Goals
All graduate students in genetic counseling must complete a research project.
Our students typically do not complete a “bench research” project,
but rather select projects either proposed by available faculty, or develop
a project idea based on personal interests. Most often these topics
cover a range of issues that relate to patient care, patient attitudes, or
health care professional experiences or attitudes.
The goals of the research project are to
* Gain a thorough understanding of the research process
* Critically evaluate research studies
* Understand research methodology, the statistical tools necessary to analyze
data, and when to implement them
* Ask an original research question that will add to the body of genetic counseling
knowledge
* Formally write up the project
* Present the findings of the project at the annual Graduate Program in Genetic
Counseling Graduate Student Research Colloquium
Completion of the research project is a requirement for the degree. The completed
project should reflect a full 18 months of hard work. There is no minimum
required length for the papers, but they should be of good quality, well organized,
and thoroughly referenced.
Preparation
Preparation for the research
project for students in the master's degree Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling
begins in the winter quarter of the first year with a course on epidemiology.
This course is designed to help the student gain a better understanding of
qualitative and quantitative research methods; it will also encourage the
students to think of research questions as they begin their clinical rotations.
The second course, offered in the spring quarter, is a research seminar. During
this course, possible research questions will be discussed. Once a topic is
selected, the intended research plan needs to be approved by the research
oversight committee. By the end of this course, the students each will have
developed a research proposal, met with their thesis advisers, and begun the
process of obtaining institutional review board (IRB) approval.
After the project is under way, the students will schedule periodic meetings
with their thesis adviser to review the project's progress and receive guidance.
As stated above, students are required to present their final research project
at the Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling Graduate
Student Research Colloquium, typically scheduled the Friday prior to graduation.
The student is encouraged to invite all those who assisted in the project
to attend the colloquium. Family members, friends, and other local faculty
members also are invited to attend.
Graduates write up the paper in the format of a publishable paper, and are
strongly encouraged to submit their work for presentation at relevant national
or regional meetings, such as NSGC, ASHG, ACMG.