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Kristina Martinez
RWS 1311 M/W
Research Paper

Physical therapists say what?

Introduction:
The discipline I have chosen to complete my research paper on this fall semester in my
Rhetoric and Composition 1311 class is, Physical Therapy School. I went ahead and chose to do
physical therapy school rather than doing it on Kinesiology because I believe that physical
therapy school is my main focus right now. Physical therapy is going to depend on my future
career and where Im going to stand in life. As of right now Im on the outside looking into the
inside of the discipline, I can only watch the other students that are in the discipline achieve their
goal. Hopefully after this research project I can kind of feel like Im a part of the discipline.
Before I can move my way into the physical therapy program I must receive a bachelors degree
that is based on high levels of science. The students in the physical therapy program have a high
level of education; these students come into the program with a GPA of 3.5 and higher. The
physical therapy program looks for students that have a great amount of high level of sciences
courses. Throughout the project I believed kinesiology would take me into that route, but I
believe now Biology has many sorts of high level of science classes. The Doctor of Physical
Therapy School is in the College of Health Science.
Physical therapy school is where students go and learn about the field of health care, the
individuals differences of wellness and disabilities. The school is there to provide students the
learning ability to become physical therapist and what it means to become a physical therapist.
Also adapt into the health profession, what it means to care for others and their rehabilitation,
and the nature of being a well characterized therapist with respecting patients. Most importantly

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the students of physical therapy learn the human body, its functions, range, and its motion. In
other words if a person is playing a sport and tears a muscle or breaks a bone or has an accident
the primary doctor that performs surgery on that person is referred to a physical therapist, so that
the physical therapist can help the patient gain their strength back in their muscle or help heal the
broken bone. A physical therapist not only deals with people that have gone through surgery, but
also people that are born disabled or babies that are not physically ready.
Each year around 15-25 students graduate from the program, after graduation the students
then take a National Physical Therapy Examination distributed by the Federation of State Boards
of Physical Therapy. If students pass the exam they hold the title of becoming a physical
therapist and will be able to work as one. According to the graduation results on the UTEP
physical therapy page, UTEP has had an average of 98.3% students become physical therapist
after graduation. The physical therapy program labs are located in the College of Health Science
and Nursing building on the main campus, while offices and classes are located off the main
campus at 1101 N. Campbell which is called Campbell Building. I chose this discipline because I
felt like I knew so much after having knee surgery twice and attending physical therapy for
almost two years. Im a veteran that is how my physical therapist, Kevin calls me. The second
time around I grew to love physical therapy, its atmosphere and the wellbeing of others. The
relationship between my inquiry and me is prospective. Being a physical therapist is in my future
career.
Learning about the whole entire discipline of physical therapy will expand my knowledge
and will be preparing me for what my future holds. If I dont like what the physical therapy
program offers me, I can explore other disciplines that catch my attention. In order to understand
my discipline and not feel like an outsider, I created questions that would help me understand all

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about my discipline. The main question I had was What are the requirements to become a
physical therapist which is my primary question. With my primary question I created secondary
questions, How challenging is it to become a physical therapist, Is kinesiology the right major
to become a physical therapist, Should I volunteer at a clinic before becoming a physical
therapist, and How can I learn more about physical therapy. With these questions that I stated
I believe they can get me closer to the inside of my discipline and have a better understanding of
what my future holds. I chose this inquiry because I fell in love with physical therapy after my
first surgery it felt as if it was meant for me. Im all about being athletic, and those athletes that
get injured can come to me for help, just like my physical therapist healed me in order to
continue to play basketball. Im comfortable with the inquiry, I am determined in becoming a
physical therapist. I feel like the questions I asked were appropriate for my inquiry because I
know a great amount about physical therapy thanks to Kevin and the questions I created that I
had no answer to.

