During the beginning of my sophomore year, I decided to take searching for a faculty mentor for a research project more seriously. In the previous summer, I had emailed several professors within the Exercise Science program asking if they needed assistance with any research projects. Every single one of them informed me they either currently had no projects being worked on because of other commitments and priorities or didn’t need any further help on those they were conducting. Although this was frustrating at the time, it led me to realize that I desired to create my own original research instead of working on someone else’s project and ideas. Although it is valuable and worthwhile to work on studies that have already been started, I wanted to experience the research process from the very beginning, including the intense brainstorming and development of my own research question.
After some thoughtful consideration on my professional and career goals along with observing several hours of physical therapy, I concluded that I desire to work in the future with patients who suffer from neurological illnesses and injuries, such as strokes, spinal cord damage, or brain injuries. Because of this interest, I thought it would be appropriate and exciting to research a topic somewhat related to this field of practice. I really found myself intrigued in the psychological side of this type of rehabilitation. This led me to meet with Dr. Jeffrey Buchanan, a professor in the Psychology department. After discussing my goals and interests, he invited me to join his research team, which is a group of about ten undergraduate and graduate students. We agreed that my sophomore year would be a time to become familiar and comfortable with the team and the concept of research, and over the summer I would begin to form my own research question and hypothesis.
Brainstorming and conducting a literature review on various topics related to patients' psychological health and physical therapy is what my summer after my sophomore year looked like. I spent several hours researching different studies that have been performed regarding psychology, physical therapy, and older adults. This primarily consisted of using the MavScholar resource on the library website as well as various academic journals, like Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, to learn more about what type of research has been performed and how I can build on ideas or theories that may already exist. At the beginning of my junior year, I decided that the research topic that was most intriguing to me and I wanted to learn more about was the fear of falling and how it impacts an individual’s daily life. Thus, I achieved Level 1 of Original Research, “identifies research question or creative proposal that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline.”
Even though I thought otherwise at the time, deciding my research question was really a simple and rather easy component of the research process. Now came the rather lengthy and challenging process of determining how to investigate and perform a study on this topic. I decided to study the population of older adults who were in short-term rehabilitation facilities receiving either physical and/or occupational therapy. To recruit participants, Dr. Buchanan and I decided it would be best to first contact the Regional Director of the facilities in which we were interested in conducting our study. This individual then got us in contact with the Social Workers at each location, in which he or she then provided us with individuals who agreed to be contacted and were willing to participate in the study. With regard to materials, with the help of Dr. Buchanan and references to other studies, I decided to use both a questionnaire and in-person interview to assess older adults fear of falling and whether (and even how) this leads to the restriction of activities. The questionnaire was called the Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) and measured the individual's level of concern (using a 4-point Likert Scale) about falling during different physical and social activities inside and outside the home. The interview was broken down into three main categories (background information, questions about history of falling, and questions related to fear of falling) and was utilized to gain more in-depth information about the participant's fear of falling and how it affects their everyday routine. By creating the "logistics" part of my research study (i.e. the materials and methods), I attained Level 2 of Original Research, “develops research question or creative proposal that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline.”
In my opinion, the most fun and exciting part of this research experience was executing the study and collecting the data. It was amazing to get to talk to older adults about a topic I was so interested in and learn about these individuals' experiences and thoughts about falling and restriction of activities. I had so many meaningful conversations with individuals and loved getting to spend some time talking and learning about their lives. I realized through this process that sometimes conversations will not always stay on track, but that's okay because it can lead to some insightful thoughts and ideas. Additionally, I learned not everyone is interested in participating in a research study, which helps explain the purpose and importance of a consent form. Finally, I realized it is often best to not go into a conversation/interview with a strict agenda, because it ends up being more impactful when the conversation naturally flows instead of being forced or controlled. This process of collecting research data in the form of a questionnaire and interview and conversing with the older adults helped me to meet Level 3 of Original Research, “conducts primary research or engages in creative practice that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline.”
The last part of this research process was analyzing the data and drawing conclusions. Evaluating the questionnaire was quite intuitive for it simply involved adding up the total number of checked boxes under each category (1 = not at all concerned to 4 = very concerned). I then used this information to find a mean, standard deviation, and range of all the collected scores. On the other hand, interpreting the interview was not as straight forward, but thankfully, many of the questions were asked in a 'yes' or 'no' manner and could be easily quantified. Dr. Buchanan and I thought it would be best to format the results in this way and also implement any quotes that either stood out or summarized the findings well. This ended up being a tedious process, for we had 17 participants and thus, quite a bit of data to sort through, but it was very rewarding and interesting in the end. Our main conclusions were the following: all participants had a history of falling; almost all (excluding one) had a fear of falling; there were many ways (such as using a wheelchair, walking slower, or installing grab bars) that individuals changed their way of completing activities; and almost none (excluding two) had concerns about participating in rehabilitation therapy services. By collecting and analyzing the data to summarize our findings, I achieved Level 4, “exhibits completed research or creative work that extends knowledge or practice of their discipline,” of Original Research.
All along, my goal of this research study was not only to learn about the research process and a topic that I was interested in, but also present my research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS). Dr. Buchanan agreed that the URS would be a great way to wrap up all the work I had put into this project and share it with others since it was a very friendly, local, and non-judgmental venue for presenting research. Thus, I achieved Level 1 of Dissemination of Results, which is “identifies appropriate venue for dissemination.” Since Dr. Buchanan knew of this goal from the very beginning, we had a rough timeline of when tasks need to be completed in order to be successful. One of these tasks was submitting the application for the URS, which involved composing a short abstract to summarize the study. I successfully completed this on time and my research was accepted to be a part of this conference, which allowed me to attain Level 2, “prepares and submits an abstract or proposal for the appropriate venue,” of Dissemination of Results. The time finally came when the research was completed and a presentation needed to be created. We decided to make a PowerPoint to give an oral presentation, and although I was a bit rushed in this step of the project, it got done and I was ready (but nervous) to present. Overall, the presentation went well and I felt confident in my study and the findings. I also believe I answered the questions asked appropriately and with as much detail as possible. I was surprised to see individuals actually taking interest in my study and results, which I believe shows the importance of research and the great community of people it brings. I am even grateful to have received an "Outstanding Presenter" award from the Undergraduate Research Center (URC), which felt like a great way to end my first research project. As a result, I also achieved Level 3 of Dissemination of Results, “disseminates the results of their research or creative achievement.”
I am so thankful for this wonderful research study and the lessons I learned along the way. Although there were a lot of steps and hard work put in, I gained so much from conducting research than I could have ever imagined. I believe this was a great experience for me to begin the research journey and I am excited to see what other studies I become involved in during my time as a graduate student at the University of South Dakota and a professional in the field of physical therapy. I will always remember this first research project and all the trials and triumphs that came with it.