Assistant Professor Columbia University New York, New York, United States
Disclosure(s):
Moneek Madra, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: There is a need for nutrition trainees to understand how to evaluate and conduct rigorous and reproducible nutrition research. To address this need, Columbia University’s Institute of Human Nutrition has developed a streamlined, yet robust, researched-based curriculum for its one-year Masters of Human Nutrition Program. A key component of the program is thesis research with on-site mentors in Basic Science, Clinical, or Public Health Nutrition Research. To guide and improve the thesis process, the program implemented an innovative curriculum of two semesters of Thesis Planning & Research Methods courses. The main objective of this work was to evaluate the success of these courses in enhancing the research experience of the students.
Methods: We used course evaluations and focus groups, along with feedback from research mentors on student performance to assess students’ experience in the courses. We also obtained data on changes in numbers of publications (manuscripts, posters and abstracts) pre and post this intervention.
Results: 224 students over three years completed semester 1 of the research methods course series and 66% completed the courses evaluations. 144 students over two years completed semester 2 of the research methods courses and 44% completed the course evaluations. For the first semester course, 91.2% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the course contributed to the pursuit of their professional goals. 87.4% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend this course to other students, and 89.1% of students rated the overall quality of the course as good or excellent. For the second semester course, 78.8% of students agreed or strongly agreed that the course contributed to the pursuit of their professional goals. 70.1% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend this course to other students, and 72.8% of students rated the overall quality of the course as good or excellent. Qualitative data support these quantitative findings through open-ended written responses from students and mentors. Data on publication outcomes is being collected.
Conclusions: Our unique approach to a more facilitated research process within our MS program has demonstrated success in student research outcomes. Future research will determine how the coursework impacts the quality of research.
