CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES
Study Design and Population
This study is a mix of quantitative and qualitative data is likely to be use during
the assessment process. In accordance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012, only allowed
information on COVID-19 cases will be retrieved from Department of Health repository.
The researcher will statistically review literatures with meta-analysis. The systematic
review and meta-analysis is in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for
Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement published between
January 1, 2020 until May 30, 2020 in reputable journals and research websites. The
researcher will review the references of included articles and literature to guarantee the
comprehensiveness and accuracy of the research.
In the risk assessment, 20 technical experts (TEs) will be involved. The TEs
scored risk elements based on their respective areas of expertise, where each TE
scored between one and four risk elements.
Data Duration
The study will cover a two (2) to four (4) months period of data collection from
June to September 2020.
Study Setting
The research will take place in Philippine General Hospital (PGH) that caters
health care service to cities which are under the Modified Enhance Community
Quarantine (MECQ). Technical experts related to Covid-19 are accessible in PGH.
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Study Measures
The researcher will develop a risk questionnaire for the Covid-19 cases that will
be assessed. Then assess if there is evidence of population immunity to the virus.
Likewise, they invite technical experts to conduct the assessment, allocate scoring of
risk elements according to their expertise, and confirm the schedule of the risk
assessment. After this, the researcher prepares the virus profile document. Moreover,
technical experts fill in risk assessment, scoring sheets to provide a risk point estimate
score, range estimates, confidence scores, and justification per risk element. The
researcher collects risk assessment scoring sheets from technical experts to summarize
risk point estimates, range estimates, confidence scores, and justifications. To confirm
the initial results, the researcher discusses point estimates, justifications, and
confidence scores for each risk element with the technical experts. Then, the researcher
calculates overall virus risk scores. Also, interpret outputs and determine the overall
level of confidence in risk characterized, prepare a risk assessment report and share
findings with stakeholders, and decide if and when a repeat risk assessment is needed.
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
The inclusion criteria for the articles and literature are as follows:
1. groups involving critical illness or death and non-critical illness;
2. patients should be confirmed to have been infected by 2019 novel;
3. study designs included randomized controlled trials, nonrandomized controlled
trials, case‐control studies, cohort studies, cross‐sectional studies, and also use
reports;
4. at least one outcome reported among demographical characteristics,
comorbidities, clinical manifestations or laboratory examinations; and
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5. the study sample was large than 20.
The inclusion criteria for the selection of Technical experts will include (a)
professors, researchers, alumni and students from across the entire UP System, (b)
Their specializations include epidemiology, emergency medicine, public health,
veterinary medicine, computer science, data science, disaster science, mathematics,
statistics, economics, geography, public administration and governance, social work
and community development, and political science. Exclusion criteria include (a) health
workers infected by Covid-19 and (b) less than one year in the service.
Data Collection
For the literature review, the researcher will collect 13 to 15 literatures that suits
the inclusion criteria indicated. It will be review and meta-analysis will be conducted.
For the risk assessment, the researcher will collect the data from the twenty (20)
Technical Experts. The assign research assistant will collect the data supervised by the
primary investigator. The researcher will record the TE’s feedback in MS Excel.
Data Analysis
After collecting data for this study, the researcher will conduct various analyses.
For the first three objectives, the researcher will use the literature review with meta-
analysis. The researcher will also determine TEs’ opinion through an interview guide.
For the risk assessment, the researcher will assess the likelihood and
consequences of further spread. The researcher will use the level of overall risk and the
level of confidence in the risk assessment of WHO. Table 1 shows the level of overall
risk, Table 2 shows the estimates of likelihood definitions, and Table 3 shows the
estimates of consequences definitions.
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Table 1. Level of over-all risk
Table 2. The estimates of likelihood definitions
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Table 3. The estimates of consequences definitions
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Data storage Plan
The researcher will encode the confidential data into an electronic data
application. Information will be kept private to the extent allowed by law. There will be
no compensation for TE’s who will participate in this study. The researcher will remove
TE’s information from the data, and unique case numbers will be assigned to data so
that no actual TE’s name will be on the study records. The data will be stored on a
computer with password and firewall protection. Only the researcher will have access to
the encoded data. The confidentiality of respondents’ will be maintained.
Privacy and Confidentiality
The data collected during this study will be kept confidential at all times. There
will be no release information about the participants to the public. The researcher will
only present the final, analyzed data. All other patient data will not be used or copied.
Each participant will receive a form number which will serve as the primary identifier.
The researcher will store the hard copies of documents in a secured container with a
padlock; the electronic documents will be saved in a password-protected folder, which
will be changed yearly by the primary investigator. All data and documents about this
study will only be made accessible to the researcher and TEs’. The researcher will
handle all data gathered in compliance with the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
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