Research and Program Evaluation

As part of the master’s program, I had to develop a research proposal as if I were submitting a proposal to conduct an experiment. The project combined all the concepts covered throughout the research class;  research design, methodology of data collection, statistic analysis, and population choice, ethical consideration, and theoretical framework to be used of the research proposal. I chose to create a research proposal for isolating and identifying what locations trigger dissociation and flashback from those diagnoses with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from motor vehicle accidents. While I did not conduct the research outlined in the research proposal, the exercise allowed me to learn all aspects of a research proposal and gain insight into all the components and nuances of consideration for each proposal section. I had to conduct a small literature review of research available and consider what gaps in research existed to propose a useful and novel addition to the research base. I had to define research terms and parameters of search and population with considerations for population size and generalizability of data collected. A large portion of focus was given to considerations of safety for the research participants and ethical considerations of informed consent given the research design was on visual stimuli triggers for those clinically diagnosed with PTSD. I gained an appreciation of all that goes into conducting research.

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​Additionally, as an assignment I conducted a Program Evaluation of my internship site. This allowed me to learn about the components of a program evaluation over the course of the class and apply them as I was conducting the program evaluation at my internship location. The final report included explanation of evaluation design, credibility of results, and ethical considerations associated with conducting a program evaluation.