Course Description
Application of scientific thinking to clinical practice. Clinical research processes in communication sciences and disorders. Criteria for critical evaluation of clinical research for evidence-based, clinical decision-making. Basic steps for conducting clinical research and reporting results.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Students receiving graduate credit will be challenged to read more extensively and to integrate the materials more thoroughly, and be graded with higher standards and expectations than undergraduate students. This will be accomplished through the demonstration of mastery through an applied project beyond the requirements for undergraduate students.
Athena Title
Scientific Thinking CMSD
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Permission of major
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of major
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The student will: 1. Identify limitations in acquiring knowledge and why we trust science. 2. Recognize science as a way of thinking and problem-solving. 3. Define and apply criteria for evaluating measurement and clinical research design. 4. Identify components of basic and applied research. 5. Differentiate the characteristics of experimental and descriptive clinical research. 6. Identify basic types of experimental and descriptive clinical research designs. 7. Recognize the relationship between science and evidence-based practice. 8. Apply basic methods for organizing and describing clinical data. 9. Differentiate scientific from pseudoscientific clinical approaches. 10. Identify standards of ethical conduct and their implications for the helping professions.
Topical Outline
1. Why scientists think and behave the way they do and its relevance to understanding evidence-based practice 2. Relationship between science and evidence-based practice 3. Overview of the clinical research process 4. Measurement: Reliability and validity 5. Characteristics of experimental and descriptive clinical research 6. Criteria for evaluating clinical research 7. Experimental research: Basic designs and their strengths and weaknesses for evidence-based practice 8. Descriptive research: Basic designs and their strengths and weaknesses for evidence-based practice 9. Organization and analysis of data 10. Reporting clinical research results 11. Ethical behavior of scientists and helping professionals 12. Science and pseudoscience in clinical research: Criteria and applications
Syllabus