The Science of Dance Therapy and the of Research

RACHEL HARRIS, Ph.D,. D. I~.R. Research scientist Department of Social Science Research, Veterans Adrni~zistrataon Hos'p~ta[ Miami, Florida, Research Instr'~ctor, Department of Psychiatry, Univer- sity of Mmm.. School of Medicine; movement therapist private prac&ce.

Rachel Harris

Research has a contribution to make to the growing profession of dance therapy. It is becoming increasingly important for clinicians not only to understand the research process, but also to become actively involved in actually conducting their own research. Essentially, research is important for two reasons. First of all, research will provide data from which a theoretical framework can be constructed to explain the process of dance therapy. Secondly, research can potentially provide justification for dance therapy as a therapeutic modality by establishing its effectiveness in a scientifically controlled study. Funds are needed to conduct research and in order to obtain such support, grants are usually written, The federal government supports mos~ of the psychosocial research conducted in this country and so the form of a grant submission to the National Institutes of Health will serve as a basis for detailing the art of writing a research proposal.

A research grant begins with an idea. In studying treatment interventions and processes, frequently it is the clinician who has the most relevant and creative ideas. The idea needs to be shaped into a research question which usually has a standard form beginning with "What is the relationship between _ _ and

9" For our purposes, we might ask "What is the relationship between group dance therapy sessions one hour a day and depression in a sample of psychiatric patients.'?" Considerable time should be spent with the research question confirming that it is, indeed, answerable and, furthermore, that it is a relevant question to the field. The entire proposal can then grow out of the research question.

There is a standard form for the proposal to assume and the research question is listed under a section directly in the middle of the proposal. Thus, the writing of t.he proposal does not necessarily follow the final format. The format for an NIH proposal is as follows.

The introductory section contains a brief statement as to the overall goals and objectives of the project. It describes the purpose of actually conducting the research under consideration. Then a review of the literature follows showing that the author is familiar with current work in the area of his ,'her proposal. This

literature review should provide a theoretical frame- work for the intervention proposed as well as a review of previous research indicating that it is worth studying. The third part of Lhe introductory section is the rationale and this is essentially a defense of all the decisions made in planning the research. It may include why a certain population was selected, why specific psychological measurements were collected, why follow up was scheduled at certain times, and so on.

The second section of the grant application is called the specific aims. This section includes the research question which was mentioned above. The hypothesis and null hypothesis are also included here. Frequently, there is more than one research question that can be answered by a study; however, usually one or two are primary.

The next section details the methods of procedure and describes in detail exactly how the study wilt be done. Within this section, the population from which the sample is to be drawn is defined, the design of the research outlined, treatment intervention described in detail, measurements described and referenced, and data analysis stated. This section should be detailed and clear enough so that another researcher could replicate the study.

The final section of the body of the grant proposal is called significance. In this section the author can proclaim the merits of the study in terms of the new information the research wilt contribute, how it wilt add to current theory, and, perhaps most importantly, how the findings >,'ill contribute to patient care,

Isaac, S. and Michael, W.B. Handbook in Research and Evaluation. San Diego, California: Robt. Knapp, 1971.

Kerlinger, F.N, Foundations o f Behavioral Research. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1964.

Publication Manual o f the Amer ican Psychological Associat ion. Publication Sales, American Psychological Association, 1200 Seventeenth Street, N.W,, Washington, D.C. 20036.

FALL/~VINTER, 1978 15