Table 1. Overview of the essential concepts of the whole clinical research process.

^aFeasibility and efficiency are considered during the refinement of the research question and adhered to during data collection.

Concept	Research Idea	Research Question	Acquiring Data	Analysis	Publication	Practice
Actions	Relevant clinical problem or issue	Primary or secondary	Measuring	Prespecified	Writing skills	Guidelines
	Literature review	Quantitative or qualitative	Measuring tool	Predetermined	Guidelines	Protocol
	Conceptual framework	Causal or non-causal	Measurement	Exploratory allowed	Journal selection	Policy
	Collaboration with experts	Feasibilitya	Feasibilitya	Strength and direction of the effect estimate	Response to reviewers’ comments	Change
	Seek target population’s opinions on the research topic	Efficiencya	Efficiencya
		Theoretical Design	Data Collection Design	Statistical design
		Domain (external validity)	Experimental or non-experimental	Data cleaning
		Valid (confounding minimized)	Sampling or census	Outlier
		Precise (good sample size)	Time features	Missing data
		Pilot study		Descriptive
				Inferential
				Statistical assumptions
				Collaboration with statistician