What do ppl who do medical research actually do?

Question

Like is that all they do, research medicine stuff?

I need a good but simple explanation. One for like an 8th or 9th grader.

Thanks

Answer 1

There are quite a few different kinds of studies that researchers do.  Some researchers develop and test drugs or materials using cells or other methods done only in a lab.  Others do research that tests drugs or treatments on people.  (A lot of medical researchers who experiment on people are also practicing doctors.)  Some research is done by looking back in time at records to try and figure out relationships.  To design a study, a researcher first does a lot of background reading and then comes up with a "research question," and then plans a study that can help them figure out the answer to the question.

Researchers (namely someone called the "Principal Investigator" of the project) must also do a LOT of paperwork.  They are often responsible for finding the money for the materials they use in the study and any other costs (including paying lab staff who work for them).  To do this, they write up things called grant proposals that are very involved.

Many studies also require approval from an ethics committee, who makes sure that nobody is hurt and that everyone who is participating is treated with the utmost respect.  To get approval, there is a huge application that has to be written by the researcher, and sometimes it is necessary to go to a meeting to argue the benefits of your study.

Once a researcher gets results from a study, s/he then writes a paper that goes to the scientific journals for editing and publication.  More publications usually makes it easier to get more funding.  Researchers often present their research at conferences too, so researchers get to travel a lot to meet other people researching other things in their area of interest.  

Medical researchers work in a lot of different places.  A lot of them are based out of universities (where many teach classes and mentor students doing graduate degrees), and a lot work for private companies (such as drug companies) that test products that the company wants to sell.  

I don't know if this covers what you're looking for?  If you have more questions, you can e-mail me anytime at [e-mail]!

Answer 2

Design experiment, test it, write it up.  Think of new ways to use it.

Answer 3

Medicine is a ocean of problems there are so many  questions that are left unanswered they are needed to be found out and that what they research. if I had to write what all researches are going on the web guy  would have to  buy me an extra space to wright it down.