Challenges and rewards in multi-national research

Abstract

Multi-national studies can be conducted for a number of reasons, for example, to compare casemix or outcomes between countries (Jones et al., 2007a; Kause et al., 2004; Martin and Mathisen, 2005); to test an intervention in different countries or increase patient recruitment (Finfer et al., 2004) and to develop international consensus for the management of disease processes (Cheatham et al., 2007). [...]the importance of following strict principles for translation of research instruments and ensuring that data collection processes are both valid and reliable.