Fa18-CMPH-0288-01-Research Methods

CMPH 288 is a three-credit, fifteen-week course designed to acquaint medical and veterinary public health students with the process of conducting public health research. The major objective of the course is to understand the nuts and bolts of conducting public health inquiry and research in an applied setting relevant to human and veterinary medicine, including your MPH Applied Learning Experience, emphasizing qualitative, community-engaged, and quantitative methods and use of a geographic information system (GIS) relevant to research. We will build on the concepts learned in the introductory courses of biostatistics, epidemiology, and other related courses to address biomedical and public health issues through rigorous research and evaluation methods. The course is intended to be a survey course of some of the major issues and tasks involved with conducting public health research. Although the course will cover some theory of why we conduct research, with discussion of socially just approaches, emphasis will be placed on the practical, real-world application of these concepts.

Throughout the course, students will get hands-on experience designing a research plan and grant proposal from start to finish in stages, starting with the research question and ending with the analytic plan. Through this ongoing project and through participation in lecture and all in-class activities, students should be able to successfully design and conduct a variety of public health and biomedical research projects.