The Rest of the Story: Building Blocks for Developing Education Researchers and Agendas
Purpose: The purpose of this session is to provide insight into the development of education researchers and research agendas framed by the recommendations from the Excellence and Innovation in Physical Therapist Education work. The focus will not be on the specific outcomes of a research study, but rather on the development of the education researchers. The journey of the behind the scenes work that created successful education research will be explored through shared narratives by published education researchers.
Methods and/or Description of Project: This research symposium will highlight the movement that is underway to produce sound, evidence based education research. This will be accomplished by showcasing current education researcher’s work and the processes they’ve used to develop their research agendas. The Excellence and Innovation in Physical Therapist Education Action Item Recommendations will be reviewed in the context of the development of research agendas. Three education researchers will present their work, specifically highlighting the process used to develop education research studies, research questions and the decision making processes for future work based upon the results of the studies. The projects will highlight clinical education, education administration and instructional methods for the classroom. A moderator led panel discussion regarding the merits and difficulties of participating in education research will provide opportunity for participant interaction.
Results/Outcomes:
The framework for building education research capacity and the “bench to bedside” approach to education research as identified by Jensen, et al (2016), coupled with the Excellence in PT Action Item recommendations will frame this presentation. Behind the scenes questions will be explored, such as: How was this research question selected? How was the research team formed? How was a conceptual framework created? How was the research method chosen? What main discussion points led to additional research studies and why? What questions remain unanswered that could guide future studies? The participants will then have the opportunity to pose questions to researchers to help facilitate building their own education research agendas.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
One conference theme is “Education Research”. This session will highlight the development of education researchers and research agendas by connecting the experiences of education researchers to the development of research agendas guided by the excellence in physical therapist education recommendations.