EPID 2670

Assignments

Lecture Exercises
Narrative Text Analysis
Injury Research Abstracts
Final Exam

Lecture Exercises

Lecture exercises will supplement selected web-based lectures. The exercises will consist of a set of questions that pertain to the material presented in the lecture. The questions may be short answer in form and derived straight from the lecture. Alternatively, some of the exercises will require you to read a lecture or paper on an injury-related topic and answer a set of questions that relate to that paper and the lecture. These graded exercises are due one week after they are given out.

The three exercises required are listed here:

	Introduction to Injury Epidemiology/Ten Basic Principles
	Injury Surveillance and Injury Data Sources
	Injuries from Violence

Narrative Text Analysis

This assignment will provide direct experience in conducting a narrative analysis. You will be given a dataset on May 23. You will be expected to analyze the information in this dataset and return a short paper (2-3 pages) that outlines the method you applied in the analysis and your results. The paper will be due on June 20 or before.

Injury Research Abstracts

Two written research abstracts are required in this course. The intended purpose of the abstracts is to give you experience in developing research studies on injury issues.

Abstract 1:

Pick an injury topic from the list below. Notify Dr. Songer of the topic that you have chosen by e-mail at tjs@pitt.edu. Write an abstract (1-2 pages) that outlines a proposed resesarch study and highlights the important issues in conducting research on the injury topic.

The abstract should include the following:

An introduction which outlines the scenario of importance related to the topic and the research proposed.
A statement of the public health significance of the issue
The proposed study design for the research
Outline the case definition of the injury
Identify the proposed data sources for the study
Discuss the proposed measures to assess exposure and outcome in the study
A research hypothesis
Discussion of the fundamental limitatations that may be related to the proposed study

This abstract is due on May 30. We will use it in the discussions of injury research methods. So, be prepared to discuss it briefly as part of class on May 30.

Topics:

Motor vehicle crash risk in medical residents
Intimate Partner Violence by female perpetrators
Injuries related to High School cheerleading
Injuries related to cyber bullying
Poisoning among the elderly
Injuries related to Nintendo Wii use
Carbon monoxide deaths following disasters
Vocal cord injuries among sports fans
Eye injuries among sanitation workers
Road rage injuries

Abstract 2:

Write a research abstract on an injury topic of your own choice. Notify Dr. Songer of the topic that you have chosen. Write an abstract (1-2 pages) that outlines a proposed research project and highlights the important issues in conducting research on this topic.

Follow the same format as listed above when writing this second abstract. This abstract is due on June 13, 2008.

Class Participation/Practice Exercises

Credit will be given for completion of practice exercises listed under the lectures, and for discussion in the lecture classes.

Final Exam

A take home final exam will be given during the last class session. It will cover material from the entire course, and will test your knowledge of the subject matter and your ability to apply it to different injury epidemiology situations. The final is due back on Monday, June 23 by 12 noon. Send the exam to tjs@pitt.edu

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