Literature Review/Background
Throughout this project I have been doing research that will allow me to come to a final
conclusion about my inquiry. I have created a primary research question that helped me expand
my mind and ideas for this project. Based off of my primary research question, I created
secondary research questions. My primary research question is, What are the requirement to
becoming a physical therapist. I have succeeded in answering this question, the answer to this
question is simple, getting a science degree which for me will be Biology. The next step is to
enter a physical therapy school of three years with a GPA of 3.5 and above, I will apply at the
Doctoral physical therapy program at the Campbell building. After completing the three years, a
test must be taken to determine if I am qualified to become a physical therapist. If I achieve that

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part then I will need to expand my knowledge and skills before entering the physical therapy
environment. I will continue my education and go into Clinical Residency which is where I will
learn to improve on my working skills in a clinic, the right technique to treat patients , making
sure I understand what Im about to do for the rest of my life. Last, I pick what I want to
specialize in which is, Sports Physical Therapy. I love playing sports and I feel comfortable with
the category.
I went ahead and brainstormed several secondary research questions and eliminated the ones
that seemed to be similar and dull. From eight secondary research questions, I ended up with four
secondary research questions. The questions I ended up with seemed reliable to my discipline.
The first was, Is kinesiology the right major to become a physical therapist After conducting
my interview I had a change of heart about kinesiology being my major. The physical therapist I
interviewed told me that kinesiology might not be the right major to enter into the program since
they look for hard science course and kinesiology has more baby science class. Therefore I
decided that, kinesiology is not the right degree to get as a bachelors degree. I would go with the
harder science degrees, like biology or microbiology, for a chance to enter the physical therapy
program. My second was, How challenging is it to become a physical therapist, The results
from my survey and interview I received two different answers. The students I chose to answer
my survey were asked to rate the challenge of becoming a physical, they all rated eight from a
ten. The therapist I interviewed told me personally that it is straightforward and easy once
entering a physical therapy school. He says that it is most challenging to get into physical
therapy school. So I guess I will find out once I try to get into the program and as I advance in
the physical therapy courses to find out which was more challenging for me.

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Third, Should I volunteer at a clinic of physical therapy, The answers I got back for my
survey and interview state that I should volunteer at a clinic. So then the answer to this question
should be yes, the students of physical therapy said I can benefit from volunteering and
shadowing a therapist. Kevin, the physical therapist I interviewed told me that I will have to
volunteer at a clinic either way for my internship once I graduate from the program. The last
question was, How can I learn more about physical therapy, YouTube and the internet is where
I can learn more about physical therapy. While I was interviewing Kevin he pulled up a video on
YouTube of a foot that he and the other physical therapist were studying more into depth in their
office. Blogs or looking up body parts and there functions and names can give me an advantage
of knowledge.

Procedure/Methodology
The data I needed to collect for this whole entire project was the feedback from people that
belonged to my discipline. For my primary and secondary research questions I had to use three
methods. First, Interviews, which helped me engage with the interviewee and explore if my
unanswered secondary research questions that I created will get me the right results to better
understand my inquiry. The interview will give me a prospective from others point of view and
also give me valuable information by keeping my questions opened ended. I chose to interview a
physical therapist because he went through the process Im going through right now, so I believe
he can give me the right answers to my questions.
Next, I used site observations, I entered into the environment of physical therapy. I had to get
a feel of what kind of atmosphere an everyday physical therapist goes through. I observe what
kind of behavior patients go through while being treated, are they rude, nice, unstable after their

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surgery and having to have the patients when a patient is having a bad day or an attitude in a
physical therapy clinic. I wrote down in the site observation form what was going on around me
as I walked around the clinic and what information was elaborated or my secondary and primary
questions.
Third, I created a survey to collect data for my research project. I did my survey in writing. I
carefully designed questions that were similar to my secondary research questions but that were
closed ended. I made sure that the survey I created was for the students of physical therapy and
that the questions were based for them for their overview and beliefs.
Last, I interpreted a document analysis for an article finding its argument and how I can
relate it to my discipline. You can see appendix C for more information.

