Department: Allied Health

Course No: 241W

Credits: 3

Title: Research for the Health Professional

Contact: Susan Gregoire

WQ: Writing

Catalog Copy: AH 241W - Research for the Health Professional

Either semester. Three credits. Three hours of lecture. Prerequisite: A course in statistics; ENGL 105 or 110 or 111 or 250. Open only to Allied Health majors, others with consent of instructor.

Research questions/hypothesis, finding and using research literature, ethical considerations, research design, sampling, measurement, reliability and validity, descriptive and inferential statistics, computer analysis of data, evaluating research, reviews of literature and proposals.

W Criteria: The goal of this core allied health course is to give allied health students comprehensive understanding of the methods and procedures required in writing research proposals. This will better prepare practitioners to be leaders in their disciplines. Four assignments (drafts) leading to a final proposal must be written independently and handed in by the scheduled due dates. Assignments:

1) Students submit four research questions for the proposal. Write one paragraph about each question and why it is an important question to be investigated. Rank the questions from the topic of most interest. One question will be chosen and student will write the proposal on that topic.

2) Submit an outline of the proposal, a bibliography, and a copy of 2 of the key articles related to that topic.

3) 6-8 pages of introduction, hypothesis, objectives, literature review including a minimum of 5 recent references of which 2 are copied and handed in.

4) 6-8 page research project including methods, limitations, application and abstract.

Final proposal includes:

a) Abstract (150-200 words), b) 6-8 pages of introduction/literature review, hypothesis, objectives. c) 6-8 page proposal including methods, limitations, and application, d) bibliography include primary sources only, e) consent form (1-2 pages).

The mode of writing instruction will include: in-class explanation, overview, and discussion of writing assignment to include a review of policies and procedures concerning students’ final research proposal. Students are also given a handout of writing references for student referral and a library class (at the Homer library) to instruct students in use of literacy technology when doing their literature search and review. Additionally, literature reviews need to be handed in with assignment 3 to ensure accuracy and relevance of articles for the literature search.

Each assignment will be submitted at specific times throughout the semester to ensure consistent and continuous progress toward a final proposal. Each written assignment is double spaced, 12pt font, and 1" margins with numbered pages. Students receive written feedback on each draft of the proposal regarding components of good writing. All assignments are evaluated for content, organization, professional terminology, grammar, writing style and format. Drafts, including written comments, are given back to students so that comments can be incorporated into the subsequent drafts. The student must submit the precious draft and comments with all assignment submissions for evaluation of comment inclusion. Final written assignment - must include the previous draft and comments with the submission. Each written assignment is worth 5% (total 25%); the final proposal is worth 35% of grade. Students must receive a passing grade on the final research proposal in order to pass the course.