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What is research?

Research involves studying humans to find out the answer to a question.

This can be about learning to understanding how:

  • a disease works and how we can prevent it or treat it better
  • the body works and how disease affects different people
  • how patients and their families feel about their illness or treatment and how it affects you at school or at home.

A research study can involve:

  • doing a physical examination and following your child for a certain amount of time
  • taking blood tests to check things like your child's immune system or your genes
  • taking scans / pictures to learn more about how your child's body works
  • doing a sleep study and looking at how well your child sleeps
  • trying a new medication or a medication in another way.