Research in Radiation Therapy

Course Description

This course will address reading and conducting research in radiation therapy. Research approaches and procedures will be explored. Examples of various research methods and techniques will be discussed.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe six different types of research methodologies and when they would be appropriate for use.
• Describe the basic components involved in the research process including formulating ‘good’ research questions.
• Explain what is meant by the term ‘variable’ and name at least five variables that might be investigated by radiation therapists.
• Explain what a hypothesis is and formulate at least two hypotheses that could be investigated by radiation therapists.
• Discuss concepts related to ethical research and procedures to maintain participant confidentiality.
• Explain the purpose and value of a literature review and write a summary.
• Differentiate between primary and secondary sources.
• Conduct a literature search of the literature on a topic in radiation therapy.
• Differentiate between sample and population, different sampling methods and how to obtain a random sample from a given population.
• Discuss research generalizability.
• Describe various methods and quality and quantity of data collection.
• Critique various research instruments to determine objectivity.
• Discuss validity and reliability.
• Describe errors of measurement.
• Differentiate between descriptive statistics and inferential statistics.
• Differentiate between Qualitative and Quantitative research.
• Develop a survey instrument.
• Critique a variety of research studies and discuss each section.
• Understand the components of developing a research proposal.

Prerequisites

Corequisite

• RTT450
• RTT315
• RTT316
• RTT317
• RTT410
• RTT411
• RTT415
• RTT416