AuD Comprehensive Exams, Clinical Research Project
Audiology Comprehensive Exit Examination
See the flowchart “Comprehensive Examinations” in the Handbook.Definition.
Completion of the Au.D. degree requires that each student successfully complete the audiology comprehensive exit examination. The audiology exit examination consists of tests related to coursework taken during completion of the Au.D. degree. Questions will be primarily integrative and will include such issues as philosophy, theory, anatomy and physiology, assessment, and treatment. Some objective questions requiring factual knowledge may also appear, but the main purpose of this exam is to determine if the candidate can synthesize information for problem-solving tasks.Question Preparation and Selection.
The appointed faculty committee representative will solicit questions from faculty responsible for graduate curricula. Administration.
The exit examination will be administered each year during the spring semester. A faculty proctor will supply the day’s questions and collect completed test packets. Examination Grading.
The faculty member supplying questions for a content area will grade the candidate's response(s). To obtain an overall passing grade for the comprehensive exit examination, the candidate must achieve a score of 80% or better for each content area.In the event that passing scores are not achieved, an individualized comprehensive examination remediation program will be developed by the faculty members from the course(s) needing to be remediated and the Program Director for Audiology. The remediation will be documented with a specific plan of action, criteria for passing, and due date for completion. This form will be signed by the faculty member(s) and the student, with a copy being provided to the Program Director. Remediation may consist of one of three options (or a combination of options) based on the score on the original examination, input from the course(s) faculty, and information provided by the student:- Re-examination: Students may be required to re-take the failed course’s comprehensive exam. These re-examinations can be written and/or oral. The re-examination may be offered during the same semester as the exit examination or, if determined appropriate by the course faculty, the student may be asked to take the re-examination by the end of the semester following the comprehensive exit examination. The additional semester required before re-taking the exam can delay the student’s graduation date.
- Comprehensive examination remediation project: This could be a project or independent study developed by the course faculty. This project may be offered during the same semester as the exit examination or, if determined appropriate by the course faculty, the student may be asked to complete the project by the end of the semester following the comprehensive exit examination.The additional semester required for completing the project can delay the student’s graduation date.
- Comprehensive examination remediation and enrollment in independent study course: Students who fail 40% or more of the total number of the comprehensive examination subject areas will be required to complete a remediation plan which must include enrolling in an independent study course in the summer semester following the comprehensive examination. The student will not be cleared to begin the 4th year externship until he/she has satisfactorily completed remediation of all coursework and completed the summer independent study enrollment.
Upon successful completion of the chosen option, the student would be cleared to start the fourth year externship (given that all other requirements have been met). Should a passing grade not be obtained, the student will be referred to the Curriculum Committee who will meet with the course faculty member and then recommend the student perform another option for remediation (re-examination, remediation project, or independent study course enrollment). In this case, graduation will be delayed. If the student fails to successfully complete the second remediation program specified by the Curriculum Committee, the student will be dismissed from the program without graduation or conferral of the degree.
Students cannot start their fourth year clinical externship until all portions of the audiology exit examination have been successfully completed. For students required to enroll in the summer independent study course, 4th year externship cannot begin until the fall semester following comprehensive examinations (if the remediation course was successfully completed).Student Appeal of Exit Examination Grade
If the student questions the grading of portions of the examination, 1-2 additional faculty members will evaluate the student responses. Faculty member(s) familiar with the course material will be designated as second grader(s) by the Program Director. Timing of Audiology Exit Examination and Current Coursework.
Because the comprehensive exit examination will be completed prior to final examinations, many students will take the audiology exit examination while enrolled in one or more courses during that same semester. Satisfactory completion of both the exit examination and all coursework is required for the Au.D. degree. For example, it is possible that a candidate might pass the graduate course for the content area but fail the comprehensive examination in that content area. In this event, policies governing each requirement (the audiology exit examination and coursework) will be separately applied to determine the student's progress toward the Au.D. degree.
Audiology Clinical Research Project
Introduction
All students enrolled in the Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) must complete a clinical-research project. It is expected that the guidelines contained in this document will be useful for students and members of their committee in planning and performing the research project.
Objective
The clinical research project meets the following objective:
Understands the application of principles and practices of research
KASA: 49: principles and practices of research, including experimental design, evidence-based practice, statistical methods, and application of research to clinical populations
Broad Learning Outcome: J
What Constitutes a Clinical-Research Project?
