ABSTRACT
For those setting out on clinical research for the first time the biggest difficulty is often that of identifying a suitable problem that is both researchable in practical terms and that is likely to lead to worthwhile results. There are no rules for doing this that are guaranteed to lead to a high-quality end result. So far it has not proved possible to operationalise the processes that lie behind inspiration and this chapter will not attempt to do so. What it aims to do is much more modest. This is to set out some general principles which it is hoped will help those inexperienced in clinical research to achieve better results than they might otherwise have done.
