Do students with traditional clinical experience understand scientific methods & evidence based practice better than students immersed in clinical research experience?
 

Jayanti Ray Communication Disorders Topic: Clinical Problem-Solving Using Scientific Methods

This project is designed to assess the benefits of a curricular approach when a module of applied/clinical research is introduced in service-learning. The experimental and control group will consist of six-eight students in each group. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be selected for the study depending on their clinical assignments. The control group will receive traditional training in service-learning assignments whereas the experimental group will receive training pertaining to clinical research and explicit guidelines about evidence-based practice. A pre-post test approach will explore the benefits of clinical research in the areas of clinical decision-making and problem-solving. Assuming this curricular approach proves successful, the SoTL fellow will continue to incorporate the module in service-learning and track functional outcomes with surveys from students that are engaged in post graduation curricula.