statistical
analysis may be helpful in modelling the relationships
between parents’ social class and language in the home.
These may lead to the development of theories about
the mechanisms of language acquisition, and possible
policies to intervene in a causal pathway.

These studies often consider variables such as social class
and gender which are not interventions, although these
studies may aid understanding, and may suggest possible
interventions, as well as ways in which a programme
design and implementation could be improved. These
studies do not directly evaluate the effects of policies
and practices.

C: What works

A study will only fall within this category if it evaluates
the effectiveness of an intervention or a programme.

D: Methods development

Studies where the principal focus is on methodology.

E: Reviewing/Synthesising research

<<   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   >>

More intriguing information