The Final Project should demonstrate an understanding of the reading assignments, class discussions, your own research and the application of new knowledge.  It should utilize previous skills developed in foundational health care courses and apply them within the context and viewpoint of a health care administrator and their role in managing health and human services. 
For the Final Project, the student will select one of the following topics and conduct scholarly and professional research while integrating the course’s learning outcomes to address a selected topic:

Research specific leadership and management traits and theories necessary for managing a multidisciplinary and multicultural health care organization to promote organizational effectiveness.
Present how strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems are interrelated and fundamental to the delivery of quality health care.
Examine the financial characteristics of health care delivery along with managing costs, revenues, and human resources.
Analyze ethical and legal concepts, including specific federal regulations, required of health care organizations to ensure the delivery of high quality health care that protects patient safety.

Research Requirements
Academic research and papers must meet certain standards of quality that are recognized by the academic community. What constitutes quality academic research?

The use of primary (original), credible sources written by experts in the field of study.
Ensuring secondary sources are supported by research in primary sources.
Making sure all research is relevant and that material used is pertinent to the area of study.
In graduate work, the use of peer-reviewed journal articles (journal articles reviewed by recognized experts in the relevant field of study) is required.
Keep in mind that educational websites may be appropriate, in some cases, but should be evaluated carefully.

The Ashford University Library offers many excellent databases and other resources to assist you in conducting scholarly research.
What sources are not acceptable for academic research and referencing?

Encyclopedias
Dictionaries
Wikipedia, other wikis, or blogs
Websites and other sources that do not provide quality researched materials (e.g., they do not use credible sources to support the information in the document).

All research must reflect professional academic protocol and must be documented according to APA standards as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 
Creating the Final Project
Present your research in the form of a comprehensive 10- to 15-slide PowerPoint presentation (excluding title and reference slides) with detailed speaker notes including each of the elements listed below:
I. Introduction
Describe the issue. Include why it was selected, the perspective of your approach to the issue, and the scope of the paper or presentation. In essence, describe in this area what is being covered. Be specific and to the point. This is an important part of the project as it engages the reader and sets the scope of the research.
II. Statement of the Issue to be Investigated
Describe why the topic is a relevant problem or issue. It is important to provide literature sources in support of the importance of the need/issue/topic.  For example, if you are interested in researching the issue of nutrition in early childhood brain development among American children – cite literature identifying the scope of the problem (for example:  the number of malnourished children, the implications of malnourishment on learning and brain development; and long term implications). Overall, this section should detail what makes this topic or issue so important that you are spending time and energy researching it. What is the impact of the problem if nothing is done to correct the situation?
III. Research Sources
This section documents the relevant research reflecting the topic of the Final Project. In this section, paraphrased narratives of the actual research studies are reported and should represent the current research related to the topic area. In general, your research should:

Identify your chosen topic and what has happened in the specific research of the topic (describe the study, sample, findings, important points from the discussion in the research article, and any variables that may influence the findings of the research).
Discuss any key elements of the topic that may be instructional, legal, ethical, social, et (what is projected if nothing is done? what has been tried?). Support this section with relevant resource citations.
Provide an analysis of the research articles used, including: explaining what was done in the study, what the target population was, information about who did the research (the author), what was found with the study, and any implications of the findings to your topic or issue.

IV. Conclusion
In this section, provide a general, but thorough summary reviewing:  why the topic was selected; the problem or issue briefly stated; the approach that was used; findings; and solutions.  In this section, the reader or audience should have a good idea of what the researcher did and what was found.
V. References
The references should be listed on a new page or slide and must be formatted according to APA requirements as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. You must use a minimum of six to eight scholarly sources.
VI. Creating a Good PowerPoint Presentation
Create your Final Project as if you were going to present it to the Board of Directors (BOD) of your organization.  Therefore, it is very important not to overload your slides as you do not want your audience to feel as if it has to read the entire project.  Your PowerPoint slides should be created with summarized bullet points on each slide, and the bulk of what you will be discussing about each bullet should be provided in APA format Notes Section under each slide.  Please ensure to follow APA, avoid first person, proof read your work prior to submitting it.  

Following is a study description followed by three research questions and an outline of requirements for you to follow in answering them. Each of you will only need to answer each research question for 2 of the health measures variables, which will be assigned individually. Nutrition education programs, which teach clients how to lose weight, reduce cholesterol intake, or reduce fat intake through better eating patterns, have been growing in popularity. The nurse in charge of one such program at a local hospital wanted to know whether the programs actually work to improve health measures. A random sample was drawn of 33 clients who attended a nutrition education program. The study recorded the following health measures: weight, cholesterol levels, total dietary fat intake per average day, total dietary cholesterol intake per average day, and percent of daily calories from fat. These data were gathered both before and 3 months after the program. The researcher also determined the clients’ genders, ages, and heights. The data are stored in the following way:Column A: Gender (1 = female; 2 = male)Column B: AgeColumn C: Height (in feet)Columns D and E: Weight, before and after (in pounds)Columns F and G: Cholesterol Level, before and afterColumns H and I: Total Dietary Fat Intake per average day, before and after (in grams)Columns J and K: Dietary Cholesterol Intake per average day, before and after (in milligrams)Columns L and M: Percent Daily Calories from fat, before and afterEach of you should have already received 2 assigned variables. For each of the variables you are assigned, answer the following research questions. Consider each variable individually. Don’t try to incorporate both of your variables into one test for any of the research questions. Also, be aware that you may need to reorganize the data to run the tests and/or create new variables. Remember that required conditions are dependent on the test chosen, so you MUST decide the test for each question BEFORE you check required conditions. You WILL have separate required conditions for each research question!a) In terms of each of the health measures (fat intake and cholesterol intake), is the program a success?b) Does age impact the amount of reduction in each measure (fat intake, and cholesterol intake)?c) Do males differ from females in the amount of reduction for each measure (fat intake, and cholesterol intake)?You should use Excel for all your analysis and the p-value criteria to make your decisions. I do not need to see the seven-step hypothesis testing process, but be sure you include everything I specify below:Your write up must include:• A brief overall introduction describing the case including your chosen alpha. I do not need a detailed justification for your alpha.• For each research question, for each of your variables, you must include:1. A statement of the test chosen and a clear and complete explanation for why you chose that specific test. This needs to be more than simply running through the flowchart steps and must show that you clearly understand why that is the correct choice.2. Any analysis required to check the required conditions for your chosen test. Include any histograms or hypothesis tests and your decision based on these tests. (NOTE that if you find that you cannot meet the required conditions for the test you expected to do, you must use the appropriate non-parametric test.3. A clear statement of your hypotheses, using proper symbols and notation.4. Your Excel output for the test for each variable pasted into the document with the p-values you used clearly identified5. A clear statement of your conclusion for each hypothesis test and research question• An overall conclusion pulling everything together.