What class in college is geared towards learning to read scientific studies and abstracts that you can find from various journals or medline?
I took a course called Research Methods in Health and Human Performance. I honestly can’t say that it was necessarily worth an entire semester, as I could have pretty much covered the material myself with the textbook. The best way to learn how to read a journal abstract or study is to just read, read, read. Then, take any questions you might have and ask one of your professors.
Couldn’t agree more with Eric’s statements…you could take a research meth. course, but it comes down to how much you read…when people are out boozing it up, read, when people are eating donuts in the morning, read after your shake, when people are watching MTV and other silly ass shows READ…and then, you will have much more power over the stooges that don’t.
Trust me.
Out
Vain68
Classes taught along the lines of Statistics and Probability, or on the MPH tract often are involved with the critical evaluation of scientific publishings. P.S. You’ll be amazed at how much of same is poorly done!
In my upper division classes I require the students to read several articles from the literature and write a paper using the literature. Its the best way to get in touch with real research. There is no need to take a special research methods course.
Take a research methods class and some statistics and you should be good to go.