Finding and Understanding Yoga Research
What Constitutes Good Yoga Research?
Online Course for Yoga Teachers, Yoga Therapists, Health Professionals, and Students
Taught by Julie K. Staples, Ph.D.and Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa, Ph.D.
Finding and understanding research can be a daunting task. Have you ever wanted to look at the medical literature on yoga therapy and were not sure where to start or how to evaluate the studies? This course will show you how.
In this course you will:
Discover how to find research studies on yoga in PubMed using the best search strategies
Learn how to evaluate the quality of research
Identify evidence-based approaches to apply to your yoga therapy practice and teaching
The course consists of four 1.5 recorded online sessions. There are also two 30 minute pre-recorded sessions. This course is offered as part of the International Kundalini Yoga Therapy Professional Training but it is applicable to all forms of yoga therapy and open to everyone.
The following topics are covered:
Overview of Research
The scientific method
Types of studies (Hierarchy of Evidence)
Study Design and Quality
Elements of a research paper
Assessing quality of research
Reliability and validity
Types of bias in randomized controlled studies
Types of randomization
Systematic review quality
How to Search the Scientific Literature
Formulating the question/purpose
Setting up a search strategy
Searching PubMed database
Finding and identifying useful studies
Basic Concepts of Statistics
How data is presented
Steps in statistical hypothesis testing
Introduction of statistical terms
Clinical vs statistical significance
Types of statistical tests
Compared to quantitative research
Methodology used in qualitative research
Evaluating papers that describe qualitative research
Protection of human subjects
Institutional Review Boards
Special Considerations for Yoga Research
Limitations and Bias in Yoga Research
Essential Properties of Yoga Questionnaire
Yoga Research in India
Four 1.5 hour recorded sessions from the online course plus a 30 minute pre-recorded session by Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa on the applications of this course to yoga therapists and a 30 minute pre-recorded session by Dr. Julie Staples on how to apply this course content to marketing your yoga or yoga therapy programs.
If you are more interested in learning about the research studies on yoga and less interested in learning how to find and understand studies, please check out the How Yoga Works course.