Help with identifying a specific and feasible research project in Bio safety

I am finishing up my PhD coursework in Occupational Safety and have passed my written exams successfully. I am looking for a PhD project that can be handled through the internet/web based. My Occupation is full-time Biosafety Officer at the same University that I am doing my PhD education. Consistent with my line of work (i.e., Biosafety), I am interested in looking at some aspect of laboratory acquired infections (LAI) in high containment labs (e.g., those regulated at biosafety levels 1, 2, 3, and 4). I've gone through all of the relevant literature and was thinking maybe looking to see if:

1. The expansion of high containment labs is increasing risks of LAIs?
2. Are more staff being better protected by the (expensive) measures of containment labs?
3. Do biosafety programs deliver

Unfortunately, my request for LAI data from U.S. entities that regulate the mandatory reporting of LAIs (e.g., CDC) has been futile. The data is protected from FOIA under the PATRIOT ACT for Homeland Security and is not obtainable. So, I am left with gathering the data I need directly from the entities where the LAIs occur ...and I thought the best way to capture this data would be through a survey tool. Entities where I may be able to gather data include other Biosafety Officers at other institutions (both academic and private), U.S. State Public Health Laboratories, or even hospitals.

Any help or ideas would GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,

Mark C.

You have tons of options, obviously, and you also have more knowledge in this field than I have, but I do have an idea for you: grounded theory.

You can use "mixed methods," which means your surveys will produce quantitative info (i.e. numbers) as well as qualitative info (i.e. you can include a "qualitative survey interview" which consists of open ended questions, and then use grounded theory's "constant comparison" method to analyze their responses.

Grounded theory seems complex at first, but if you spend one whole day reading studies that use it, as well as googling around, you can become an expert quickly! Google these:

grounded theory
mixed methods
qualitative survey interview
likert scale
core category grounded theory

My idea is for you to distribute surveys to others in your line of work to gain their perspectives as well as some data. List a few research questions that are timely (i.e. they are important questions at this time in history.

Read lots of recent articles to make sure you are not doing something that has been done before.

:-)