The community of health services researchers, policy makers, and practitioners use a wide array of methodologies to answer applied questions about health policy and practice. AcademyHealth's methods seminars address key methods topics identified by the AcademyHealth Methods Council. All seminars have an applied focus, and emphasize researchers' ability to understand and apply current methods in the field. Seminars are offered for a variety of audiences with different levels of methodological experience. Please view the AcademyHealth Professional Development Catalog for a comprehensive list of training opportunities offered by AcademyHealth.

AcademyHealth offers two types of methods seminars:

Online Methods Seminars
Online seminars may be accessed on-demand, or as live webinars. Topics cover a range of methodologies and are available for various skill levels.

Methods Events
Methods events provide the HSR community an opportunity to receive in-depth methods instruction. Offerings are available over the course of the year, including seminars and workshops concurrent to the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) and the National Health Policy Conference (NHPC), and as special events.

View short video previews of the 2010 ARM: Seminars in HSR Methods by the faculty members.

Spotlight Resources

Introduction to Case Studies: A Public Health Methods Webinar
This webinar features best practices when conducting case studies. Topics include an overview of the proper use of case studies, focusing on applied examples from public health. The session is intended for both researchers and practitioners. Those with training in qualitative research, including case studies, are encouraged to participate in order to refresh their knowledge of current best practices.

Multilevel Modeling: A Public Health Methods Webinar 
This advanced webinar on multilevel modeling (MLM), with Dr. Adam Carle of the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine, includes a brief conceptual overview and demonstrates the application of MLM for public health questions. The session is intended for public health systems researchers, health services researchers, and others who are interested in using multilevel models to investigate the health of populations.

Making the Most of Research Resources for HSR: PubMed and CER
This free seminar provides an overview of the set of PubMed specialized search filters for HSR, with an in-depth discussion of the HSR search algorithms developed for this purpose.  Information on a new search for "comparative effectiveness research," recently developed by librarians at the National Information Center on Health Services Research (NICHSR) are introduced.