2012-03-23

[DIV28SUPER] FW: NIH LAUNCHES ONLINE RESOURCE ON BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH METHODS

Wanted to be sure everyone saw this announcement.

Patricia Clem Kobor
Sr. Science Policy Analyst
American Psychological Association
750 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 336-5933
(202) 336-6063-f
pkobor@apa.org
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.
-----Original Message-----
From: NIH news releases and news items [mailto:NIHPRESS@LIST.NIH.GOV] On
Behalf Of NIH OLIB (NIH/OD)
Sent: Friday, March 23, 2012 9:47 AM
To: NIHPRESS@LIST.NIH.GOV
Subject: NIH LAUNCHES ONLINE RESOURCE ON BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
RESEARCH METHODS

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF
HEALTH NIH News Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
(OBSSR) <http://obssr.od.nih.gov/index.aspx>
For Immediate Release: Friday, March 23, 2012

CONTACT: OBSSR Office of Communications, Ann C. Benner, 301-594-4574,
<e-mail:annb@nih.gov>

NIH LAUNCHES ONLINE RESOURCE ON BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
METHODS

A Web-based interactive anthology will provide psychologists,
economists, anthropologists, sociologists and other scientists with the
latest research methods and tools to address emerging challenges in
public health, such as the obesity epidemic and the rise of chronic
diseases such as heart disease. The Office of Behavioral and Social
Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health
collaborated with New England Research Institutes to create the free
resource(http://www.esourceresearch.org/), called e-Source.

Because behavioral and social scientists hail from widely varying
disciplines from political science to social work research, there was a
need for a central resource for current, high quality behavioral and
social science research methods. With contributions from international
experts, this anthology provides authoritative answers to methodological
questions and sets quality standards for the research community.

The goal of the program is to demonstrate the potential of behavioral
and social science research, focusing on applying research findings to
public health activities and the potential to enhance biomedical
research. It is also a useful training resource for biological
scientists, providing them with a basic foundation for collaborations
with behavioral and social scientists.
"The behavioral and social sciences research community has long needed
an easily accessible, low-cost central resource for standardized
methods," said Dr. Robert M. Kaplan, director of OBSSR.

Behavioral and social science has broad appeal and impact, and the
program was developed to reach a wide audience of researchers, within
the NIH, nationally and internationally. The Web-based interactive
collection consists of 20 interactive chapters with new features
including a discussion forum and enhanced note-taking capabilities. The
twenty chapters cover a range of topics, but are accessible to all
users, including those with limited familiarity of concepts such as how
to conduct a qualitative analysis. The concepts are supported with
interactive exercises and a full set of references linked to abstracts
in Pubmed(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed), a library of citations
for scientific journals.

The program includes chapters under five major categories relevant to
behavioral and social science. "Setting the Scene" introduces major
concepts in design and planning of social and behavioral science
research. "Describing How" addresses methodologies used to explain how
something occurs (for instance, learning how a disease is distributed in
a population by conducting a survey or an observational study).
"Explaining Why" provides guidance on qualitative methods appropriate
for describing why something occurs. "What Works" explores research
methods that can evaluate whether one treatment is better than another
and whether there are cost differences (for example, a brand drug versus
a generic medication). "Emerging Issues" addresses challenges in
behavioral and social science research.

Several features engage the user and promote sharing, including a
discussion board, a notes feature to save content and share it with
others, and a function which allows the user to print a page or a
chapter as a PDF. Unlike a printed textbook, the site has been
developed with the expectation that it will provide a foundation of
methods, but also evolve as new issues emerge. Future topics may
include the effects of living in a particular neighborhood, the impact
of differences in language and lifestyles, and the science of writing
questions.

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) opened
officially on July 1, 1995. The U.S. Congress established the Office of
Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) in the Office of the
Director, NIH, in recognition of the key role that behavioral and social
factors often play in illness and health. The OBSSR mission is to
stimulate behavioral and social sciences research throughout NIH and to
integrate these improving our understanding, treatment, and prevention
of disease. For more information, please visit
<http://obssr.od.nih.gov>.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical
research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component
of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary
federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and
translational medical research, and is investigating the causes,
treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more
information about NIH and its programs, visit <www.nih.gov>.

NIH...Turning Discovery into Health
##

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<http://www.nih.gov/news/health/mar2012/od-23.htm>.

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