| Course | PAC 499 Senior Capstone |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 4 |
| Paper type | Capstone method plan |
| Length | About 1,141 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Psychology and Addiction Studies |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PAC 499 Module 4
Plan, Do, Study, Act at an Outpatient Program: The Method and Ethics Behind a Peer Call Pilot
Student Name
Psychology and Addiction Studies Program, Aspen University
PAC 499: Senior Capstone
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Plan, Do, Study, Act at an Outpatient Program: The Method and Ethics Behind a Peer Call Pilot
The capstone Jordan is running at Bluegrass Recovery Services, a fictional outpatient program in Lexington, Kentucky, asks three questions: whether thirty-day retention is higher for clients admitted during a pilot of next-day peer calls than for clients admitted earlier, how clients experience the call and what helps or hinders peers in delivering it. This paper describes the method. As before, Jordan and the program are inventions for the course; the methods literature is real.
Design
Jordan chose an improvement design organized around plan-do-study-act cycles, combined with brief interviews. Taylor et al. (2014) reviewed how the plan-do-study-act method has been used in health care. They found that most published applications did not follow the method's principles fully: many reported a single cycle rather than iterative cycles, few stated predictions in advance, few began with small-scale tests and few reported data over time. They recommended that teams use repeated, small cycles with explicit predictions and regularly collected data. Following this guidance, the pilot will run in three monthly cycles, with Jordan stating predictions before each cycle, plotting retention month by month and adjusting the call in response to what is learned.
Setting and Participants
Roughly two dozen people start treatment at Bluegrass in a typical month. All clients admitted during the three-month pilot will receive a call as part of the program's usual care; the call is a service change, not an experiment on individuals. Retention data will be drawn from the program's records for pilot clients and for clients who began treatment between January and June. For interviews, Jordan will invite up to ten pilot clients and all three peer recovery specialists, with participation voluntary.
The Intervention
The call follows a written guide. The peer introduces themselves as someone in recovery who works at Bluegrass, welcomes the client, asks how the first visit went and answers practical questions about parking, the first group and what to bring. The peer shares, in a few sentences, what their own first weeks in treatment were like. The peer reminds the client of the date and time of their next appointment and offers to meet them in the lobby. Calls are made the day after intake; if the client does not answer, the peer leaves a brief message and tries once more that evening. Peers record whether the call was completed and how long it lasted.
Matching Questions to Data and Analysis
| Research question | Data | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| RQ1: Is thirty-day retention higher during the pilot than from January to June? | Program attendance records: intake date and attendance between days twenty-five and thirty-five | Percentage retained in each period; monthly run chart; comparison of reached and not-reached clients |
| RQ2: How do clients describe the call and their first weeks? | Semi-structured interviews, about twenty minutes each, with up to ten clients | Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke |
| RQ3: What helps or hinders peers in delivering the call? | Interviews with three peers; peers' call logs | Thematic analysis; summary of completion rates and reasons calls were missed |
Analyzing the Interviews
Braun and Clarke (2006) described thematic analysis as a flexible method for identifying patterns of meaning in qualitative data, and they set out six phases. The researcher becomes familiar with the data by reading and rereading transcripts, generates initial codes for features of interest, searches for themes by grouping codes, reviews themes against the data, defines and names each theme and writes the analysis with illustrative quotations. They emphasized that themes are actively constructed by the researcher and that the process should be transparent. Jordan will follow these phases, keep a record of coding decisions and ask the site supervisor to review the themes.
Ethics
Emanuel et al. (2000) held that a signed consent form is not enough on its own and named seven conditions a study must meet. The study must be worth doing and designed well enough to answer its question. The people asked to take part must be chosen for reasons tied to the question, not convenience or vulnerability, and the likely benefits must justify the risks. Someone independent of the researcher should review the plan. Participants must give informed consent, and once enrolled they remain owed respect: their privacy is protected, they hear what the study finds and they may leave at any point. Applied to this project, the call itself is a service improvement offered to all new clients, and its risks are minimal. The interviews, however, involve people in addiction treatment and require care. Interviews will be voluntary, and clients will be told that declining will not affect their treatment. Consent will be written. Interviews will not ask about substance use beyond what clients choose to share. Federal rules give addiction treatment records special protection, so Jordan will receive only de-identified retention data, without names or other identifiers, prepared by the intake coordinator. The project will be reviewed under the site's and Aspen's procedures before interviews begin.
Predictions and Timeline
Taylor and colleagues found that few improvement projects stated predictions in advance, which left teams unable to tell whether a cycle had surprised them. Jordan wrote two predictions before August: that peers would reach at least nine of ten new clients and that monthly retention would rise above the baseline range of fifty to fifty-four percent. Each cycle lasts one calendar month of intakes. Because retention is measured up to day thirty-five, each month's result is known about five weeks after the month ends, so the August result will arrive in early September and the October result in early December, shortly before the final report is due. The study step of each cycle will therefore use reach and call logs first and retention when it arrives.
| Month | Planned activity |
|---|---|
| July | Approvals; peers trained on the call guide; predictions written |
| August | Cycle one calls; call logs reviewed weekly |
| September | Cycle two; August retention reviewed; adjustments agreed |
| October | Cycle three; client interviews begin |
| November | Remaining interviews; peer interviews; coding |
| December | October retention; analysis; final report |
Limits
The design has clear limits. Without random assignment, any change in retention could reflect other factors, such as staff changes or seasonal patterns. Three months is a short period, and monthly numbers will be small. Interview participants who agree may differ from those who do not. Findings from one program may not apply elsewhere. The final report will present results as a test of an improvement idea, not as proof of effect.