Interviews: I interviewed one person, Kevin Mark. He is a licensed physical therapist and
graduated from the physical therapy school at the Health Science and Nursing building
on Campbell Street. I chose him, because he has taught me a great amount of physical
therapy throughout the time I spent in rehab. He gave me hope that I one day could be
like him. He told me the basic information about physical therapy like, how many years it
takes to become a physical therapist, which is three years, what major I should take as an
undergrad student, which I am still debating between kinesiology and biology. He told
me about the atmosphere of a physical therapy clinic. I wanted more from him like why
he wanted to become a physical therapist, the process he went through before coming one
and the challenge it was for him. He also seems confident in his job and answers he
provided me while I was his patient. By using the interview method I gain a great amount
of information about physical therapy appendix a shows the questions I asked Kevin and
his feedback. The interview took place at 1700 Murchison Ste, D on October 8, 2014.

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The length of the interview Kevin and I had was about 16 minutes. I know it is not much
time, but I felt that I answered my broken down secondary research questions.

Survey: I designed my survey and handed them out on paper. I distributed the survey to
the student of physical therapy at the Campbell building on October 24, 2014. I
distributed 10 hard copies of my survey. That day I only received 5 from a mix of males
and females. On October 27, 2014 I went back and handed out the last 5 receiving data
from 10 different data from the students of physical therapy. The first day I distributed
the surveys, it was a late Friday afternoon and there was a total of 5 students. On the
second day there was a hand full of students. I approached the ones that were closer to the
entrance of the building.

Document: Preparing physical therapy students for the role of clinical educator: a case
study report. The purpose of this document was too describe how transforming students
in their second year of physical therapy school into clinical instructors with the help of
the third year students of physical therapy. This document fit perfect with my disciplinary
because it is giving me great advice how it will be transforming into a physical therapist
and the perspective of students of the second year of physical therapy school.

Site Observation: The clinic is a huge room. Once you enter, there are work out machines
for legs, arms, and abs. There are a total of 12 tables the patients use to lay down, sit
down or do their stationary exercises. To the far back is an open space with a big window
and there are stationary bikes and treadmills looking out the window. The big open space
is also used for patients that are performing lunges, running in place, squatting or lifting
weights. The length of my site observation was about two pages front and back, maybe it
was a lot because I write big. The time I started observing was from 11:10a.m.

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12:00p.m. While I was observing I was moving around the whole clinic, even the patients
interacted with me and ask what I was doing and what it was for. There were a total of 5
patients both mixes of gender. Each patient had something wrong with them. There was a
man sitting at the leg press then he moved on to lunges then squatting. A lady with a knee
problem was using a muscle stimulator to contract her muscle while she did leg raises.
Another lady was already getting her knee iced after performing her exercises for the day.
There was a man that was barley operated from his knee that was doing basic exercises
like leg pulls with a towel, contracting his muscle, side leg raises, and leg stretches. A
man with a shoulder problem was being evaluated by Kevin towards the back of the
room. Kevin made him do a couple of exercises to see he how he has been progressing
through his therapy sessions. Kevin made the man do push-ups, lifting dumbbells above
his head while walking around the clinic; he even made him so circuits. Observing the
man brought back painful memories when I had to do Kevins circuits. The technicians
were walking around the whole clinic assisting the patients needs. Kevin went from his
office doing paper work or looking at patients results or doing research, to engaging with
the patients and their problems.

Results/Discussion
With all the data I collected the past three months for my research paper, I have come to
conclusion that I want to change my major from kinesiology to biology. Kevin and the students
of physical therapy have made me realize that kinesiology is not the right major to enter the field
of physical therapy. Thanks to the interview, survey and site observation and all the data I have
collected throughout the fall semester, I know where I stand and it is not in the kinesiology

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community it is in the biology community. The interview made me get a true perspective from a
licensed physical therapist, Kevins thoughts about what it is to work as a physical therapist
every day, and the dedication he put into his studies before becoming a physical therapist. The
site observation gave me a feel about what I will be getting into if I get a job as physical
therapist. The different kind of patients and their disabilities, and what really happens in a
physical therapy school. With my survey I also got a perspective of different students in the
physical therapy program. As I looked over the result they all had the same answer. They put
fifty plus hours of studying per week inside and outside of class. They rated the challenge of
becoming a physical therapist as 8 out of 10 and they were all determined to become a physical
therapist after graduation. My secondary questions did relate to my primary questions. I have
answered the requirements of becoming a physical therapist.

