Stroke Induced Aphasia left side versus the right side and how it affects the brain.

ARMSTRONG STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC SCIENCES COURSE SYLLABUS

Department: DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC SCIENCES

Course Number/Course Title: HLPR 2000 / Research in Allied Health

Semester Hours: 2.0

Semester:  Spring, 2016

Instructor: Malisa R. Poppell, M.A., RRT

Contact: (912) 247-2367

Virtual Office Hours: By appointment.

TUTORIALS: Scheduled by appointment at message center 912-344-2891.

American Medical Assn. manual of style is available at: www.icmje.org/manuscript_1prepare.html

Assignments in this course are submitted using a web-based, asynchronous, internet course, with online instruction through the ASU Desire 2 Learn (D2L) platform. Virtual office hours are scheduled PRN and I can be available for Skype, IM – chat, or will respond to your email or phone call as soon as possible. During Spring break or Holidays, no assignments are due

Required Texts: There is no required textbook. Recommended / Suggested Text: An excellent primer text is Bailey, D.M. Research for the Health Professions: A practical guide. ISBN: 0-8036-0151-4. I cite this text as a reference in many of my slides and notes for your convenience.

Course Description: This course is intended to enhance the allied health practitioner’s skills in the development and interpretation of research. Discussions will be conducted on various research designs, statistical procedures, sampling techniques and literature reviews. Assignments inclusive of advanced writing applications and technology utilization are required of the participants. It is critical to note that students (not currently certified by the IRB as investigators) will not conduct human or animal participant research. We will use this course only to establish a theoretical framework, or blueprint upon which the future research project would be constructed.

Prerequisites: Students should be accepted, or working on acceptance into their chosen COHP major. All working health professionals may participate in degree completion programs in a COHP major. Successful completion of an elementary probability and statistics course is recommended. Skills in web-page design, spreadsheet construction, and word-processing are desirable. Home computer or access to a computer with an Internet Service Provider, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point programs is advisable. A final project paper is required.

Relationship of Course to College and Program Philosophy and Goals: This is a writing and technology intensive course.  This course integrates teaching, research and service into the course of study, with the expectations of improving the student’s understanding and utilization of the fundamental skills of scientific research. Students are expected to apply basic tenets of research in reading and interpreting published manuscripts and abstracts as well as in the writing of their assigned research papers. These endeavors will foster ingenuity and encourage the student to act as a change – agent in regional practice and to foster improvement in interdisciplinary approaches to wellness, health promotion, disease prevention and treatment.

Students will prepare a 10 page paper (using AMA or APA format) with at least 10 full text, peer-reviewed references that is ready for submission to a peer-reviewed journal or colloquium; this exercise will promote teaching, learning and critical thinking skills within the College.

Instructional Methods:

Online lecture notes in the Powerpoint presentation in Content. External links, websites, and presentations that are germane to the class will be assigned. Students will utilize Word (no Pages or Wordperfect.wpd, please…save and send documents to Desire2Learn mail as .rtf if using WordPerfect), Power Point and Excel programs from the Microsoft office suite to develop spreadsheets and databases for the research project. Small research teams (and peer teaching assignments) and extemporaneous discussion board presentations will develop student organizational skills and enhance the learning experience. A problem-based approach will be utilized to sharpen skills

General Grading Policies: Failure to participate in three assigned online activities for any reason will require the permission of the professor to re-enter this class. All assignments are handed into the Dropbox or the Discussion Forum. No eMail assignments accepted. Extenuating circumstances must be communicated to the instructor, for example, deployment, illness, family, work, etc. Instructor closure of exams or student discussion forums prior to student entry will result in zero points for that online activity. In case of excused absences, make-up assignments should be completed immediately. For more information about grading policies and minimum standards, please refer to the ASU catalog and student policy manual. Vigorous evaluation of proper citation, cut-and-paste articles, and plagiarism will be ongoing.  Dr. Masini uses TurnItIn anti-plagiarism software to evaluate authenticity of citations in Dropbox.

Grading Scale is based upon percentage of total points awarded

100-90 A

89-80 B

79-70 C

< 70 D* *Unsatisfactory grade in the COHP majors.

