Chair:

Cate Nicholas, University of Vermont

Committee Members:

Walker, Stacy    Ball State University
Semiao, Meghan    George Washington Un Medical Center
Blatt, Benjamin    George Washington University
Haan, Andrea    Palmer College of Chiropractic
Howley, Lisa Doyle    UNCC
Thompson, Tonya M    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Yudkowsky, Rachel    University of Illinois at Chicago
Miller, Jane    University of Minnesota
Perkowski, Linda    University of Minnesota Medical School
Clark, Lou    University Of New Mexico
Szauter, Karen    University of Texas Medical Branch
Nicholas, Cate    University of Vermont College of Medicine

Mission and Goals:

The ASPE Grants & Research Committee is active in research and in supporting the research needs of our members. Our current primary projects include:

1. Annual Research/Project Awards
2. Research Workshop Series
3. SP Literature Review Study
4. SP Practices Survey (in collaboration with the SOP Committee)

The overall goal of ASPE Research/Projects Awards is to provide incentive grants to current ASPE members for unique research or development projects related to the use of Standardized Patients in the Health Sciences. The ASPE Grants and Research Committee Workshop Series includes six topics such as different types of research, how to ask a research question, writing for research/grants, and an introduction to statistics and data analysis. A minimum of two workshops in this series will be offered at each annual ASPE meeting. Completion of all six workshops will result in a certificate. The SP Literature Review Study is intended to address the basic question: Do we have sufficient information to replicate studies reporting the use of SPs? Anecdotally, much of the research reporting the use of SPs appears to lack explicit details regarding how the SPs were trained, how reliability of the ratings was ensured, and how fidelity of performance was assessed. Members of the Committee are working to gather empirical evidence regarding the quality of SP methods reported in published literature. The purpose of this descriptive study is twofold:

1. To define standards relating to the use of SPs in research
2. To determine whether authors are describing the study in sufficient detail in order for the reader to:
   1. Evaluate the appropriateness of the methods and reliability and validity of the results
   2. Replicate the study if he/she desires.

Finally, the SP Practices Survey Project is a joint effort with the Standards of Practice Committees. The purpose of this project is to describe the use of standardized patients, the structure of SP programs and activities, and how SP Educators and related personnel function. Representatives from all allopathic and osteopathic medical schools throughout the USA and Canada that use standardized patients will be asked to participate in the telephone interview.