Dr. Daniel Fuller
E-mail: dfuller@mun.ca
Office: PE2023
Time: Fridays from 10:30-11:30am (NL time)
Location: PE1007 or online https://whereby.com/walkabilly
None
This course will introduce students to physical activity measurement using research grade accelerometers and commercial devices including smartphones and smartwatches. We will also discuss concepts of intervention as they relate to physical education. Students will design a small scale intervention and conduct an analyse using R. Students will learn programming in R.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of device based physical activity
- Compare and contrast available technologies for physical activity measurement
- Understand the basics of interventions and intervention evaluation
- Basic programming in R
- Design, conduct, and analyse data from an intervention
This class is online.
There is no specific text for this course. A list of readings will provided for relevant in class sessions. Resources to help with software applications will also be provided.
| Assignment | Percent |
|---|---|
| Regular Assignments | 30% |
| Intro to R | 15% |
| Accelerometer Data in R | 15% |
| Intervention Proposal | 10% |
| Intervention Evaluation in R | 10% |
| Intervention Evaluation Report | 20% |
Note 1. I purposefuly do not have penalties for late assignments in my courses. You will have the most success with this course if you submit the assignments the weeks suggested. There will be a steep learning curve for R. It will hurt. The faster you get over the learning curve, the easier, and more fun, your life will be in this course.
Note 2. There are no specific formatting rules or guidelines for the course related to references. Use some type of reference formatting, APA and AMA are good choices. You will be using Markdown for most of the work so formatting mostly takes care of itself.
I will post all of the questions and response I get in the help file here https://github.com/walkabilly/HKR6130_MUN/blob/master/help.md. Use this to your advantage, particularly in the first weeks.
Regular assignments will be outlined in the Weekly Outline table. There are 6 regular assignments. Each regular assignent with be worth 6.66% of your mark. The list is here:
| Assignment | Week | Description | Brightspace Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Assignment 1 | Week 1 | Video and blog | Discussions/Blog/Video and blog |
| Regular Assignment 2 | Week 3 | Intervention? and meeting with Dr. Fuller | Discussions/Blog/Intervention? |
| Regular Assignment 3 | Week 4 | Apple Watch Data | Assignments/Apple Watch Data |
| Regular Assignment 4 | Week 5 | App and Device Review and meeting with Dr. Fuller | Assignments/App and Device Review |
| Regular Assignment 5 | Week 7 | Process Evaluation | Discussions/Blog/Process Evaluation |
| Regular Assignment 6 | Week 9 | Outcome Evaluation | Discussions/Blog/Outcome Evaluation |
- Complete the R and RMarkdown tutorial.
- Submit your RMarkdown file and rendered PDF document to Brightspace (Assignments/Intro to R)
- Complete the Accelerometer data analysis lab using R and RMarkdown.
- Submit your data, Rmd file, and rendered PDF document to Brightspace (Assignments/Accelerometer Data)
The purpose of the Intervention Proposal is to design a hypothetical research project that you would like to conduct. You will not need to complete the study, however, I will create a dataset that follows your study design and hypothesis. You will be required to analyze the dataset and write a report outlining your findings. Examples of possible interventions may include
1. A physical activity intervention to increase physical activity in a school
2. A new bicycle lane constructed in a urban area
3. A office intervention to increase physical activity among employees
These are just suggestions. Feel free to explore the world of research in physical activity behaviour change.
This project will be completed in groups of 2. I will assign the groups.
-
Introduction (~ 800 words): A description of previous research that supports your intervention or suggests that your intervention will change physical activity. This should include support from 5-10 academic publications.
-
Research Question and Hypothesis (~ 100 words): Your research question and hypothesis. Describe your research question and hypothesis for the study. You should only have 1 research question and 1 hypothesis. The section should be 1 paragraph.
-
Methods (~ 800 words): What is your outcome (dependent) variable? Describe the intervention in detail. What population are you recruiting for this study? How many people will you need? How will you analyze the data? How will create figures and tables to examine whether your intervention increased your physical activity?
The paper should be formatted using a standard academic format. I would suggest that APA and AMA are good choices. You can use MS Word or another word processor for the study proposal. You are not required to use Markdown. References should be included on a separate page.
Submit RMarkdown or Word document to Brightspace (Assignments/Intervention Proposal)
- Complete the assignment posted at the end of the Intervention Evaluation in R
- Submit your data, Rmd file, and rendered PDF document to Brightspace (Assignments/Intervention Evaluation in R)
- In the same groups as the Intervention Proposal Assignment write a 3000 word report detailing intervention evaluation.
- You can include the information from your Intervention Proposal in the report.
- Submit RMarkdown or Word document to Brightspace (Assignments/Intervention Evaluation Report)
Students and faculty at Memorial University share an important responsibility to maintain the integrity of the teaching and learning relationship. This relationship is characterized by honesty, fairness and mutual respect for the aim and principles of the pursuit of education.
Academic misconduct impedes the activities of the university community and is punishable by appropriate disciplinary action. Students are expected to be familiar with Memorial University’s regulations on Academic Misconduct (Section 6.12 of the Academic Calendar) which sets out the kinds of actions that constitute academic misconduct, including plagiarism, copying or allowing one’s own work to copied, use of unauthorized aids in examinations and tests, submitting work prepared in collaboration with another student when such collaboration has not been authorized, and other academic offenses. The regulations also describe the procedures for dealing with allegations and the unit level as well as the university level, and the sanctions for any finding of academic misconduct, which can range from a written reprimand to a rescindment of the degree. A lack of familiarity with Memorial’s regulations on academic misconduct does not constitute a defense against its application.
If an instructor alleges that academic misconduct has occurred for evaluative instruments worth between 15-39% the course instructor is required to submit the student’s work along with a summary of the allegation to the SHKR Committee for Academic Integrity for consideration and a decision. Any allegations of misconduct that occur with evaluative instruments worth 40% or more of the final grade or final examinations are automatically sent to the Senate Committee on Undergraduate Studies for consideration.
Further information on academic integrity is outlined in the University Calendar 6.12: http://www.mun.ca/regoff/calendar/sectionNo=REGS-0748 Information regarding acceptable writing practices is available through the Writing Centre at http://www.mun.ca/writingcentre/
In compliance with the Memorial University’s policy and equal access laws, it is understood that appropriate academic accommodations may be required for student with disabilities. Please see the guide for full details http://www.mun.ca/policy/site/policy.php?id=239.
| Data | Week | Link | Assignment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 September 2021 | 1 | What is Physical Activity? | Regular Assignment 1 |
| 20 September 2021 | 2 | Intro to RMarkdown and R | Intro to R |
| 27 September 2021 | 3 | What is an Intervention? | Regular Assignment 2 |
| 4 October 2021 | 4 | Apple Watch Data in R | Regular Assignment 3 |
| 11 October 2021 | 5 | Recovery Week | Meeting with Dr. Fuller |
| 18 October 2021 | 6 | App and Device Review | Regular Assignment 4 |
| 25 October 2021 | 7 | Process Evaluation | Regular Assignment 5 |
| 1 November 2021 | 8 | Intervention Evaluation in R | Intervention Proposal + Intervention Evaluation in R |
| 8 November 2021 | 9 | Outcome Evaluation | Regular Assignment 6 |
| 15 November 2021 | 10 | Accelerometer Data in R | Accelerometer Data in R |
| 22 November 2021 | 11 | Intervention Evaluation Consultation | Meeting with Dr. Fuller |
| 29 November 2021 | 12 | Recovery Week | Intervention Evaluation Report Due |
Thanks to Jenny Bryan for the inspiration and tutorials.