Data coding:
Guide for Formulating Effective Interview Questions

I used this guide to help me formulate questions for my interview. I inserted my

secondary questions then I picked which questions could be based in that category. I
formulated four research questions and for each questioned I created four more that I
believed was related to the question. You can see appendix A for more detail.

Your Name:

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Write your direct research question here.

Write your interview questions

below. Then, check the
indirect research question(s)
for which you believe the
interview question will provide
data.

Write a
indirect
question here

Write a
indirect
question here

Write a
indirect
question here

Write a
indirect
question here

Interview Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

For my survey questions I used the survey grid. It gave me an idea of what questioned I
need to ask and that would be valuable to me and my secondary research questions. In
appendix B you can see my final survey questions.

Survey Question Grid

Your Name:

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Survey Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.

(In the right column below, indicate the appropriate objective[s] that each survey question
addresses.)

Survey Question

Objective #(s)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

The bar graph below is the results I got back from all ten students from the physical
therapy program. All ten students put the same answers for all questions in appendix B is
the ten results I got back. The first question I didnt know how to put into the bar graph
so, the question I had asked, What is your major and they all put doctoral of physical

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therapy. In appendix be it shows the results I go back on my paper survey I created.

12
10
8
Yes

No
4
2
0
Survey
Question2

Survey
Question3

Survey
Question4

Survey
Question5

Survey
Question6

Survey
Question7

Observation Form

During my site observation I used this observation form. It kept me on the right track and
made sure I was writing down the right information. I was very handy while I was
observing because I didnt have to draw it out on paper to keep me unorganized. In
appendix D you can see my final draft.

Location: main library on

campus

Date: Oct. 23
Time: 4:30 p.m.to 5:30
p.m.

Observations

Most students come

in carrying
backpacks
Most students come
in alone, but
quite a few come
in with at least

Other information about the

site: the main library is
one of at least three
libraries on campus. It
also has a coffee shop
in the atrium

Reflections

They are probably

coming from class
or going to
class.
Im interested in
the students who
come to the

Post-observation
Reflections

I need more
accurate
observations
about the
students who
are using the

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one other person

At least half of
the students go
straight to the
computer pods on
the first floor
Students who are
come in alone
typically have on
headphones
Only three
students spoke to
a librarian.
12 people checked
out books during
the hour. Most had
more than one
book.

library with
friends. Is it
because they are
going to work
together or for
socialization?
What prompts
students to ask
the librarians
questions?
What convinces
students they
need to check out
a book?

computers for
school work,
for pleasure,
and for
research.

Conclusion
I have changed my mind about the discipline. Kinesiology is not the degree that Id like to
peruse as an undergrad student. For that reason I will like to peruse a degree in biology. Since a
senior in high school I had the idea of getting a bachelors degree in biology. Then I found out
about kinesiology which deals with a great deal of anatomy, but then Kevin told me, that degree
can take me to become a physical education teacher, a coach or a trainer. Once he told me that I
had changed my mind about kinesiology that instant. When I passed out my surveys, the students
of physical therapy had given me a great amount of information about physical therapy school.
Biology was probably the route that I should take as an undergrad student; I should focus on my
GPA, and study hard in my biology classes. If that is their opinion then I must take into account
that they might be right, and I had always wanted to major in biology then why not stick to my
gut. This project has helped me determine my future at UTEP and gave me a great amount of
information like what I need to do before entering the field of physical therapy. I have learned a

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lot and have had confusion about my discipline but over all I have a mindset and a bright future.
I hope that my project can help those that want to enter into the field of physical therapy. I
believe I gathered enough data and relevant information that can help those answer their
questions like mine. I have fully answered my primary research question and secondary
questions.