2025-2026 Pierce College Catalog 
    
    Jul 03, 2025  
2025-2026 Pierce College Catalog
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DHYG 428 Research Methodologies (3 credits)



Course Description
Introduces and develops principles of oral health research design. The course includes public health theory and practice, determinants and indicators of health disparities, epidemiology, biostatistics, community-based preventive practices, and management of oral diseases. Uses American Psychological Association formatting.

Course Content
Research principles
Ethics in the research process
Institutional Review Board (IRB) process
Research designs and methods
Sampling techniques
Data collection
Epidemiology in research
Introduction to biostatistics
Evaluating published scholarly research
Dental indices
Calibration and challenges amongst researchers
Oral healthcare delivery systems
Role of the dental public health dental hygienist research
American Psychology Association format
Community organizations
Legislative role, public health initiatives, and health policies
Research hypothesis and author hypothesis

Student Outcomes
1. Interpret fundamental biostatistics and evidence-based epidemiology within healthcare systems.

2. Analyze data collection procedures and ethical principles of research in the scientific method.

3. Evaluate the role of research, cultural humility and public health in the practice of dental hygiene.

4. Assess the fundamental principles of the research process, design methodologies, and challenges, for conducting, interpreting, and validating research data.

5. Compare research data and its role in public health initiatives related to oral healthcare in order to inform future practices and work within the broader healthcare community.

6. Communicate with diverse audiences about public health and research.

Degree Outcomes
This course is part of the Bachelor Science in Applied Science in Dental Hygiene Degree. Please refer to the Dental Hygiene Competency Map for detail of the Program Competencies this course addresses. Each competency is identified at a level of skill by the terms Introductory (I), Developing (D), or Competent (C). The map also shows the alignment between each Program Competency and the Pierce College Core Ability(ies).

Critical, Creative, and Reflective Thinking: Graduates will evaluate, analyze, synthesize, and generate ideas; construct informed, meaningful, and justifiable conclusions; and process feelings, beliefs, biases, strengths, and weaknesses as they relate to their thinking, decisions, and creations.

Effective Communication: Graduates will be able to craft and exchange ideas and information in a variety of situations, in response to audience, context, purpose, and motivation.

Information Literacy: Graduates will be critical users, creators, and disseminators of information by examining how information is created, valued, and influenced by power and privilege.

Global Citizenship: Graduates will be able to critically examine the relationship between self, community, and/or environments, and to evaluate and articulate potential impacts of choices, actions, and contributions for the creation of sustainable and equitable systems.

Lecture Contact Hours 30
Lab Contact Hours 0
Clinical Contact Hours 0
Total Contact Hours 30

Potential Methods
Class discussion
Written examinations
Application of dental indices
Research project
Oral presentations
Case studies/analysis
Service learning projects
Peer-evaluations
Self-evaluations
ePortfolio
Clinical AIS Evaluation Criteria



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