Speech and Hearing Sciences | Introduction to Research in Comm. Disorders
S580 | 6725 | Tba
Intervention in most health-related fields requires the
practitioner to develop treatments that are specific to the
individual. Although it may be impossible to know the best
treatment protocol on an a priori basis, treatment decisions must be
1) based on ethical principles; 2) made responsibly in line with the
existing evidence in the literature; and 3) presented in a
professional manner. The objectives of this course are to introduce
you to the evaluation of literature that will help you make
responsible decisions about assessments and treatments, introduce
you to ethical dilemmas and possible paths towards their resolution,
provide you with the tools to determine the importance and/or
validity of procedures that you might use, and to foster writing
skills that will be needed in classes and clinics in this
department. Finally, this course will provide an outline of steps
needed when writing a graduate thesis, should you decide to
undertake such a project. In line with these objectives, you will
have an opportunity to develop facility with literature and library
searches, as well as abilities to assess the importance of research
Book: Shiavetti, N. and Metz, D.E. (1997). Evaluating research in
communicative disorders. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Other materials: Articles on the reference list can be obtained at
the IU Library.
Assignments: There are four short written assignments and one longer
written paper/presentation. The longer papers will be done in groups
and all group members will receive the same grade.
Grading: Your grade will be based on: Attendance, class
participation, reading of material - 5%; Four short papers - 40% and
discussion leader - 10%; One research paper/presentation - 45%.
Grading Scale: 96% and above = A+; 93-95% = A; 90-92% = A-; 87-89% =
B+; 83-86% = B; 80-82% = B-; 77-79% = C+; 73-76% = C; 70-72 = C-
Readings: Readings should be completed before the class devoted to
Short assignments: These papers will focus on evaluation of different
sections of a research article, as well as procedures for literature
searches. Each short paper should be 2-3 pages long. The papers
should include answers to the questions presented in class handouts.
The class will be divided into groups of students who will be
responsible for specific papers. Students in each group will read the
specified paper and present a brief overview of the paperís strengths
and weaknesses to the class. One student from each group will be
assigned to lead the discussion of their article; group leaders will
rotate through the semester. You are welcome to discuss the
articles with other group members, however, the paper that you hand
in must be done independently (i.e., you are to write the paper by
yourself) Each short paper has a value of 10 points; therefore, the
short papers will contribute to 40% of your course grade. There will
be a maximum of 10 points given for your role as discussion leader.
The literature search will be the basis for your longer paper so the
quality of this work will be assessed by the quality of your
longer paper. All papers should be written in accordance with APA
Longer paper: This paper will be no more than ten pages in length.
The focus of the paper is on a controversial issue in speech-language
pathology. The topics for these papers will be decided during the
third week of class and guidelines for writing the paper will be
handed out at that time. The purpose of this paper is to provide a
concrete problem to which you can apply the principles that are
discussed in class. Sample issues will include different treatment
protocols, assessment procedures and tests of theoretical models.
This paper/presentation will contribute to 45% of your course grade;
30% will come from the paper and 15% from the presentation. All
papers should be written in accordance with APA style.
The remaining 5% of your grade will come from class attendance and