WhiteBook2_Part2 - 6

Methods
METHODS
To achieve the three objectives of this report, the following methods were used.
Research priorities and preferences of UEG national society members
In consultation with the UEG Research Taskforce, we designed an online survey to identify
the research priorities and preferences of UEG national gastroenterology society members.
The survey was designed to collect information on these priorities using a taxonomy of
research topics, enabling analyses that identified the most popular research areas, and
dissemination of the responses mapped to each national society to stimulate collaborative
research efforts. Additionally, the survey collected information on research preferences by
asking societies to rank research areas using criteria of importance to the UEG Research
Taskforce. The study was granted research ethics approval by the University of Liverpool
Health and Life Sciences Research Ethics Committee in April 2021.
The online survey consisted of four questions. Firstly, national societies were asked to submit
up to five research priorities in the field of digestive health. To enable quantitative analysis of
the most popular research areas without limiting restrictions on responses, societies were
asked to categorise each research priority in addition to describing the priority in a free-text
field. For each research priority, societies selected from separate drop-down lists, the
research domain, the major topic which best described the research and the disease
category, if applicable. The research domain categories were based on a previously published
framework for systematically categorising health research to inform prioritisation decisions.6
The major topic categories were based on subheadings within the Medical Subject Headings
(MeSH) thesaurus associated with digestive disease research (see below). The disease
categories were organised by ICD-10 codes, including disorders of the gastrointestinal tract,
liver, pancreas, and biliary tract. National societies were finally asked to provide a concise
description of each research priority in their own words (max. 60 characters).
For the remaining three questions, societies were asked to rank 10 research areas previously
identified as research priorities by UEG's specialist society members.4 Societies were asked to
rank each of the research areas across the following three domains: (1) relevancy to national
health policy or national goals; (2) feasibility to conduct; and (3) potential to strengthen
collaboration between partners from different organisations, disciplines or sectors. These
criteria were chosen in consultation with the UEG Research Taskforce and were deemed
suitably informative and useful for differentiating between the research areas.
White Book 2: Part 2
3

WhiteBook2_Part2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WhiteBook2_Part2