Description and Learning Objectives:

This course is intended to acquaint you with the basic elements of how read the scientific literature intelligently and how a psychophysiologically oriented clinical research project is conducted from initiating the idea through presenting the results. The scientific method and its application to psychophysiological research and practice is emphasized.

Students learn by watching audiovisual lectures provided on the course web site, reading assignments both from materials provided on the web site and a text, and interacting with their instructor via e-mail. They answer short essay questions after each lecture rather than taking exams. Previous students have found that this course takes between 45 and 95 hours of work to perform.

Required Text:

Sherman, R. Clinical Research.   The book is on the course web site.

Optional Statistical Software:

If you want to practice the statistical techniques you will learn during this course, you willneed to have access to any modern, PC based biostatistics program such as SPSS. Student versions of various appropriate software packages are under several hundred dollars. If you don’t have access to a program, I strongly recommend SPSSPC. One of our graduate students just looked into the purchase and found the following: “You can purchase the software at journeyed.com. The cost of the graduate pack is usually $199.99. You can get the student version for $85.00, but it expires in one year. The grad pack expires in 4 years and has unlimited variable capacity.”

Format:

Home study supported by e-mail chats after each unit is completed. The lecture portion of the course is presented through a series of audiovisual lectures profusely illustrated by power-point slides and movies. The course is accessed from the course web site. The audiovisual lectures are on power point slides. You will hear the instructor’s voice while viewing the power point sides. The lectures are between 1 ½ and 2 ½ hours in length. Reading assignments parallel the lectures. After watching the lecture and reading the assigned supporting files, you will answer a brief series of short essay review questions (which are in the review questions file on the course web site). The answered questions are then e-mailed to the instructor. You and the instructor will discuss each unit via e-mail chat after your answers are assessed. There is no need to complete the discussion with the instructor before proceeding to the succeeding lecture & chapters. It is expected that all review questions will be answered correctly and completely by the student. Any questions answered incorrectly or incompletely must be discussed and/or corrected. You will have at least one real-time meeting with the instructor via a web based program such as “go to meeting” during which you will interact around your new skills.

Accessibility: Hearing impaired people can view the slides only as virtually all of the material presented in the lectures is typed onto the slides. Visually impaired people can concentrate on the verbal lectures as the slide material is repeated in the lecture accompanying each slide.

Accessing course materials:

Course materials will be sent to your email address through either “transfer large files” or “Dropbox” after your payment for the course is processed. This may take several days. No CDs are sent to you.

Computer and Computer Knowledge Requirements:

Anybody with a modern computer and a bit of basic understanding of computer operation (at the level of being able to send e-mails) can play this course with minimal problems. You must have a computer (a) capable of connecting to the internet and running a typical internet program, (b) containing/running a modern word processor such as Microsoft word or Word Perfect, (c) the capability to play sounds such as music (has speakers and appropriate software which normally come with any modern computer), and (d) a slide viewing program such as Power Point (you can probably get a slide viewing program free off the internet if you don’t have one). Any modern (e.g., built within the last ten years), IBM style computer running Windows 98 and more recent platforms (e.g., XP or Windows 8) should be able to do this. Speed, hard disk size, and RAM are not factors for computers in the above category.

Dozens of students have used recent Apple products (MACs etc.) for the course however they frequently have more difficulty playing the course materials than PC users do.

If you are using a MAC type of computer, you must have a current version of “quicktime”. If you do not have it, you can download it for free from the web.

Faculty:

The course is given by Dr. Richard Sherman, Ph.D.  He is certified by BCIA, approved by BCIA to teach the general biofeedback certification course, and currently teaches A&P, Pelvic floor disorders, pain, and other courses. He is a professional psychophysiologist with extensive training (his Ph.D. is in biology & psychology), has nearly 30 years of experience in the field, and has published over 130 books, chapters, and articles (mostly in peer reviewed journals). Dr. Sherman is Director of the psychophysiology doctoral specialization at Saybrook University and has held many positions within the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback including president. Full CV available upon request and on the course web site.

To get CE credit for this course:

You will complete five written assignments corresponding to each of the sections of the book. Each assignment should be done shortly after you finish the lectures associated with the corresponding section of the book. Note that there are no single word answers in any of the assignments. Each assignment will take you between two and five single spaced pages to answer adequately. Do not answer questions from the book.

You can expect to write two versions of each assignment as I will return assignments with any problems for correction. When you e-mail me a revision of a draft I critiqued, enter your revised answers on the file I sent you containing my critique so I can look at my comments and your response simultaneously.

Topics we will cover:

Introduction

1. Rationale – the crucial need to understand and use clinical research

2. The scientific method

Section A.  The need to know what you are doing 

1. The basic steps and time-line of a project
2.  Defensive reading of clinical literature

– does the hypothesis make sense?

