NATA Research & Education Foundation
The mission of the NATA Research and Education Foundation Free Communications Program is to advance the discovery, dissemination, and application of scientific knowledge in athletic training domains through written and oral forum. This mission is realized by communicating scientific knowledge to the athletic training community through the sharing of original research reports during our annual symposium.
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
for the
National Athletic Trainers' Association Annual Meeting & Clinical Symposia
Philadelphia, PA; June 22 to June 25, 2010
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION IS
DECEMBER 1, 2009
(All abstracts
submitted for presentation must be submitted ONLINE.)
Instructions for Abstract Preparation and Submission
Please
read all instructions before preparing and submitting the abstract. Individuals
may submit only one Original Research Abstract as the primary (presenting)
author, but may submit unlimited abstracts as a secondary author. All student
exchange abstracts will undergo mechanical review but not scientific peer
review. All presentations must be of original work (not previously presented).
This restriction includes any electronic/internet postings. Exceptions to
this restriction are limited to athletic training organizations' state and
district meetings and the NATA Athletic Training Educators' Conference. All
accepted student exchange track submissions will be presented in poster format
and are not considered for student awards.
The Original Research Abstract must be written to the accepted scientific
standards of a research area and should present findings pertaining to healthcare
issues related to the athletic training profession.
Formatting Instructions
1. Prepare your abstract (on your computer) in accordance with the following
instructions. You will later be directed to upload your abstract file from
your computer to the Abstract Manager system.
2. Top, bottom, right, and left margins of the body of the abstract (in a
WORD file) should be set at 1" using the standard 8.5" x 11"
format. Use either Arial or Helvetica 12pt. font with single spacing. Provide
the title of the paper or project starting at the top left margin.
3. On the next line, indent 3 spaces and provide the names of all authors, with the author who will make the presentation listed first. Enter the last name, then initials (without periods), followed by a comma, and continue the same format for all secondary authors (if any), ending with a colon.
4. On the same line following the colon, indicate the name of the institution (including the city and state) where the research was conducted. If primary author is not at the institution where the work was completed place an * after their name and following the institution where the research was conducted the primary author can indicate their present institution (including the city and state). For collaborative projects where portions of the project were conducted at different institutions, list all authors as described above (#3), then list institutional affiliations using the following consecutive symbols (*, †, ‡, §, ║, ¶, #, **, etc.)
5. Double space and begin entering the body of the abstract flush left in a single paragraph with no indentions. The text of the body must be structured (with the headings as indicated in the various formats below). Do not justify the right margin. Do not include tables or figures. The body of the abstract for Original Research is limited to 450 words. A word count generated by MS Word must be included at the bottom of the abstract. The word count should include the body of the abstract and structured headings.
6. The required formats for the structured abstracts are listed below. For further clarification, authors should consult the AMA Manual of Style 9th edition and the instructions for authors in the Journal of Athletic Training.
7. Abstracts fall into one of the following 4 categories; the author is responsible for determining the most applicable category for structuring their abstract:. Each is provided with examples where applicable but the examples are not all encompassing and some may overlap. Authors should choose the format that seems to best fit and present their data.
· Basic Sciences (e.g. muscle tissue biopsy, EMG, etc)
· Epidemiology (e.g. cohort, case-control, intervention,
clinical trial)
· Biomechanics (e.g. motion analysis, jump landing characteristics)
· Instrument development (e.g. validation and reliability, psychometrics)
· Cross-sectional survey (e.g. paper, web-based, or interview
questionnaires)
Meta-Analysis Research & Systematic Reviews
· Meta-analysis (e.g. review and analysis of ACL clinical trials)
· Systematic Review (e.g. review of all clinical trials of the ACL without analysis)
· Research using qualitative techniques (e.g. interviews or direct observation, etc)
Review Criteria for All Original Research Abstracts:
· Completeness of requested information in each structured
heading.
· Overall clarity of writing
· Originality of research
· Methods and results address the primary objective
·
Consistency between data and conclusions
·
Adequacy of sample size to support
conclusions
[Click Here] Common Reasons Leading to Rejection of Research Abstracts
Format For Basic Research Abstracts
The
Title of your Abstract Bolded and in Title Case
[3 spaces]Doe JT*, Public JQ†: *First
Author's Institution Name, †Second Author's Institution.
