Assessment-Driven Research Opportunities Volume 3: Developing Scholarship Projects: A Step-by-Step Approach

Welcome back to the Massey & Martin LLC newsletter, as we continue our series on promoting scholarship among your program’s PA Faculty. Today I am sharing my “checklist” for developing scholarship projects.

This can serve as a primer for preparing and launching a project. Although this is not an exhaustive list, it provides an excellent framework for beginning. You will note that our previous newsletters have addressed several of these points already, and you may now see how those steps fit into the overall planning of a study.

1. Brainstorming: List a question or questions that intrigue you such as: 
1. Questions that need to be answered
2. Phenomenon seen in the classroom
3. The impact of the new pedagogical method
4. Attitudes of students toward specific teaching methods
2. Questions to answer before moving too far in the process:
1. Has this question already been asked in PA education? 
2. Has this question already been definitively answered in PA education? 
3. If not, has this question been asked in other areas of medical education? (medical students, PT, OT, nursing, pharmacy, etc.?)
4. Who do I know with expertise in this area who might serve as a resource? 
5. Does the university provide seed grants for faculty to fund small research projects?
3. Perform a literature search on appropriate databases. Secure assistance from a librarian to provide a comprehensive search regarding the research question.

• Audience and target journal(s)

• Who else would be interested in the answer to the question? (Local administrators, other PA educators in your program or general area, PA educators across the U.S., medical educators in general, public health or public policy makers, practicing PA’s?)

• Can the question be changed or expanded in a way that would make the answer interesting to more people?

• To which journals does the potential audience subscribe?

• What associations, organizations, or programs might care about the question? 

• Collaboration: Would it be advantageous to collaborate with a local colleague or faculty from a different PA program?

• Methodology/experimental design

• Is it possible (and practical) to approach the question with a true experimental design (i.e., control group vs. intervention group, subjects ideally assigned randomly)? 

• If an experimental design is not possible or practical, what type (or types) of observational design would work?

• Identify the population.

• How will that population be sampled?

• Is there a pre-existing database that would help answer the question?

• Would a quantitative or qualitative approach work best for the question?

• Important elements to consider if survey research will be involved:

• How to best reach an unbiased sample of the population (mail vs. e-mail/internet vs. telephone vs. face-to-face interviews)

• Where to obtain a database of prospective subjects for the sample

• How to determine the sample size 

• Whether a power analysis is required

• How to obtain a random sample 

• How to protect subject privacy

• Whether a pre-existing, validated survey instrument exists that can be re-used as-is or in modified form

• Whether help with the experimental design will be needed (Note: If help from a statistician is required, make sure to involve them in the process early! The analysis will be limited by the details of the experimental design, including the way questions are worded in a survey.)

• Don’t forget that all research studies must be submitted for local IRB approval prior to starting the study! In some cases, educationally related projects can be expedited and determined to be exempt.

• Data analysis

• Does the data require descriptive analysis only?

• Does the data require inferential statistics?

• Will determining statistical significance be required?

• Consider using a statistician to provide expert consultation.

• Manuscript preparation & submission

• Will a mentor be needed for this process? 

• What journal or journals will be targeted for submission? 

• Personal to-do list and timeline

Coming next…

This newsletter series presents basic strategies to enhance faculty scholarship. Faculty must begin early in their careers to foster this process. For programs that are in tenure-track and promotion-eligible tracks, scholarship is essential for faculty advancement. Guiding faculty toward their own unique niches is the key to success. In our next newsletter, I will share additional strategies to achieve tenure and rank promotion.