Research
The research process is a guided experience involving one-on-one interaction with your research mentor (a faculty member with expertise in your topic area). The research topic you pursue (A) must conform to one of the developing lines of program research and (B) must be of interest to you. Nothing is worse than embarking on a research topic that you think is boring.
Human Subjects Training
The Federal Office for Human Research Protection requires that all research investigators receive continuing education in the protection of human research subjects in accordance with the Common Rule . To meet this end, Ohio University’s Office of Research Compliance mandates that all human subject researchers complete the CITI training, information and FAQ for this can be found on the Training page.
Regardless of the nature of your research, ALL exercise physiology graduate studentsare required to complete this training and submit a copy their training certificate to the Graduate exercise physiology program director by October 1 of their first year.
Mentorship Policy
This mentorship policy has been adopted to delineate the roles and responsibilities of the student and mentor and serves to assist the investigators in seeing their research proposal to fruition. Your research team may include other university faculty as co-mentors, but an exercise physiology faculty member must be involved with your research to ensure relevance of the research to exercise physiology, strength and conditioning, or sports science.
Primary Mentor: A faculty member who assists and guides the student’s research project or thesis. Only members who have CHSP Graduate Faculty Status may be the primary mentor for a thesis. Students should check with the graduate coordinator to determine if a faculty has graduate faculty status.
Mentor Committee: Combination of the student’s mentor and co-mentors that aid in the research project or thesis. The primary mentor will assist in selecting a thesis committee of at least 2 additional faculty. One of these must be from Department of Exercise Physiology and the other must be from within Ohio University. Additionally, non-Ohio University members who are in a professionally related area may be added to the committee as a fourth member.
Research Project Timeline
- A mentor and mentor committee should be established as soon as possible, but before initial IRB submission.
- The Research Project Contract must be completed after formation of the committee.
- Formation of the committee should be documented by completing the Committee Formation and Proposal Approval Form.
- It is preferred that a committee and proposal meeting occur before IRB submission.
- The proposal should include the first three chapters of the thesis: Introduction, Review of Literature, and Methods. This should be completed by the Spring semester of the first year in the program.
- Following a successful proposal and IRB approval, the student will conduct research while registering for the appropriate thesis credits.
- Following completion of data collection and analysis, the student will prepare their thesis of the research project using the template for the College.
- The student must defend their research in an oral presentation. This requires the completion of the Arrangements for the Oral Thesis Examination/Dissertation Defense at least 14 days prior to the defense.
- Following the defense, the Report on Oral Thesis Examination/Dissertation Defense form must be completed. This form along with a copy of the final committee-approved document should be emailed to the CHSP Deans office at least one week before the TAD filing date .
- The student will create a professional poster/oral presentation which can occur at any relevant regional or national conference but must also be presented at the OU Student EXPO.
- Prepare a manuscript from their thesis and submit for publication by November 1 following graduation. If the produced manuscript is not submitted by the student for publication by November 1 , the primary mentor may submit the research and adjust authorship order accordingly.
Thesis Policies & Procedures
Students should familiarize themselves with the University Thesis and Dissertation Services and procedures.
The template for CHSP and others can be found on the TAD website .
Examples of past thesis and dissertations can be found in OhioLINK .
Students may wish to utilize the Graduate Writing Center for tutoring, research support, or writing groups.