The profession of Audiology is based on an evidence- and mechanism-based approach, and one that stresses the assessment of results from applied and basic research. As a result, the faculty at SLHS – TTUHSC supports expanding the field through research. During the course of the Doctor of Audiology Program, each student is expected to engage in research.
Although the student is responsible for the content and format of the project, a faculty mentor, selected by the student, is expected to provide guidance. Both the student and mentor should read and understand these guidelines prior to initiating the clinical-research process. This document describes the procedural sequence necessary to complete the clinical-research project in a timely fashion, but does not guarantee that the student will graduate on time.
Requirements
The clinical-research project comprises three 1-credit hour enrollments in clinical research courses. During the enrollments, the student will chose a mentor and committee member(s), choose the initial topic, complete a literature review, develop methods for the project, complete data collection, analyze the data, write results/discussions, and develop a poster presentation. The completed clinical-research project must also be approved by the committee and presented as a poster in a peer reviewed forum prior to being cleared for the 4th year externship. The various procedures and guidelines associated with completion of the research project are outlined as follows:
Procedural Steps
Detailed below are the steps needed to complete the clinical-research project. A timeline has been included.Initiation
The initial step in the process is to identify a general area of interest. At this stage, the topic or format of the clinical- research project need not be specific, but the student should have a general idea about the area of interest. The majority of ideas for research projects arise from reading the literature, or as the result of discussions with course instructors, classmates, and with other professional colleagues. For these reasons, students are encouraged to discuss possible research ideas with course instructors, professionals, and/or classmates prior to making their decision. Students are expected to use moral and ethical judgments when communicating with faculty and students about the ideas of others.Selecting a Chairperson/Mentor
Choosing a faculty member from the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences to chair/mentor the research project is equally important. In addition to providing assistance in selecting other committee members, the chairperson/mentor will interact closely as the student works to refine the original study idea into a prospectus, conducts the project, writes the final product, and develops a final presentation. In this respect, the chairperson/mentor is expected to provide guidance and mentorship to the student during all phases of the research experience.
INSTRUCTOR | AREA OF STUDY |
Jeremy J. Donai, Ph.D. | Speech Perception, Use of High-Frequency Speech Energy: Human and Machine |
Moumita Choudury, Au.D. | Aural Rehabilitation, Extended High-Frequency Audiometry |
Tori Gustafson, Au.D. | Auditory Processing, Unilateral Hearing Loss, Audiologic Rehabilitation |
Candace Hicks, Ph.D. | Pediatric/Educational Audiology, Assistive Listening Devices, Listening Effort |
Leigh Ann Reel, Au.D., Ph.D. | Selective Auditory Attention, FM systems, Multicultural Issues, Noise Induced Hearing Loss |
Renee Zimmerman, Au.D. | Cochlear Implants, Clinical Protocols |
Steven Zupancic, Au.D., Ph.D. | Balance Function, Electrophysiology, Cochlear Implants |
Selection of Student Research Committee
Once a student has identified a topic and found a chairperson/mentor, the next step is to identify faculty who will serve on their committee. The committee should consist of a minimum of 2 members, including the chairperson/mentor, with at least 1 committee member being from the Department of SLHS faculty. Students may seek committee members outside of SLHS once these requirements have been met. If data are to be collected off-site, a representative of the facility should be included on the committee, or act as a consultant for the project. Selection of Au.D. project topic, chairperson and committee must be completed by mid-term of Year 1 Summer.Project Format
The project can take one of two forms: a data-driven project or an annotated bibliography which answers a clinical research question.- Data-driven project.In this project, the student will design a study that would answer the developed research question(s). This might include a pilot study, single-subject study, file review or more involved data collection designs.
- Students may work in groups of two on a data driven project, if such group work is approved by the faculty mentor and committee. Each student must take part in all aspects of the project in some way. Students working in teams must complete the “Clinical Research Project: Group Approval Form” committing to working as a team and delineating the division of work. This document must be approved by the research mentor and committee.
- Annotated bibliography. This would involve an exhaustive review of the literature in a particular area. It should be directed toward answering a specific clinical research question. The articles must be quality-ranked, followed by statistical analysis of the importance of that source to the question. A minimum of 25 sources must be included.
