Handbook for family planning operations research design.

This handbook is designed as an aid in developing and writing a detailed family planning operations research proposal; it can also be used for preparing proposals in other health and social welfare areas. Operations research is concerned with the day to day functioning of a program and should be thought of as a continuous process of program evaluation. Its 2 basic objectives are to diagnose current problem situations and to test new approaches to service delivery that are more cost effective than existing approaches. Usually operational health and family planning research studies can be categorized under 1 or more headings: 1) field experimental studies 2) cost-effectiveness studies 3) qualitative studies 4) quantitative studies. For purposes of illustration a list of topics that often are the focus of operations research studies is provided. The table of contents is also the suggested outline for preparing a research proposal. Broad topics discussed in detail include: 1) problem identification and definition; 2) justification for selecting the research problem; 3) objectives and hypotheses; 4) operational definitions; 5) study design; 6) sampling; 7) data collection; 8) tabulation and analysis of data; 9) reporting research findings; 10) limitations of the study; and 11) resources and facilities.