FINER for Research Questions

What It Is

FINER is a mnemonic for assessing the usefulness of a research question:

F = Feasible

I = Interesting

N = Novel

E = Ethical

R = Relevant

Suppose you’re developing a research study to see if regular exercise can reduce the need for blood pressure medication (or reduce the required dosage) in patients with newly diagnosed stage 1 hypertension.  The whole point is so that people can live a longer, healthier life.  You’d like to know if these patients live longer – but obviously that will take many years to study.  And then that annoying biostatistician says you need to enroll 5,000 people.  So, not feasible.  Even examining rates of heart attacks or strokes in this patient population make take a lot of patients and years of follow-up.  So unless you’re part of some academic research consortium that can obtain multimillion dollar grants, you may need to focus on the effects of exercise on changes in blood pressure and/or use of blood pressure medications.

“Feasible” covers multiple aspects of conducting research – does it cost too much money? Do you have the expertise and time to carry it out?  Do you need the cooperation of other people or a certain department?  Do you have an easily accessible source of research participants?  Better check all of these things out before getting too far ahead of yourself.

Interesting relates to whether you care about the research topic.  Research takes a lot of hard work and will go better if the study’s premise and potential to positively affect others energizes you.

There’s no point in putting time and effort into a question that’s already been answered – it should be novel.  A thorough and up to date literature review is crucial.  DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.  Read original peer-reviewed studies, not just guidelines or meta-analyses.  If you discover that there are already plenty of good studies that address your research question, don’t despair.  There may be some related aspect or some nuance that still needs to be addressed and you can adjust your original question.

It should go without saying that there is no justification for doing research that isn’t ethical.  Not only do no harm (or minimize harm to the fullest extent possible), but do everything you can to make sure that the time and effort research participants put into the study goes towards producing good quality evidence.

When you finish your study and review the results, what’s next?  Do they lead to a change in practice, a better understanding of the course of disease or who may benefit from a particular treatment? Could they even influence health policy?  Research that is relevant is more rewarding.

Why It’s Important

See above.