title: Ten steps to conducting health professional education research.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The approaches used to educate future clinicians must be continually improved through evidence-based methods. Clinicians interested in conducting education research need to understand the terminology and conventions of health professional education, in the same way that health professional educators from education backgrounds need to be aware of clinical practices and scientific mores and jargon. This article provides clinicians with 10 steps to conducting health professional education research, and encourages collaboration between clinicians interested in education and health professional educators.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The basic steps in conducting education research are introduced, beginning with literature searches, using appropriate terminology and writing conventions, and finding research collaborators. We encourage researchers to ask themselves, 'So what?' about their research idea to ensure it is interesting and relevant to a journal's readers. The nuts and bolts of educational research are then presented, including research questions and methodologies, outcome measures, theoretical frameworks and epistemologies. The final two steps aim to foster internationally relevant and well-designed research studies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Conducting and publishing education research is often difficult for clinicians, who struggle with what is required. Yet clinicians who teach are ideally placed to identify the knowledge gaps about how we can more effectively educate future clinicians. These 10 steps provide clinicians with guidance on how to conduct education research so relevant research findings can inform the education of future clinicians. Conducting and publishing education research is often difficult for clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Sydney, Australia.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, The University of Sydney, and Centre for Kidney Research, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Australia.
authors.forename: Patrina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caldwell
authors.affiliation: Health Professional Education, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.
authors.forename: Lambert
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schuwirth
mesh_terms: D004517:Education, Professional / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006281:Health Occupations / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D019359:Knowledge; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012107:Research Design