The student will meet with his/her committee for a prospectus meeting. The prospectus should be prepared under the direction of his/her mentor/chairperson. Prior to the meeting, the student will provide the committee members with a written literature review and methodology for a data-driven project. For the annotated bibliography, the student will provide a list of annotated references and a proposal of how these references will be used to answer the research question. At this meeting, the committee will discuss the project proposal and suggest changes. The student will prepare a 15-20 minute presentation, which describes the proposed clinical-research project. The presentation should include a brief overview of the literature, research question, and methodology (if collecting data) or how the references will be used to answer the research question (if annotated bibliography). If working as a team, both students must present during the prospectus (each student presenting for 10-15 minutes). Prospectus must be completed by mid-term of Year 2 fall semester.
Institutional Review Board (IRB), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) & Institutional Biohazards Committee (IBC)
(Fall of 2nd year)
TTUHSC, in compliance with Federal law, has specific policies that govern projects involving human and animal subjects, as well as bio-hazardous materials.When a clinical-research project involves human subjects (or clinical files), an application must be submitted to the TTUHSC Institutional Review Board (IRB) for review and approval. (IRB policies and procedures can be found at https://www.ttuhsc.edu/research/divisions/integrity-office/review-board/default.aspx.) Prior to submitting an application, students must take an online training course on human subjects, available at the above site, as wll as training for HIPPA. A project involving human subjects cannot begin without IRB approval.When a project involves animal subjects, approval must be obtained through Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC). (IACUC policies and procedures can be found at https://www.ttuhsc.edu/research/divisions/integrity-office/animal-care/default.aspx.) A project involving animal subjects cannot begin without IACUC approval. Projects involving bio-hazardous materials must gain approval from the Institutional Biohazards Committee (IBC). (IBC policies and procedures can be found at https://www.ttuhsc.edu/research/divisions/integrity-office/biosafety-committee.aspx) A project involving bio-hazards cannot begin without IBC approval.The IRB, IACUC, and/or IBC application should be prepared by the student under the guidance of their chairperson/mentor. It will be submitted to the department chairperson at least one week prior to the submission date for IRB/IACUC for his/her approval and signature per IRB requirements. Submission deadlines can be found at the IRB website. In general, it will take about 4 to 8 weeks, or more, for an application to be reviewed and notification sent to the student and chairperson/mentor.Conducting the Project/Preparing a Preliminary Draft
(Spring and Summer of 2nd year, Fall of 3rd year)
Once all necessary approvals have been obtained, as discussed in the previous sections of these guidelines, the student’s task is to conduct the clinical-research project.Presentation
After the committee has reviewed and approved the completed student project, the student will present the clinical-research project in the form of a poster presentation. Format information will be provided to the student. At the conclusion of the poster presentation, the committee will schedule to meet in the absence of the student to decide if the student has satisfactorily completed the clinical-research project, and to recommend, if necessary, any additions or changes to the research project. A project is satisfactory when a majority of the committee is in agreement. The student will then be notified by the chairperson/mentor of the decision(s). Students who work in a group of two may develop one poster. However, each student must present for the minimum time requirement.Should the student fail to complete the requirements at a level that would satisfy the committee, the student will be required to enroll in a summer independent study course. Failure to complete the poster by the presentation date would automatically qualify as failure to meet committee expectations and would require enrollment in an independent study course. The research projects must be presented and approved prior to being cleared for the 4th year externship. Student cannot enroll in the 4th year externship until the summer independent study course is completed and passed. Being enrolled in this course could delay graduation. Additional Requirements for Annotated Bibliography
For the annotated bibliography, the student must also submit the final written document (i.e., the written annotated bibliography). The project is not completed until the committee has also approved the final draft of this document. Once the final report has been completed, it is expected that the student will submit one hard copy and one electronic version to his/her chair/mentor. Should the student fail to complete the requirements at a level that would satisfy the committee, the student will be required to enroll in a summer independent study course. Failure to complete the document by the presentation date would automatically qualify as failure to meet committee expectations and would require enrollment in an independent study course.The annotated bibliography must be completed and approved by the committee prior to being cleared for the 4th year externship. Student cannot enroll in the 4th year externship until the summer independent study course is completed and passed. Being enrolled in this course could delay graduation. Grading Procedure
Research enrollments are graded as stated in the syllabus associated with each research enrollment (see “ Audiology Academic Standards” section of the student handbook) The completed Au.D. research form must be included in the student’s portfolio. If working in a group of two, the Clinical Research Project: Group Approval Form must also be included in the student’s portfolio. Successful completion of all requirements will constitute having met the KASA requirements for the clinical research project.
Audiology Research Project Flowchart 
