Project-Course Description:

Summary: This Project-Course is the 2nd (ST2/Stage 2) in the Concept to Publication 3-Stage Series of Experiential Collaboratory Project-Courses as illustrated Below.

Summary (continued): More specifically, the ST2/Stage 2 experiential collaboratory project-course guides program participants progressively through project Implementation: Innovation, Research & Development (IR&D) culminating in generation of outputs/milestones including completion of data preparation steps, exploratory &/or baseline descriptive analyses, and brief peer reviewed baseline report consisting of: a title; a 450-word abstract (building on the conceptual abstract with briefer sections on aims & objectives, background & rationale, methods, with the addition of baseline results summarizing characteristics of the study sample, and conclusions); and the brief report’s body including expanded sections of the afore mentioned abstract with added sections for discussion, conclusions and expected real world applicability of the anticipated final output (results/solution). Through this progressive concept to publication approach, beginning with project conceptualization in Stage 1 culminating in a series of milestones and corresponding peer reviewed publications, and building thereupon to Stage 2 for study implementation, specifically innovation, research & development (IR&D) steps culminating in another series of milestones/publication outputs submitted for external peer review, which in turn, offers rigorous quality assurance and continuing education.

What will Participants Collaborate on, Learn & Do?

Through this progressive concept to publication approach, beginning with project conceptualization in Stage 1 culminating in a peer reviewed conceptual abstract publication #1, and building thereupon to Stage 2 for study implementation, specifically innovation, research & development (IR&D) steps culminating in a brief peer reviewed baseline report publication #2.

• Articulate an introduction of the topic/problem of interest including the background, rationale and significance thereof (i.e. ‘why’ this issue matters & must be addressed) culminating in a problem statement and research question/hypothesis, and generate the following milestone outputs:
  • Identify a topic/problem of interest in general terms, and after completing the activities below, refine that into a structured project title;
  • A brief case study &/or situational analysis incorporating a literature review of the state of the art existing/background knowledge on the problem of interest, culminating in a problem statement;
  • A problem statement, research question &/or hypothesis statement pertaining to the problem which needs to be addressed; and
  • A structured project title derived from refinement of the above elements of the introduction of the problem topic.
• Describe the investigational/research methods to be utilized to answer the research question/investigate the hypothesis (i.e. ‘what’ will be done to investigate/study/research/address the problem) including identifying an appropriate epidemiologic design framework for the investigation, research/study &/or solution to address the identified problem, research question, &/or hypothesis; and
• Develop a conceptual abstract (summary) briefly consolidating key aspects of each of the above milestone outputs to describe the project, i.e. objectives, background & rationale, methods (incl. epidemiologic design framework and analyses) and expected real world applicability of the anticipated final output (findings/results/solution). The conceptual abstract will later be scaled up to a project plan/protocol &/or incl. a prototype if development of a device/innovation (e.g. an app) is proposed.
• Collaborate with colleagues in conducting peer-review of each other’s successive milestone outputs referenced above (italicized) as they are progressively generated, specifically selected subsets of outputs including a case study, literature review, problem statement, research question &/or related hypothesis, and a conceptual abstract culminating in a consolidated presentation for an online colloquium &/or conference webinar (oral or poster), and journal publication of selected peer-reviewed outputs deemed appropriate at this stage;

Who can Enroll?