You must have completed all the assignments and have completed most of the final paper project to take the Final and complete this course.  See the three components and their percentage below:

– Research Paper is 60% of Final Grade. The student, working from the theoretical and methodological framework established in the research journal workbook, will write a 10-15 (total pages) paper with an abstract suitable for submission to a scholarly professional journal. I prefer AMA or APA only if your discipline’s scholarly journal accepts APA.  Instructor approval of your project in week 3-4 of the course. The student’s research paper will include all essential components discussed in notes and slides. Participation in online discussion forums is specific to this project and required of all students. You will submit paper within the last 3 weeks of the course.

– Attendance and Participation in Online Activities is 25% of Final Grade. A student should attend all classes and must participate in all Discussion Forums. This is a face-to-face course with weekly assignments due in the D2L Discussion Forums or Dropbox. The instructor will attempt to accommodate the needs of students and document these individual accommodations.

– Final Examination is 15% of Final Grade. The Final is handed out in Week One and the student will address the questions in the context of their specific study from the choice of a topic, all the way to Discussions and Conclusions regarding results. The quality of the Final will determine percentage.

Educational Goals and Objectives: The student will be introduced to the activities of the research process. A systematic approach will review the essential steps in research methodology. Topics will include: identifying the problem, reviewing information, collection of data, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions.

At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

– be able to restate an investigative questions in terms of a statistical model or algorithm.

– verbally communicate statistical results clearly to non-technical audience.

– Successfully relate theoretical concepts to a real-world problem in a written report.

– demonstrate the ability to access relevant research literature appropriate to the investigative task.

– analyze the findings of research in health professions.

Behavioral Objectives.  At the completion of this module the student will be able to: Discuss the procedures in the scientific method and the components of a research paper. Discuss the differences between independent and dependent variables. Discuss other possible types of variables. Address operational definitions for individual studies. Identify the different scales of measurement. Discuss the types of reliability. Apply and examine various types of reliability. Apply and examine internal and external validities. Differentiate between qualitative and quantitative research designs. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of qualitative and quantitative research designs. Discuss the process of randomization. Discuss the types of sampling techniques. Utilize descriptive statistics in the analysis of data. Utilize inferential statistics in the analysis of data. Discuss the differences between parametric and nonparametric statistics. Accept or reject null hypotheses. Differentiate between various types of statistical procedures. Identify the sources of information for review of literature. Perform a literature review of topic of interest.

Course Outline, Objectives and Assignment: Bold addresses a slide and note topic.

All assignments are due by midnight on the Sunday of the respective week. No exceptions!

Week 1:

Lecture 1: Introduction to topic and syllabus. Identifying a topic; Do the VARK assignment. Start working on the Final Exam assignment (on the Home Page). Reviewing the Literature; Virtual Tour of Library; Presentation on use of ERIC, CINAHL, MedLine, Dissertation Abstracts and other data bases. Complete your discussion board assignments. Tour the Online Sherrod Library using Virtual Library button. You should visit the ASU or a local library frequently this semester, the librarians are a great resource!

Week 2:

Lecture 2. Refining the Question and Developing the Background. Continue working on the Final Exam assignment Choosing a Research Method. Final date for refined research topics approved by instructor for individual projects. Continue Discussion Forums. Week 3:

Lecture 3. Quantitative Research Designs (Positivistic Inquiry). Review Discussion Forums. Establishing Boundaries for the Quantitative Research Study (Naturalistic Inquiry). Review journal and Discussion Forums. Project updates. Week 4:

Lecture 4. Data Collection Techniques. Review Discussion Forums. Analyzing Quantitative Data, Literature Review. Review Discussion Forums. Week 5:

Qualitative Research Designs, Review Discussion Forums. Complete discussion board assignments. Lecture 5 Analyzing Qualitative Data. Review journal and complete Discussion Forums. Week 6:

Final Preparation Before Implementing the Research Plan. Review journal and Discussion Forums. Complete discussion board assignments. Project updates. Abstract due! Lecture 6. Reporting Results and Drawing Conclusions. Final Exam DUE! Week 7:

Final Paper Due!

Complete all assignments for Final Grade.