Pathfinder studies: a novel tool for process mapping data-driven health research to build global research capacity

Abstract Background There is vast global inequality regarding where health research happens, who leads the research, and who benefits from the evidence. Globally, wealthier nations drive and influence data-driven research and how it is structured institutionally. Key barriers to high-quality research being undertaken in and led by low-resource settings are well reported. These barriers persist, thereby perpetuating a lack of locally generated data and/or evidence to tackle diseases that bring the greatest burden. Our aim was to design a tool to capture best practices in the production of data-driven health research, to advance both quality and quantity of research being conducted where it is needed most. Methods An expert group of senior global health researchers from Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) convened to discuss potential solutions to addressing this imbalance in both quality and quantity of global health research. This study documents how a novel approach was developed, informed by this discussion, to support research teams in low-resource settings. The new approach, called “Pathfinder”, is a process-mapping tool wherein teams document key steps of their research projects flow to produce quality data and subsequent studies. Results The Pathfinder methodology is a novel tool to be used alongside planned studies to guide teams through each step of their research, from setting their research question, to identifying the best methods needed to complete each step, to translating research outputs into impactful policy and practice. It is a standardized framework, which can be applied or adapted to specific settings for research teams track to key steps, challenges, solutions, and tools throughout their planned study’s process. Pathfinders can also be applied to studies that have already been completed, retroactively documenting their key components. Several global research institutes are piloting the Pathfinder methodology. Conclusions Pathfinders can help inform future studies by capturing best practices, thereby removing barriers to research, and addressing global inequality in this domain. Specifically, Pathfinders can help identify the methods and skills needed for teams to produce safe, ethical, and accurate data-driven health research.