title: Designing medical informatics research and library--resource projects to increase what is learned.
abstract: Careful study of medical informatics research and library-resource projects is necessary to increase the productivity of the research and development enterprise. Medical informatics research projects can present unique problems with respect to evaluation. It is not always possible to adapt directly the evaluation methods that are commonly employed in the natural and social sciences. Problems in evaluating medical informatics projects may be overcome by formulating system development work in terms of a testable hypothesis; subdividing complex projects into modules, each of which can be developed, tested and evaluated rigorously; and utilizing qualitative studies in situations where more definitive quantitative studies are impractical.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Stead
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Haynes
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fuller
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: L E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Travis
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Fenichel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chandrasekaran
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Buchanan
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Abola
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D007990:Libraries; D008490:Medical Informatics; D012106:Research; D012107:Research Design; D012109:Research Support as Topic