Research Project

English 1010: Research Project

How do professionals in your field use written and verbal forms of communication in the workplace?

All research begins with a research question – and a hypothesis. The research question might take the form of a problem that you want to solve, a mystery that you want to unravel, an idea that you want to pursue, or a fact that you want to discover.

Once you have identified your research question, your next step is to formulate a hypothesis – a guess, prediction, speculation, or deduction that is based on your existing body of knowledge (or sometimes assumptions).

Now that you have a research question and a hypothesis, it’s time to actually conduct your research. Research entails one or more of the following steps:

Consult reliable experts

Consult credible sources

Perform an experiment

There are three parts to this project.

1. Hypothesis: Think what you know about your future profession, and formulate a hypothesis for the following question: How do professionals in your future career field use written and verbal forms of communication in the workplace? In two or three complete, grammatically correct sentences, write your hypothesis.

2. Research:

a. Consult a professional in your future profession, or an instructor here at Atlanta Tech. Ask that professional how she or he uses written and/or verbal forms of communication in the workplace. In two or three complete, grammatically correct sentences, write their response.

b. Consult credible sources. This means…VISIT OUR FABULOUS NEW LIBRARY!! When you walk in, look immediately to your left. You will see our Periodicals section. This section is one that I hope you will become intimately familiar with during your time as a student here. In the Periodicals section, you will find professional, trade, and scholarly journals for each of the programs that we offer here. These articles are usually written by professionals and experts in their fields – not by general journalists. Select an appropriate journal, find an interesting article, and in three to five complete and grammatically correct sentences, discuss the main idea of the article, and one or two interesting things that you learned from the article.

3. Conclusion: Finally, conclude your research project by sharing your results. In five complete and grammatically correct sentences, discuss what you learned about your career from your research. Was your hypothesis correct? How do professionals in your career use written and verbal forms of communication?

4. Use the attached worksheet to complete this assignment. Your Research Project MUST is submitted as a WORD document. It MUST be free of grammatical errors. And, YOU MUST not plagiarize. Your responses must be in your own words. Any student who is caught plagiarizing will receive a ZERO on this assignment. Please refer to the Academic Honesty Agreement that you signed at the beginning of the semester for any questions regarding plagiarism.

Your name:

Program:

Anticipated Graduation Date:

What career do you see yourself employed in when you graduate from Atlanta Technical College?

If you anticipate going on to a four-year school, what do you think your major will be?

Upon graduating I plan on entering the field of medical billing and coding. I have considered going on to a four-year-school where I will possibly major in business management.

PART I: The Hypothesis

1. Hypothesis: Think what you know about your future profession, and formulate a hypothesis for the following question: How do professionals in your future career field use written and verbal forms of communication in the workplace? In two or three complete, grammatically correct sentences, write your hypothesis.

Professionals in the industry of medical billing and coding use written and verbal forms of communication in the workplace daily. They send emails, place phone calls, and fax claims. They also code prescriptions and enter data.

2. Research:

a. Consult a professional in your future profession, or an instructor here at Atlanta Tech. Ask that professional how she or he uses written and/or verbal forms of communication in the workplace. In two or three complete, grammatically correct sentences, write their response.

Name of professional or instructor: Yketha Berry

Company: Emory Healthcare

Years in profession: 3

How are written and/or verbal forms of communication used in the field?

Written communication is used to enter data into our electronic health records; we also make bills, and codes to suggest to insurance company the portion of the bill they should be responsible for. Sometimes the insurance company wants a more in depth review of the patient’s diagnoses and treatment so they speak with us verbally.

Research continued…

b. Consult credible sources. This means…VISIT OUR FABULOUS NEW LIBRARY!! When you walk in, look immediately to your left. You will see our Periodicals section. This section is one that I hope you will become intimately familiar with during your time as a student here. In the Periodicals section, you will find professional, trade, and scholarly journals for each of the programs that we offer here. These articles are usually written by professionals and experts in their fields – not by general journalists. Select an appropriate journal, find an interesting article, and in three to five complete and grammatically correct sentences, discuss the main idea of the article, and one or two interesting things that you learned from the article.

1. Title of journal (must be underlined):

JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION;

2. Title of article (must be in quotation marks):

“Addressing medical coding and billing - Part II: A strategy for achieving compliance a risk management approach for reducing coding and billing errors”

3. Date of publication: JUN, 2002

4. Author(s) of article: Adams, DL Norman, H Burroughs, VJ

5. Page numbers of article: p. 430-447

6. In three to five complete and grammatically correct sentences, discuss the main idea of the article, and one or two interesting things that you learned from the article:

The article discusses how that with advancements in the medical fields more procedures and more patients doctors aren’t very attentive to the billing and such as they once were. This leaves more responsibility for thoroughness on the part of the medical billing and coding specialists. Without the doctors monitoring this leaves more room for unwanted error resulting in physicians missing out on money. I learned that if improperly billed insurance companies can deny payment and if the physician doesn’t receive pay he can refuse to pay the billers.

3. Conclusion: Finally, conclude your research project by sharing your results. In five complete and grammatically correct sentences, discuss what you learned about your career from your research. Was your hypothesis correct? How do professionals in your career use written and verbal forms of communication?

I knew medical coding and billing was important but my research gave me an idea of to what extent. A lot of responsibility lies on specialists in the field and few people know it. My hypothesis was correct but there was more to it. Professionals in my career use written and verbal forms of communication to service patients and physicians by organizing claims and entering data into health records. They make sure patients do not have to foot the bill alone and ensure that physicians are paid in proportion to the diagnosis and treatment.