1. The Researcher/Clinician Dichotomy Fall 2003

2. Nearly every scientist has experienced, in a moment of discovery… something akin to reverence and awe. Carl Sagan

3. Research Goals at an M.S. Level (Bain, 1991) 1.Help students to become competent consumers of literature 2.Help students become competent users of research technology for clinical decisions

4. Competent Consumers Critically evaluate the literature Determine cautions in interpreting the literature Determine applications to clients served Determine how procedures might be modified to better serve clients

5. Research Technology for Informed Clinical Decisions Scientific Method Single-subject designs

6. Scientific Method 1.Recognition of a problem that can be studied objectively 2.Collection of data through observation or experiment 3.Drawing of conclusions based on analysis of the data that have been collected.

7. Clinical Decisions: Assessment 1.Who is disordered (is there a problem? If so, what is it?) 2.What is the etiology? 3.What is the prognosis?

8. Clinical Decisions: Treatment 1.Who should receive what kind of intervention? 2.What should be treated? 3.How should we provide intervention? Alternating treatments design (ATD) 4.Is intervention effective? Single-subject designs 5.When should intervention be terminated? ABA design

9. Benefits of a Clinician- Investigator (Silverman, 1977) The job is “more stimulating, less routine” Clinicians are probably more effective when they determine the answers to questions about their intervention or assessment when they “ask answerable questions” and state “testable” hypotheses More aware of the “tentative nature of answers and hypotheses” which is one of the most important aspects because there is “no answer to a question or test of hypothesis” that is final

10. “We see the practitioner as an applied scientist or a clinical scientist who uses the clinic or school as a laboratory for the application of the scientific method toward the end of providing the best clinical services possible.” (Ventry & Schiavetti, 1980)

11. “When scientific clinicians approach clinical problems in a scientific manner, they are conducting research of the most important type, with the result being the intent of delivering the best clinical management possible.” (Ringel, 1972)