Explore All of Our Research-Related Opportunities

PAEA’s members help us to paint a vivid picture of PA education. Many of you are doing your part right now — by completing the Program Survey and the Didactic Curriculum Survey, which are open through September 15. Data collected from these surveys will be published as our annual Program Report and Curriculum Report, which provide detailed insights into our members’ program operations, faculty, students, and curricula. To help us create the most representative and useful resources possible, all member programs are required by PAEA’s Bylaws and Policies and Procedures to report accurate information on these surveys each year. Programs that complete both surveys on time will be entered to win a complimentary registration for the Education Forum.

PAEA’s Research Team recognizes the tremendous time, effort, and energy that our members devote to providing the best possible data and are ready to help in any way we can to make annual data collection as smooth an experience as possible — contact us at research@PAEAonline.org or 703-667-4353 any time.

What Else Can PAEA Research Do for You?

Here’s a crash course on our main resources and initiatives — there’s something useful for everyone, regardless of your role in your program or your research experience.

PAEA Surveys, Data, and Reports

Besides our annual Program Survey and Curriculum Survey, we work with your program to administer a number of other surveys throughout the year. These include:

Matriculating Student Survey and End of Program Survey 
Results from these surveys are published annually in our Student Reports, which present rich data on the PA student experience and support our advocacy and research efforts. You can also apply to receive your own matriculating students’ responses to the Matriculating Student Survey. And programs that achieve at least an 80 percent response rate on the End of Program Survey can request a custom report summarizing their own students’ responses to questions that directly pertain to the ARC-PA Accreditation Standards.

Faculty Survey 
There is an opportunity for faculty to make your voices heard as well! We just wrapped up the 2019 data collection for our biennial Faculty Survey. Results will be published next year, but for now, you can check out other recently published Faculty Reports. One of our most popular report series presents key information on faculty salary, recruitment, retention, and demographics – factors that matter to all our members.

Would you like to dig a little deeper? Our reports typically present data aggregated at the national level, but you can take advantage of our data in other ways that are more specific to you and your program’s needs. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Custom Reports: As a PAEA member, you can request a custom report, which can be helpful for benchmarking and decision-making. Custom reports allow you to see your program in the context of PA programs in your geographic area, for example, or perhaps to compare CASPA applicant trends among programs with similar characteristics.
2. Raw Data: Requests for raw data from PAEA surveys may be made for use in faculty research projects or external research. PAEA does the legwork for you, compiling the most complete data on PA programs, applicants, students, and faculty in the area you have requested, then cleaning the data, and sending them to you.

Grants, Scholarships, and Funding Opportunities at PAEA

What is the best way to recruit faculty who will enhance the diversity of your PA program? How can you make sure your students get a competitive clinical experience? What are the most in-demand PA specialties in each state? PAEA empowers faculty to answer these and other critical questions with dedicated research funding. We have four main grants programs:

Don Pedersen Research Grants Program: Named for former PAEA president and founder of JPAE, Don Pedersen, who made several generous donations to establish this award, this program targets developing early-stage PA researchers, funding grants of up to $7,000 each. Applications for the 2019 Don Pedersen Research Grant Program are being accepted until October 30. 

Faculty-Generated Research Grant Program: This grant provides up to $50,000 for a project that will make a substantial contribution to the body of knowledge on PA education or the PA profession. This program also encourages collaboration across institutions and mentorship of rising PA researchers. Letters of Intent are being accepted until September 15.

AAPA-PAEA Research Fellowship: In partnership with AAPA, PAEA funds up to three researchers to participate in a year-long fellowship that grants 20 percent release time for scholarly work. Each fellow’s institution is awarded up to $25,000, which allows the fellow dedicated time to develop research expertise with the guidance of a research mentor. Fellows enjoy a host of other benefits, including in-person seminars, access to AAPA and PAEA data, and connection to a network of influential health researchers, policy-makers, and funders. The application period for this opportunity has just closed, but you have plenty of time to develop a competitive proposal for next year.

Scientific Meeting Scholarships: This award funds faculty up to $2,000 to present their research at meetings where high-level health care decision-makers are present, outside of AAPA and PAEA’s annual conferences. Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis.

STAR Program: This program gives PA faculty researchers the opportunity to add up to 10 questions to our annual Program Survey. Researchers can apply beginning in the fall, and the selected recipient’s survey questions will be added to the next year’s Program Survey.