Conceptualization of a research study: an exemplar

Conceptualization of a research study is the most critical phase, which includes several meticulous steps. The first step in the process is to identify the common research problems that prevail in a particular context, either through clinical observations or through literature review; each of these sources may be used to validate the problem identified through the other. The next step involves an in depth literature search to identify the work previously done in the field, determining the gap in the existing body of literature and establishing the need for the proposed study. The final step of the conceptualization phase is concerned with establishing the significance of the proposed study. This paper reports the conceptualization of a research study conducted in Karachi, to identify the gender differences among Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients, in terms of their prehospital delay times and in the associated factors of delay.