3.  Protocol development –  formulating and maturing a question

4.  Background and literature searches

5.  Determining feasibility

6.  Research ethics

7. The research protocol approval process

8. Pitfalls in the first steps

Section B.  Basic study structures for the office and clinic environment

9.  The logic and progression of designs

10.  Exploratory single subject and single group designs

11.  Observational studies – longitudinal & cross-sectional designs

12.  Prospective experimental study designs

13.  Outcome and quality of life studies

14.  The protocol’s research plan and design

15.  Defensive reading of clinical literature

– does the design fit the needs?

16.  Pitfalls in study design

Section C.  Establishing the credibility of data and clinical publications

17. Subject selection techniques – sampling, inclusion – exclusion

18. Hardening subjective data

19. Validity and reliability – defensive data entry

20. Survey, test, and questionnaire design

21.  Defensive reading of clinical literature –

can you trust the subjects and data?

22.  Pitfalls in data gathering methodology

Section D.  Statistics for evaluating literature

& interpreting clinical data

23.  Concepts of clinical data analysis

24.  Descriptive statistics for evaluating clinical data

25.  Probability and significance testing

26.  Decision / Risk analysis

27.  Power analysis – determining the optimal number of subjects

28.  Evaluation of overlap between groups through inferential statistics

29.  Evaluation of relationships between changing variables

30.  Dichotomous and proportional data

31.  Outliers – data points that don’t meet expectations

32.  Pattern analysis

33.  Survival / life table analysis

34.  Defensive reading of clinical literature: Handling the data

35.  Pitfalls in study analysis

Section E.  Administrative aspects of research

 (permission to do studies, presentations, etc.)

36.  Getting permission to perform the study

37.  The protocol – incorporating statistics

38.  The grant – extramural funding process

39.  Writing and presenting the study

40.  The publication submission and review process

41.  Changing clinical practice based on what you did and read

42.  Defensive reading of clinical literature

– does the conclusion match the raw data, the data analysis, the hypothesis, and the background? 43.  Pitfalls in the overall research process

When all requirements have been successfully completed, your course completion certificate will be e-mailed to you and BCIA will be informed that you completed the course.

Schedule:

There is one year to complete the course. Just contact us at admin@behavmedfoundation.org or 800 530 6658 to get started.

Duration of course validity:

There is one year to complete the course. Courses not completed by that time are void and must be repurchased if still available. No refunds are provided for courses not completed within one year of purchase.

CE Credit:

These are continuing education, not university accredited, courses. The Behavioral Medicine R&T Foundation is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Behavioral Medicine R&T Foundation maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

BCIA:

This course is accepted by the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance for both certification and recertification.

QEEGCB:

This course is accepted by the QEEG Certification Board for certification.

 Payment, Refund, Scholarship, and cancellation policies:  

Full payment for each course is required before access to the course web site is provided. Payment is by credit card though our web site’s secure ordering section (www.biofeedbacktraining.org) or by check in US dollars made out to the Foundation and sent to the letterhead address. Full refund will be made until students are given access to the course web site. After getting access to the course web site, there is no refund at all as Saybrook University and the Foundation have committed their resources to you and you have access to all of the course materials. A course would only be cancelled due to an extreme emergency on the part of the course instructor or the Foundation. In the highly unlikely event a course is cancelled, you would receive a full refund.

Scholarships: 

Saybrook University and the Foundation give scholarships consisting of 25% off the cost of the course(s) to (a) students and professionals (e.g. clinicians, coaches, teachers) from emerging nations and (b) full time graduate students in developed nations.

Course updates:

Updates to all courses are placed on the course web site as they are made. Students are informed when updates are available. 

Questions / further information?

Contact Dr. Richard Sherman (director of the psychophysiology CE and doctoral programs) at admin@behavmedfoundation.org or 1.800.530.6658.

Administrative Information

Conflict of Interest: Neither the Behavioral Medicine Research & Training Foundation, its staff, nor the course instructor have any conflict of interest involving materials presented in this course.

Student comments about the courses and instructors:

Students who wish to comment about the courses and instructors other than through the “end of course” evaluations may wish to use the Foundation’s account at the anonymous comment submission site Incogneato (www.incognea.to). When a student submits a comment to our account (https://ansr.me/VWv70) on the site, there is no way for us to know who sent the comment unless the student provides an email. Students are always welcome to submit comments to this site. We take them very seriously.

Students who wish to make a formal complaint about a course or instructor can do so by following the Foundation’s grievance process which is detailed in the document by that name. Students can request the document from the program’s administrator by emailing admin@behavmedfourndation.org.