Guidelines for international collaborative research

OBJECTIVE: As the global village becomes a reality, there is an increasingneed to conduct international collaborative studies in family practice. Aworkshop at the WONCA meeting in Hong Kong used international attendees toproduce a set of guidelines for international research. METHODS: At theworkshop four completed international projects, each using a differentstrategy, were presented so that common themes might become apparent. Thethemes were then discussed and guidelines emerged from the process.RESULTS: Seven guidelines emerged for consideration before embarking on aninternational collaborative research project in family medicine. Theguidelines deal with the characteristics of the research question and theimportance of communication. The need for simple, brief methods of datacollection, funding and pilot testing were identified. CONCLUSION: Thequestion must be relevant to all participants to maintain interest andmeasurement tools must be validated to understand the impact of culturaldifferences in understanding.