This course will introduce students to fundamental principles of physical therapy research and critical thinking including literature search, critique, research methodology and dissemination. Students begin to formulate clinical questions, examine research methods, and learn how to critically appraise the evidence. The student is introduced to the following topics in the research process: basic research design, issues of reliability and validity, diagnostic utility of clinical tests, and fundamentals of conducting a literature review. The goal of this course is to foster the student to become an intelligent consumer of basic scientific design and appraisal of medical literature.