Objectives

• Objectives should be closely related to the statement of the

problem.
• ‘General objectives: aim of the study in general terms
• Specific objectives: measurable statements on the specific
questions to be answered.
• An objective is derived from a goal, has the same intention as a
goal, but it is more specific, quantifiable and verifiable than the
goal.
• Unlike the general objectives, the specific objectives are more
specific and are related to the research problem situation.
They indicate the variable to be examined and measured.
• The explicit formulation of study objectives is an essential step
in the planning of a study. It is said that “a question well-stated
is a question half-answered”, but a question that is poorly
stated or unstated is unlikely to be answered at all.
 Uses of Objectives

• Focus the study (narrowing it down to essentials)

• Avoid collection of data that are not strictly necessary for
understanding and solving the identified problem
• Organize the study in clearly defined parts
 How objectives are stated

Make sure that the objectives:

• Cover the different aspects of the problem and its contributing
factors in a coherent way and in a logical sequence
• Are clearly expressed in measurable terms
• Are realistic considering local conditions
• Meet the purpose of the study
• Use action verbs that are specific enough to be measured
• Examples of action verbs are: - to determine, - to compare, - to
verify, - to calculate, - to describe, - to find out, - to establish
• Avoid the use of vague non-action verbs such as: - to appreciate, -
to understand, - to study, - to believe

• In other words, make sure the objectives are SMART: specific,

measurable, attainable/achievable/agreable, relevant and timely
 Writing SMART objectives

• Measurable is the most important consideration.

• You will know that you've achieved your objective, because
here is the evidence.
• Does your object of interest measure up to your standard of
acceptability.
– Answer the phone quickly
vs.
– Phone calls will be answered in three rings
• Summary: Is there something measurable to assess progress
towards the objective?
 Writing SMART objectives
Achievable

• Achievable is linked to measurable. Usually, there's no

point in starting a job you know you can't finish, or one
where you can't tell if/when you've finished it.

– How can I decide if it's achievable?

• - you know it's measurable
• - others have done it successfully (before you, or somewhere else)
• - it's theoretically possible (ie clearly not 'not achievable')
• - you have the necessary resources, or at least a realistic chance of
getting them
• - you've assessed the limitations.

• Summary: With a reasonable amount of effort and application can

the objective be achieved?
 Writing SMART objectives
Relevance

• This means two things; that the goal or target being set is
something they can actually impact upon or change and
secondly it is also important to the success of the project.

• Example: Telling teachers that they 'have to increase the school

tax levy before the next school year' is not actually something
they can do anything about - it's not relevant to them.
However, asking them to reduce their expenditure on
classroom materials by $20 over the next three months is
entirely relevant to them.

• As to whether it's relevant to what the school is trying to

achieve, the budget manager has to decide this by considering
the wider picture.
 Writing SMART objectives
Specific
• You will know your objective is specific enough if:
- an observable action is linked to a number, rate, percentage or
frequency
- everyone who's involved knows that it includes them
specifically
- everyone involved can understand it
- your objective is free from jargon
- you've defined all your terms
- you've used only appropriate language.
• Who is going to do? how much of what? by when?
 Writing SMART objectives
Specific
• By September 2007, all health educators in our district will
have participated in a district-wide mapping and alignment
workshop.
• By January, 2008 all health educators in our district will have
completed an update to our k-12 health curriculum scope and
sequence.

• Summary: Is there a description of a precise or specific

behavior/outcome which is linked to a rate, number,
percentage or frequency?
 Writing SMART objectives
Timely
• In the objective somewhere there has to be a date

• (Day/Month/Year) for when the task has to be started (if it's

ongoing) and/or completed (if it's short term or project
related).

• Simply: No date = No good

 Hypothesis – Definition and functions

• The word hypothesis consists of two words:

– ‘Hypo’ means tentative or subject to the verification and
– ‘Thesis’ means statement about solution of a problem.
• The world meaning of the term hypothesis is a tentative statement
about the solution of the problem.
• It is a statement temporarily accepted as true in the light of what
is known at the time about the phenomena. It is the basis for
planning and action- in the research for new truth.
• Functions: (a) To limit the field of the investigation
(b) To sensitize the researcher so that he should
work selectively, and have very realistic
approach to the problem
(c) To offer the simple means for collecting
evidence for the verification.
 Variable– Definition

• A variable is a characteristic of a person, object, or

phenomenon that can take on different values. Examples of
variables include:
– Age in years
– Weight in kilograms
– Height in centimeters
– Monthly income in shillings
– Marital status (single, married, divorced and widowed)
– Job satisfaction index (1 to 5)
– Occupation (civil servant, farmer, student, etc.)
– Disease condition (presence or absence of a disease)
• Variables can be expressed as numerical (metric data) or
categories (categorical data)
 Scales of measurement

• Nominal Scale: consists of two or more named categories (classes)

which are qualitatively different from each other e.g.
– Sex: male (1); Female (2)
– Marital status: 1. Married 2. Single 3. Divorced 4. Widowed
• Ordinal scale: has the additional quality that the categories are
ranked and have implied order. However, the intervals between
classes are not necessarily equal e.g.
– Severity of a disease: Severe (grade III); moderate (grade II); mild (grade I); absent
(grade 0).
– Edcational status: 0; 1-6; 7-8; 9 -12; more than 12
• Interval scale: has the additional quality that the intervals
between classes are equal e.g. Temperature (in Celsius) could be
measured in intervals of 5 i.e. 20-25, 25-30, 30-35
– The ratio between numbers in the scale is not, however, necessarily the same as
that between the amounts of the attribute
– zero on the scale does not indicate absence of the attribute.
 Scales of measurement

