A little overview... Research Methods in Public Health was my favorite class that I have taken throughout my college career. Going into the course, I was apprehensive because I had been told that it was the hardest in the series and that former students hadn’t done well in it. I had the exact opposite experience and it ended up being one of the highest grades I’ve gotten at the UW in four years. The teaching team consisted of three PhD professors and two master’s program students that were involved in a multitude of global health projects, primarily focusing on maternal and child health in Africa. In this course, we were asked to complete a literature review, a concept paper describing a topic for study, creating and piloting our own survey design, and attending a professional research seminar through UW. From attending just one lecture it was evident to me that research was a field I would excel in. I was always under the impression that because I chose to pursue a Bachelor of Art’s instead of science that health research would be out of the question—this proved me wrong. I became educated on the field of translational research that takes clinical studies and applies them to health promotion, education, and policy. Research Methods in Public Health instilled hope in me that a career in research was not out of the question and I fell in love with my major all over again.
Tasks I accomplished...
Applied the scientific method and critical thinking skills to complex public health questions
Used evidence-based decision making and critical thinking skills to examine public health problems and potential solutions
Identified appropriate qualitative and quantitative methods to answer public health research questions
Compared various measures and tools to assess the health of populations
Critically evaluated the public health research literature and communicated scientific arguments
Translated research finding into actionable program or policy guidelines
The skills I gained...
Research: As stated in the title of the class, research was one of the core skills I developed in my class work. Up until this time I had only thought of research as lab work but had not considered the endless definitions of what health research entailed. Without translational research, the public health sector would not exist. I learned that in order to make any issue a priority in a community, extensive research was needed to make it worthy of policy change at the state or government level. This class primarily focused on bio-statistical and epidemiology based practices; or in other words collecting data through a multitude of social study designs. One example that demonstrates my knowledge of research can be seen in a concept paper that I wrote describing the population and study procedures needed to correlate the prevalence of infants born with congenital microcephaly from symptomatic vs. asymptomatic mothers.
Systems Thinking: In this course, we spent about two weeks covering the topic of implementation science—a relatively new field of study that has gained popularity quickly at UW. IS is inherently systems thinking in the sense that it is the study of factors that influence the full and effective use of innovations in practice. Often, we enact rules or regulations without considering their impact of all parts of a system or social structure as a whole.
Problem Solving: The field of public health research is formed around how to solve problems. Our third assignment in the class was to create our own survey design to accurately assess the possible maternal risk factors for congenital Zika virus infection—seeing as this is becoming an increasingly apparent problem not only in the United States but worldwide. In working towards solving this public health problem, I created a questionnaire that would be used at a single clinical visit and is based on a case-control study design. I proposed a multitude of important and non-discriminatory questions that would collect data acknowledging confounding factor and biases that could be used to tie together risk factors for congenital microcephaly. Upon collecting, this data would be reviewed and submitted to a group of policy makers or officials.
Receiving Feedback: My favorite part of this course was that is made me more accustomed to receiving feedback. Although these instructors were strict in the ways that they graded, they were always constructive and I felt as though I could take away a lot from each assignment I completed rather than just doing it for the grade. There were several times that my TA stayed after class with me or agreed to meet up outside of class time to ensure that I was fully understanding the material. Because I was fascinated by the class, I naturally felt more compelled to fully comprehend each section of every assignment and that showed in the extra time I committed. After the course came to an end, I was even able to meet up with my TA on spring break and talk to her about her path towards pursuing a master’s degree in epidemiology.
Concept Paper Assignment
Aside from the breadth of knowledge I gained from taking Research Methods in Public Health, the most important part of this class was the confidence it instilled in me as a student with a bright future in the field. I discovered that my options were not limited to careers outside of research in finding that this is where I excelled. I was given the opportunity to apply relevant global health issues to a clinical setting that could influence policy change. This class perfectly laid out how every sector of public health connected, thus opening up more career options in the future. Lastly, aside from the incredible education, I was also introduced to an amazing team of scholars who I know would provide me with great advice and insight at any time I wanted to reach out.