Authentic Research as Pedagogy: Designing Interdisciplinary,

Linked Research Methods Courses to Create a Campus Culture of Health

Martha Beagle, Health and Physical Education

Jill Bouma, Sociology

Judith Weckman, Institutional Research and Assessment

Berea College

Berea CollegeA 4-Year Baccalaureate, Labor College in

Kentucky

1600 students…

• Low-income (average family income less than $30,000)• Full tuition scholarships• Work at least 10 hours per week in the Labor Program• First generation (more than 50%), southern Appalachian

region/KY• 20% minority, 8% international

To share our experience of teaching two research methods courses that involved the design, implementation, and assessment of health intervention projects

Presentation Focus

Our goals were to…

• Give students an authentic research experience

• Improve campus health

• Central Appalachian region “has the highest rate of premature mortality from heart disease and cancers in the nation” (Halverson et al. 2012)

• Numerous students report losing parents to cancer and heart disease

• College can be an unhealthy, stressful place—poor sleep, diet, and exercise habits

• Only 5% of students report eating 5 or more fruits/vegetables per day

• 50% do not meet the requirements for cardio/aerobic exercise

• 50% are overweight, including 25% who are obese

Inspiration for the Projects

Benefits of the Focus on Health

Multidisciplinary topic by nature (social and natural science, humanities,

applied disciplines can all contribute)

Great buy-in on our campus from:

• faculty and staff • director of human resources• college physician and psychologist• president and dean of the faculty

Our president

Our Approach:

--Link two research methods courses in Sociology and Physical Education

--Partner with staff in the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment

Health Intervention Project Fall 2011

• Issued pedometers to over 300 first-year students and their advisors/teachers

• Focused on barriers and incentives to get moving using pre and post surveys

• Tracked step data

Health Intervention Project Fall 2012

• Experimental study • Random assignment of over 100 staff members to two

study conditions: (1) pedometer usage only(2) pedometer plus waist measurement

• Dependent measures—pre and post attitudes, health/fitness goals, and body measures

The students worked in teams and with us to:

• review literature• design and implement surveys• conduct focus groups • conduct in-depth interviews of key informants• conduct physical assessments

(wt., ht., blood pressure, body fat)• analyze data• create presentations• make recommendations to the College

What did we learn about the health of our first year students in Fall 2011?

Example of Findings from Fall 2011 Student/Instructor Pedometer Study

Student Self-Reported Overall Health Rating

Poor Fair Good Excellent0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

8.2%

30.7%

53.2%

7.8%1.3%

13.1%

46.6%39.0%

Berea First-YearsNational Sample Aged 30 or Younger

National Sample Source: GSS 2010 N=231 N=418

Some Findings from the Fall 2011 Student/Instructor Pedometer Study

• 30% indicated increased physical activity

• 20% reported improved nutrition

• 27% reported weight loss

• 65% reported difficulty finding exercise partners

What did we learn about the health of our staff in the Fall 2012 Study?

From Survey Self-Reports:

• 55% increased physical activity

• 27% improved nutrition

• Over 50% reported increased motivation and self care

• 40-50% reported more energy, better sleep, less stress, higher work productivity, increased social connections

From Biometric Measures:

• small weight change in both groups

• modest decrease in waist size (in ped/waist measurement condition)

Brief Overview of Staff Study Findings

Examples of Student Recommendations to College Based on Fall 2012 Staff Study Findings

• Hire a Wellness Director—this was done, the data helped drive this!

• Provide incentives for being physically active

• Provide time during the work day to be physically active

We interrupt this program…

Please Stand Up!

Some Benefits of What You Just Did

• Elevated your heart and respiration rates

• Activated your frontal lobe, focus (switching things up)

• It only took about one minute

What did reorienting our courses and collaborating

mean for our students’ learning and our teaching?

First, the Challenges:

• Redesign of former syllabi (new readings, assignments, and grading/evaluation)

• Collaboration among three busy people (many meetings!)

• Coordination of two classes (articles, course calendar, students meeting together)

• Alignment of three different teaching styles, having to run everything by everyone

Challenges continued…

• Moving target of real research (seat of the pants operation,

day-to-day problems conducting research—participant issues, computer problems, scheduling groups, etc.)

• Pressure to teach all necessary research skills

• Ethical issues with high stakes (real people, sensitive issues, loss of control)

Ethics Made Real

• Students signed a detailed Researcher Contract outlining how the privacy of participants and data were to be protected.

• Students worked with real human participants which made them think about ethics.

Researcher Contract

As social researchers, we pledge to seriously and consistently uphold our obligation to protect the privacy and well-being of study participants, and anyone else affected by our study. We will go to every necessary length to uphold the ethical constraints of the American Sociological Association, in the following and other ways:

• We will respect the privacy of study participants.

• We will actively protect sensitive information

• We will be committed to the integrity of our data, and the autonomy of individuals.

• We acknowledge that this list is not exhaustive.

Despite the additional challenges, we found evidence of improved student learning:

• increased skills and abilities in subsequent sociology capstone courses (they hit the ground running in subsequent course)

• higher quality final papers and presentations

• more engaged and enthusiastic feedback from students on end-of-term course evaluations

• enhanced ability of graduates to get into graduate school, acquire internships, jobs (anecdotal feedback from individual students)

• science of health and sociology of health – great academic connection

• Passionate topic for future physical/health educators (inherent challenge, active learning beyond classroom walls)

• Topic provided many “feel good” moments (students excited by participants’ enthusiasm, campus buy-in, personal growth)

• Team approach –same project, same deadlines, same expectations, great colleagues

• Research in a real setting –improved content and research skills, student learning (“ah hah” and “uh oh” moments)

• Statistical analyses (contained hands-on experience in quantitative/inferential statistics)

Martha’s Observations--Applied Research is Engaging!

Jill’s Observations—It Worked!

• Improved student learning of methods (data analysis example)

• Improved campus health – morale and physical activity

• Health topic enhanced own motivation   -positive focus    -tremendous buy-in

-reorienting own career    

• Created critical connection to faculty and the work they do

• Created connection with students working on the research process--design, implementation, and reporting

• Promoted authentic service-learning (with on-campus partners)

• Provided evidence to make the case to donors, foundations

Judith’s Observations—Collaborative Research is Good!

Our Future Work

• We will take a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning approach by being more intentional about measuring student learning.

• We will contact students after graduation to see what effect these research experiences have on their future work and continued education.

Some General Advice--Judith

• Have research project identified and planned, schedule collaborator meetings in advance

• Limit length of project to a few weeks at most (need a month to analyze and synthesize the findings)

• Believe in the Win-Win-Win scenario (for you, students, and the campus)

Some Specific Advice--Jill

• Choose colleagues carefully

• Focus on process as much as outcome

• Expect glitches, learn from failures

• Cheerlead

• Consider health as research topic

Interactive Work and Discussion

1) Identify health concern on your campus (physical, emotional, dental, spiritual,

nutritional, financial, etc.)

2) Identify a course

3) Identify potential campus collaborators (faculty, staff, others)