Criteria for choosing a talk: The topic and the department do not really matter, as long as
the talk relates to a topic important in public health, and is a scientific research talk. If you
get to your talk and realize that it isn’t a research seminar…you will have to find another
one. For example, a panel discussion on public health policy is unlikely to cover research in
depth enough for this assignment.
Where to find a list of talks: The Student Affairs Weekly email contains many seminars.
Additional talks are available on Canvas to help you find a seminar that interests you.
II. Assignment structure: Provide a brief summary of the talk you attended. Including the
following sections:
a. Title, speaker, date and location of seminar
b. Research topic and/or question: Summarize the specific research topic and/or question
of the talk.
c. Significance: State the health problem and public health relevance.
d. Methods: Provide a brief description of all research methods used. Include study design,
data collection/laboratory methods, analysis methods. If a single study was presented,
SPH 480 – Public Health Research Methods
you can provide more detail. If multiple studies were presented, briefly describe all
methods used in less detail.
e. Results: Summarize the main research findings. Include data (quantitative or qualitative)
to support these findings.
f. Implications: In your own words, provide a few sentences to:
– Summarize the relevance of the findings: Provide a few sentences to summarize the
researcher’s thoughts on the relevance of their work.
– Your thoughts on the research as presented: Does the study address a significant
public health topic? How may the research impact the public health problem? Did
you notice particular strengths/weaknesses in this study? Use the lessons from SPH
480 to analyze the talk. Please note that vague thoughts such as “This was a very
interesting topic”/”I never thought about this topic” will not receive credit.
– Unanswered questions: Did the presentation leave you with questions? What else
needs to be studied to understand the implications of the research?