[Blank Line]
Context: Write a sentence
or two summarizing the rationale for the study, providing a reason for the
study question and/or uniqueness of study. Objective: State
the precise objective(s) or question(s) addressed in the report, including
a priori hypotheses if applicable. Design:
Describe the overall study design of the project reported (e.g., randomized
controlled trial, crossover trial, cohort or cross-sectional). Setting:
Describe the environment in which the study was conducted to
help readers understand the transferability of the findings, (e.g., patient
clinic, research laboratory or field). Patients or Other Participants:
Describe the underlying target population, selection procedures (e.g., population
based sample, volunteer sample or convenience sample) and important aspects
of the final subject pool (e.g., number, average age,
weight, height and measures of variance, years of experience or gender). Appropriate
sample size should be evident. Interventions: Interventions
are the independent variables in the study. Describe the essential pieces
of the experimental methods, types of materials, measurements and instrumentation
utilized, data analysis procedures and statistical tests employed. Provide
validity and reliability information on novel instrumentation. Main
Outcome Measures: Clearly identify primary or critical dependent variables
that support the primary objective(s) of the study. Indicate the statistical
analysis employed to answer the primary research objective(s). Results:
The main results of the study should be given. Comparative reports must
include descriptive data (e.g., proportions, means, rates, odds ratios or
correlations), accompanying measures of dispersion (e.g., ranges, standard
deviations or confidence intervals) and inferential statistical data. Results
should be accompanied by the exact level of statistical significance. The
P value should not exceed 3 digits to the right of decimal. When the
exact significance is below P < .001, the exact significance should
be reported as P < .001. Conclusions: Summarize or
emphasize the new and important findings of the study. The conclusion must
be consistent with the study objectives and results as report and should be
no more than three to four sentences. If possible, relate implications of
the findings for clinical practice. Word Count: Limited to
450 words including headings.
* The purpose of having both descriptive and inferential data is that it provides the reader with the ability to judge
the concluding statements. Descriptive data provides confidence that
the data are ‘reliable’ and provides a gauge to determine whether the inferential
statistics and conclusions are meaningful. Studies reporting analysis
of larger data bases with multiple variables do not need to report all descriptive
data, but should provide descriptive data for those variables which the author(s)
believe to be the primary outcome(s) and support the overall conclusions of
the study.
[Click Here] Examples of Accepted Basic Research Abstracts
Format For Survey Research Abstracts
The
Title of your Abstract Bolded and in Title Case
[3 spaces]Doe JT*, Public JQ†: *First
Author's Institution Name, †Second Author's Institution.
[Blank Line]
Context: Write a sentence or two summarizing the rationale for the study, providing a reason for the study question. Objective: State the precise objective(s), purpose or question(s) addressed in the report. Design: Describe the overall study design of the project reported (e.g., cross sectional, case-control, longitudinal or controlled intervention trial). Setting: Describe the environment in which the study was conducted to help readers understand the transferability of the findings, (e.g., population-based, patient clinic, classroom or athletic event). Patients or Other Participants: Describe the underlying target population, sample selection procedures (e.g., population based, volunteer or convenience sample, random or systematic sample, or stratified or cluster sampling) and important aspects of the final subject pool (e.g., number, average age, years of experience or gender). Provide the final response rate. Interventions: Interventions are the independent variables in the study. Describe the essential pieces of the experimental methods, the mode of survey administration (e.g., in-person interview, telephone, self- administered, online or computer-assisted), details of the survey development (formative research or pre-testing for new instruments), execution and data collection process, and instruments utilized. Provide validity and reliability information for all instruments. Main Outcome Measures: Clearly identify primary or critical dependent variables that support the primary objective(s) of the study. Describe how any data was manipulated (e.g. scoring process for scaled instruments or categorization of variables). Indicate the data and statistical analysis employed to answer the primary research objective(s). Results: The main results of the study should be given. Reports must include descriptive data (e.g., proportions, means, rates, odds ratios or correlations), accompanying measures of dispersion (e.g., ranges, standard deviations or confidence intervals) and inferential statistical data. Results should be accompanied by the exact level of statistical significance. The P value should not exceed 3 digits to the right of decimal. When the exact significance is below P < .001, the exact significance should be reported as P < .001. Conclusions: Summarize or emphasize the new and important findings of the study and relate implications of the findings for clinical practice. The statement of your findings must be consistent with the results as reported and should be no more than three sentences. Word Count: Limited to 450 words including headings.
*The purpose of having both descriptive and inferential data is that it provides the reader with the ability to judge the concluding statements. Descriptive data provides confidence that the data are 'reliable' and provides a gauge to determine whether the inferential statistics and conclusions are meaningful. Studies reporting analysis of larger data bases with multiple variables do not need to report all descriptive data, but should provide descriptive data for those variables which the author(s) believe to be the primary outcomes(s) and support the overall conclusions of the study.
[Click Here] Examples of Accepted Survey Research Abstracts
Format
For Meta-Analysis & Systematic Reviews
The
Title of your Abstract Bolded and in Title Case
[3 spaces]Doe JT*, Public JQ†: *First
Author's Institution Name, †Second Author's Institution.
[Blank Line]
[Click Here]Examples of Accepted Meta-Analysis Research Abstracts
Format For Qualitative Research Abstracts
The
Title of your Abstract Bolded and in Title Case
[3 spaces]Doe JT*, Public JQ†: *First
Author's Institution Name, †Second Author's Institution.
[Blank Line]
[Click Here]Examples of Accepted Qualitative Research Abstracts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABSTRACTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AFTER DECEMBER 1, 2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CLICK HERE TO PROCEED TO
ABSTRACT
SUBMISSION AREA
Use
your NATA membership number and password to log-in on the next screen.
If you are not currently a member of NATA, please use Option C on the next
screen.