Project-Financed FHN Research 2 -

## _Frequency of Categories_

# Research Categories

Research proposed in the 109 SARs reviewed for this note was categorized in one of six categories or else noted as uncategorized. Research was taken to mean special studies of some sort, either as part of project impleir :tation or for a broader purpose.

_MEDICAL._ Includes biological research, clinical studies, medical trials, etc.

_DEMOGRAPHICGTPIDEMIOLOGICAL._ Covers surveys, censusts, studies done with large groups to determine the effect of a program, etc. Includes epidemiology.

**_HUMAN_** _RESOURCES._ Res earch carried out to determine numbers of personnel needed or to assess the skills of individuals providing care or other services. Includes assessments of additional training needed or how existing skills might be improved.

_MANAGERLi._ Studies assessing administrative issues, including operational research and means to increase program efficiency. Includes stand-alon **e** valuations of projects or programs. However, it was assumed that every project would have a management information system, so MIS intended primarily as a management tool during project implementation was not included.

_FINANCIAL._ Research on program costs or means of financing health care or nutrition interventions. Includes studies on cost-recovery and health insurance.

_INFORMATlON, EDUCAI7ON,_ **_AND_** _COMMUNICATION (IEC)._ Research on information needed for IEC programs, but not preparation of the materials themselves.

Bank-wide, the most common research component was a managerial study or operational research. Seventy-two percent of all projects reviewed included one or another kind of managerial research. The next most common categories of research were demographic/epidemiological included in 48 percent of all projects and financial studies included in 47 percent of all projects reviewed. Research turning on human resources issues, including training of personnel, was included in 30 percent of the projects. Studies needed to prepare IEC materials were included in 16 percent of the projects reviewed. (Preparation of the IEC materials themselves was not counted as research.) In some 13 percent of the projects there was a medical research component.

## _Regional Differences_

While there are regional differences in the frequency in which categories are included in projects, they are not striking and p:obably are not significant. In every region except MENA, managerial studies were the most frequent category encountered. Demographic/epidemiological or financial research were the second and third most common. It is interesting to note that financial studies in the Africa region frequently revolved around cost recovery, a topic which was of great concern to health admniistrators and governments during the decade of the 1980s. On the other hand, studies of medical insurance were concentrated in Asia. Research for EEC materials and programs ranged from 7 percent in MENA to 40 percent in South Asia. The reason for the variation is not clear, and it may be insignificant; it proved difficul **t** o separate out the research needed to prepare **IEC** materials from the work of preparing the materials themselves. While no project in MENA included medical research, more than one in five LAC projects did so.