• Ratio scale: has the additional quality that zero indicates

absence of the attribute. As a result, the ratio between
numbers in the scale is the same as that between the amounts
of the attribute being measured e.g. Weight measured in
kilograms, height in cms
 Dependent/independent variable
• Dependent variable: if one variable depends upon or is a
consequence of the other variable. Examples– contraceptive
use—utilization study, malaria—a malaria survey etc.
• A dependent variable is the variable that is used to describe or
measure the problem under study
• Independent variable: influence the dependent variable---Age,
marital status, gender, location, religion, knowledge on
contraceptives, other available alternatives i
• Independent variables are the variables that are used to
describe or measure the factors that are assumed to influence
(or cause) the problem
• Dependent • Independent variable
– Exposure variable
– Outcome variable
– X-variable
– Response variable – Risk factor
– Y-variable – Treatment groups
 Examples – class discussion

GROUP (Research question) Dependent Independent

(outcome (exposure or risk
variable) factor)
1- To estimate the proportion of PEM in high PEM High socio-
socio-economic status children under 5 years economic status
2-What is the effect of SES on the increasing CS SES
rate of CS ?
3-TO what extend does re-inforced clinical Infections in Re-inforced clinical
hand-washing reduces infection transmission HCW handwashing
in HCW?
4-

5-

6-

7-
 Extraneous variable
• These are independent variables that are not
related to the purpose of the study but may
affect the dependent variable

• Using any of the examples from earlier, what

would be an extraneous variable…..
GROUP (Research question) Dependent Independent Extraneous
(outcome (exposure or variable
variable) risk factor)

1- To estimate the proportion of PEM in high PEM High socio- Co-infections

socio-economic status children under 5 economic
years status
2-What is the effect of SES on the increasing CS SES Obstretic
rate of CS ? conditions
+ HW attitude
+mothers
age+

3-TO what extend does re-inforced clinical Infections in Re-inforced Inf. Waste
hand-washing reduces infection HCW clinical mngt
transmission in HCW? handwashing +surveillance+
4-

5-

6-

7-
 Control
• Minimizing the effect of extraneous
independent variable on the dependent
variable

• How would you minimize the effect of your

extraneous variable in our examples?
 What is confounding
• Confounding---the term used to describe distortion of the
estimate of the effect of an exposure of interest because it is
mixed with the effect of an extraneous factor
• When the dependent variable is not free from the influence of
extraneous variables, the relationship between the dependent
and the independent variables is said to be confounded
(confused) by the extraneous variable
• Criteria that qualify a factor as a confounder
– Be a risk factor
– Be associated with the exposure under study in the
population from which the cases are derived
– Not be an intermediate step in the causal path between
exposure and disease
 Confounding
• From examples – which extraneous variables
are hard to control for …..
– Age
– Gender
– Social class

Exposure factor

DISEASE

Confounding factor
 Cigarette smoking as confounder for CHD
• Since it is known that coffee consumption is associated tobacco
use: people who drink coffee are more likley to smoke than
people who do not drink coffee
• It is also well known that cigarette smoking is a cause of CHD
• It is thus possible that the relationship between coffee drinking
and CHD merely reflects the known causal association of tobacco
use and heart disease
• Smoking confounds the apparent relationship between coffee
consumption and CHD because smoking is correlated with coffee
drinking and is a risk factor even for those who do not drink
coffee
 Confounding
• Confounding may be the explanation for the
relationship between coffee drinking and the
risk of coronary heart disease

Exposure factor-
coffee drinking
DISEASE
—heart
disease

Confounding factor
tobacco use
 Control of confounding
• Either through study design (randomization, restriction,
matching) or during the analysis of results
(stratification, statistical modeling)
• At study design:
– Randomization—ensures potential confounding variables are
equally distributed among the groups being compared,
Sample should be sufficiently large to avoid random
maldistribution of confounding variables
– Restriction– is to limit the study to people who have a
particular characteristics. E.g. in a study on the effects of
coffee on CHD, participation could be restricted to
nonsmokers, thus removing any potential effect of
confounding by cigarette smoking
 Control of confounding
– Matching—select study participants so as to ensure that
potential confounding variables are evenly distributed in the
two groups being compared. e.g. in a case-control study of
exercise and CHD, each patient with heart disease is matched
with a control of the same age group and sex to ensure that
confounding by age and sex does not occur, avoid over-
matching
– Stratification-involves measurement of the strength of
associations in well defined and homogeneous categories
(strata) of the confounding variable, simple and relatively
easy to carry out but limited by the size of the study
– Statistical modeling—use of a range of statistical techniques
to estimate the strength of the associations while controlling
for several confounding variables simultaneously
 Formulation of objectives: Assignment 2 (Group 1)
• In a certain district (population, 150,000), sanitary conditions are
very poor (only 5% of households have latrines) and diseases
connected with poor sanitation, such as, gastroenteritis and
worms are very common. The Ministry of Health has initiated a
sanitation project that aims at increasing the number of
households with latrines by 20% each year. The project provides
materials and the population should provide labor. Two years
later, less than half of the target has been reached.
• Formulate a general and two specific objectives
• Formulate two research questions for the above problem

• Due date: 26/04/17

 Formulation of objectives: Assignment 2 (Group 2)
• Factors contributing to low utilization of planning methods in Kilifi
County
• Formulate a general and two specific objectives
• Formulate two research questions for the above problem

• Due date: 26/04/17