Rehabilitation Research Boot Camp: Understanding Research Methodology

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How do practicing clinicians provide evidence based medicine if there is a lack of knowledge on understanding and interpreting the credibility and transferability of published research? This course provides a description of evidence based medicine, reasons for studying evidence, benefits and limitations, study designs and levels of evidence, critical design elements of a study, ingredients for impactful research and internal and external validity. Understanding the different levels of design, bias, and internal and external validity has the power to influence clinical practice.

Meet your instructor

Chad Cook

Dr. Cook is a professor at Duke University with a Category A appointment in the Duke Clinical Research Institute and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Population Health Sciences. He is a clinical researcher, physical therapist, and profession advocate with a long history of clinical care excellence and service and…

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Chapters & learning objectives

1. Why Study Research Methodology?

Chapter one offers a breakdown of the certification program and the purpose of studying research methodology. We will discuss government-based initiatives, changing funding patterns, specific interventions and techniques as well as interpretation and misinformation of interventions.

2. Evidence

Chapter two discusses history and offers clarification of evidence based medicine. This module also describes the key characteristics of evidence based medicine, the purpose of studying evidence and limitations of evidenced based practice.

3. Design Hierarchy

Chapter three discusses the hierarchy of evidence and how the design of a study dictates the purpose. The module also discusses the evidence pyramid: 1) editorial, expert opinion, 2) case series, case reports, 3) case-control studies, 4) cohort studies, 5) randomized controlled trials, 6) systematic reviews.

4. Levels of Evidence

Chapter four discusses how to sort conflicting evidence and look beyond the hierarchy of evidence pyramid to the five levels of evidence. The module outlines the five levels of evidence and how the evidence is useful to practicing clinicians.

5. What to Look for in a Well-Designed Study

Chapter five discusses the elements of a research study considering IMRaD: 1) introduction, 2) methods, 3) results, 4) discussion. The module will also discuss the conclusion of a study describing the most pertinent findings.

6. Ingredients of Impactful Research

Chapter six discusses how research impacts practice and how to evaluate the impact factor of a study. The module also discusses H Index, I10 Index, effect size, total number of citations, altmetric scores, and funding.

7. Summary

Chapter 7 discusses salient points, provides additional readings and suggests takeaway knowledge.

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