The Course

Course Introduction | Course Design | Pedagogies and Methodologies | Course Assignments and Expectations | Grades | Writing and Analysis | Research Project

A major priority in the design of this course is the engagement of students as scientists and citizens. This is accomplished through the variety of techniques described below.

Course Syllabus (Acrobat (PDF) 120kB Nov10 08)

Course Introduction

This seminar will explore women's health and pregnancy outcomes from the perspectives of science, social analysis, and policy. We will read and discuss materials on pregnancy outcomes, and we will examine results of surveys of all women of child-bearing age in central Pennsylvania, of Amish women in Lancaster County, and of African-American and Hispanic women in Lancaster City. Students will be responsible for preparing for, participating in, and leading discussions and will also explore a topic in depth in a research project. This course is supported by funds from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Poor pregnancy outcomes are linked to personal behavior, environmental effects, sociological influences, and genetics, among many other factors, and these factors interact with each other. Our intention is to understand different factors affecting pregnancy outcomes, to compare pregnancy outcomes among different groups of women, to comprehend in depth and from multiple perspectives a pressing health crisis and the interactions of factors that affect it, and to assess scientific data.

Course Design

Public Health Research is presented in a series of modules, each one week (two class meetings) long. On the first day of a week, students hear a presentation by a course instructor or guest speaker on a subject relevant to women's pregnancy outcomes. This is always accompanied by readings, usually from the primary literature, relevant to the topic of the day. On the second day, there is a discussion of the topic, initiated by consideration of questions posed by faculty and about which students have written a short essay. In addition, on the second day, teams of students lead the class in an examination of an analysis of data they have performed.

Pedagogies and Methodologies

The course is discussion-based, and students must prepare for discussions by doing the assigned reading and writing a short essay on a question for discussion that day. The first two times the course was offered, students, working in teams, led the day's discussion. This worked well and we will return to this in the future. Students must participate in discussions. Students also write a longer research paper, with intermediate due dates. A service-learning project may substitute for the research paper.

Course Assignments and Expectations

Your assignments for class are: to be prepared for and participate in discussions, to write 11 short essays that will help you prepare for discussions, to lead an analysis of data and the discussion of it with a partner, and to write a research paper that explores in depth a topic in
pregnancy outcomes.

A typical class week will have a presentation on Tuesday and a discussion on Thursday. Presenters will provide us with readings that will help us prepare for their presentation and for the Thursday discussion. In addition, they will provide us with a short list of questions to help guide our discussion and data analysis, and as topics for your short essays.

Expectations for Discussions

Students should come to class willing and able to help conduct a fruitful discussion by having done the appropriate reading and by having individually explored an idea or two that they think may - or ought to - come up in the discussion. Of course, we will only know if you have prepared for the discussion if you actually contribute to it. Your class participation grade, worth 20% of your overall course grade, will be based in large part on the quality of your participation in discussions.

To evaluate your class participation, we will use guidelines from the website of the Princeton University Dept. of History Guidelines. We will provide you with feedback on your participation.

Grades

Your final grade will be based on the following percentage distribution:

Participation - 20%
Short Essays - 20%
Data Analysis - 20%
Research Paper - 40%

Writing and Analysis

To help prepare for discussions, students will write short essays, each answering a question for that day's discussion. There will be 11 of these, each corresponding to one of the discussions, each due at the beginning of class on the day of discussion, and each will answer one of the questions posed to help guide and focus our discussion. An essay should be one page, typed, double spaced, and approx. 300 words. We will grade them on a check-plus, check, checkminus, 0 scale. In these essays you do not need an introduction or conclusion; you should get straight to the point. An excellent essay will show an understanding of the assigned readings; make interesting connections, comparisons, or contrasts between readings; and provide original insights into the materials. Essays will not require any additional research. No late papers will be accepted. Your essays are worth 20% of your overall course grade. We will provide you with feedback on your essay promptly.

Analysis

Students will work in groups of 2 or 3 to lead the class in an analysis of data using the results from the surveys of groups of Central Pennsylvania women. Questions relevant to that week's topics will be provided to help guide these analyses. Analyses will be done using the statistics program SPSS, which is available on the College Software Server. Surveys and survey results are on the course edisk.

The purpose of these analyses is to use data to make evidence-based decisions on questions related to pregnancy outcomes, decisions that may affect policy, treatment, or behavior towards women and their babies. Even more than that, the purpose is to show how to use data to help make
decisions. Analysis leaders will be responsible for initiating and advancing our collective understanding of the material. We (especially Professor Yost, the class expert on surveys and survey analysis) will provide guidance on the logic of analysis and on using SPSS, but we leave the project relatively open-ended to make room for your creativity. Groups will be asked to show the class how they arrived at the conclusions they drew. Methods of analysis, and critical thinking using data, are the key elements of this. It is our expectation that the sophistication of these analyses will increase as the semester progresses. Our class meets in a room where we can display computer output so how analyses were done should be easy to show.

Analysis teams may wish to prepare introductory remarks that explore the connection between the readings and the previous presentation and how data might be used to ask and answer questions about them; they may wish to prepare handouts of salient points or questions for further
discussion or tables and charts that are useful in informing our discussion of the issues. The form of the student-led analyses is up to the student leaders of them. These should take-up no more than 30 minutes of class time.

Profs. Yost and Miller will host a series of workshops on using SPSS in Lsp-143 (the Life Sciences and Philosophy Building Advanced Statistics Laboratory: just opposite the front door) every other Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The first workshop will be on Wednesday January 30; others will be every other week thereafter (Feb. 13, Feb. 27, Mar. 12, Mar. 26, Apr. 9). We will have no particular agenda at these meetings; we will help you get started with your analysis and answer questions. We are also available to help you at other times by appointment.

Analysis leaders are not responsible for writing a short essay for the day they lead an analysis. Analysis leaders are responsible for keeping the class on schedule so all the day's work is accomplished.

Your performance as an analysis leader will count for 20% of your course grade. We will provide you with feedback on your performance as soon as possible after you have been an analysis leader. If you have prepared materials for your presentation, SPSS files, PowerPoint slides, or handouts, we ask that you turn them in to us after your presentation.

You are each assigned to one leadership team (see above). If you would prefer to be on an analysis leadership team to which you have not been assigned, you may negotiate a mutually agreeable swap. If you do so, please inform us as soon as you have made the arrangement.

Research Project

Each student will produce a 4-5,000 word research paper that explores in depth a topic in pregnancy outcomes, broadly defined. The final paper will be due May 6. Each of you will work with one of us; we will help you decide which one of us is most appropriate based on the topic you choose (see below). If you wish, and one of our guests agrees, you may seek help from him or her. There are also alternatives to this project (see below).

Alternatively, you may fulfill this part of the requirements of the course with service-learning or with an applied project or paper. The service-learning alternative may be through SouthEast Lancaster Health Services or another of the College partners. The College Ware Institute will be able to help you with this; see their Guide to Service Learning. This alternative will require written work or presentation to connect your service to the context of the course. The other alternative is to write a more applied or advocacy paper; this might involve data analysis and conclusion, possibly growing from your in-class analysis project, or using data to advocate a policy position or change.