Anyone can do research.  One can publish in peer-reviewed journals without a particular degree, although you usually have to have someone in academia on the paper to have it considered.  The question is not whether or not you can do research without a specific degree, but will you do the research well.  Right now there is a plethora of research that is poorly designed even in the peer-reviewed journals.  Hypotheses that are fuzzy, methods that don't match the questions, statistical fishing expeditions to look for a p-value just to publish.  There is even at least Nobel prize winning scientist that failed miserably when he ventured outside his field and dabbled in epidemiology.  He did not understand the methods outside his own field. 

The first step is to hone your question and really delve in to see if you are reinventing a wheel.  Then ask if the question really matters.  What would you do with the answer from your research.

In terms of slings and sensory integration.  

What is the hypothesis?  Is it that slings will promote sensory integration better than no slings?  Or one type of sling will be better than another?  Or better than other modes of transporting an infant (e.g. upright carriers).  Or that the duration of sling use will promote sensory integration in a dose response relationship?  Or that overuse of slings will interfere with sensory integration because the baby never interacts with her mother?  Or that slings will help in a society that tends to encourage early independent and is fearful of spoiling the baby from holding so much?  Or that slings will have minimal impact in a society that tends to hold their babies more frequently?  

What would be the implications?  Would you recommend a particular brand of sling?  Influence policy makers to recommend slings to all mothers?  Influence policy makers to recommend against using slings when the baby really needs to interact?  

In terms of methods:
How would you measure sensory integration?  How would you define the age of the baby and the types of sensory integration behaviors that mattered.  Would this merely be a descriptive study?  If so, how would you account for confounding factors, such as mothers who use slings who might engage in other behaviors that encourage better sensory integration?  Would this be an intervention study?  What would be the intervention? Giving out slings to some mothers and depriving other mothers of slings?  Would that be ethical?  How would you define compliance?  What if mothers who didn't have the slings noticed what was happening with mothers of slings and started using them?  How would you define the length of time you would observe sling use?  Would one month be enough?  Until the baby was a toddler?  Until the baby went to preschool (I'm thinking of the Kung)?  
Who would do the observations?  How would you ensure that their observations are not influenced by the aim of the study?  What types of observations would you make? 

How would you challenge your own assumptions?  What would be your alternative hypotheses?  What would be alternative explanations for your potential findings?  How would you get outside input to spot the insights you might be missing in your interpretation of the study findings?  If it is a qualitative study how would you triangulate the results? 

I've always found that it really takes a team to plan good research.  One mind alone cannot spot all the flaws and come up with all the considerations necessary to design a solid piece of research.

Best regards, 

Susan E. Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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