Conclusion
The method combines plan-do-study-act cycles, used as Taylor and colleagues recommend, with interviews analyzed through Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis, under the ethical requirements set out by Emanuel, Wendler and Grady. Each research question has matching data and analysis, the intervention is precisely described and the limits are stated in advance, giving the pilot a clear and honest plan for gathering evidence.
References
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Emanuel, E. J., Wendler, D., & Grady, C. (2000). What makes clinical research ethical? JAMA, 283(20), 2701-2711. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.283.20.2701
Taylor, M. J., McNicholas, C., Nicolay, C., Darzi, A., Bell, D., & Reed, J. E. (2014). Systematic review of the application of the plan-do-study-act method to improve quality in healthcare. BMJ Quality & Safety, 23(4), 290-298. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2013-001862
What the PAC 499 Module 4 instructions ask for
Method plans are the fourth module of PAC 499, and assignments usually ask you to set out who takes part, what the intervention is, which data you will gather, how you will analyze them and how participants are protected, clearly enough for another student to repeat the work. The Module 4 page in your Aspen course is your prompt; the project here is invented. Say which design you chose and what makes it suit the questions and the site. Describe the intervention precisely. Match each research question to its data and analysis. Address ethics and privacy, especially with clients in treatment. State the design's limits honestly. Cite each methods source in APA 7, and attach any guides or forms you will use. Include a timeline that shows when each cycle begins and ends and when data will be ready, and state your predictions before the first cycle starts.
How this PAC 499 Module 4 example is built
Jordan's pilot runs from August through October. Taylor and colleagues' BMJ Quality and Safety review explains how to use plan-do-study-act cycles properly: small tests, predictions, repeated cycles and data plotted over time. The intervention guide covers a welcome, practical questions, the peer's brief story and a reminder of the next appointment. Emanuel, Wendler and Grady's JAMA article supplies the ethical requirements, applied to voluntary interviews and de-identified records. Braun and Clarke's Qualitative Research in Psychology article guides the interview analysis. A three-row table pairs questions with data and methods. Limits include no randomization, a short pilot and one site. A timeline sets each monthly cycle against the semester, and written predictions give each cycle something to test.
PAC 499 Module 4 rubric: what earns full marks
Method papers earn credit for a design that fits the questions, a precisely described intervention, matched data and analysis and careful ethics. This example uses Taylor and colleagues' review to apply the improvement cycle correctly, including monthly data and an adjustment after the first cycle. The intervention is described well enough to replicate. The table shows that every question has data and an analysis plan. Ethics are addressed through specific requirements, including voluntary participation and protection of addiction treatment records. Predictions are stated before data arrive, so each cycle can be judged against them. The limits section prevents the final report from claiming more than the design can support, which reviewers notice.
PAC 499 Module 4 help: mistakes that cost marks
Method sections often describe data collection without linking it to research questions. Match each question to its data and analysis. Name your design and justify it. Describe the intervention precisely, ideally with a written guide. Address ethics specifically: consent, privacy, voluntary participation and protections for addiction treatment records. Plan how you will analyze qualitative data, not only how you will collect it. State limits honestly. Pilot your interview guide with one person before using it. Get site and course approvals in writing before starting, and keep a log of anything at the site that changes during the pilot. A realistic timeline matters too; retention data lag behind intake by a month, so plan the last cycle with that delay in mind.
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More PAC 499 and Psychology and Addiction Studies sample papers
- PAC 499 Module 1: Choosing a Topic and Writing the Proposal
- PAC 499 Module 2: Problem Statement and Research Questions
- PAC 499 Module 3: Literature Review
- PAC 499 Module 5: Gathering and Organizing Evidence
- PAC 499 Module 6: Analysis and Findings
- PAC 499 Module 7: Recommendations and Implementation
- PAC 499 Module 8: Final Report and Reflection
- PAC 610 Module 8: Clinical Applications and Current Issues
- PAC 405 Module 7: Behavioral, Cognitive-Behavioral and Family Systems Approaches
- PAC 410 Module 2: Suicide Assessment and Intervention
- PAC 310 Module 2: Ethical Decision-Making Model
PAC 499 Module 4 questions, answered
What does PAC 499 Module 4 usually ask for?
Aspen's PAC 499 covers the method and evidence plan in this module, so describing design, participants, intervention, data, analysis and ethics is typical. Check your Module 4 prompt.
What is a plan-do-study-act cycle?
An improvement method in which a team plans a small change, tries it, studies the results and acts on what it learns, ideally repeating the cycle with data over time.
What makes research ethical?
Emanuel, Wendler and Grady argued for seven, among them value, sound design, a fair choice of participants, benefits that justify risks, independent review, consent and ongoing respect for those enrolled.
Where can I find a free PAC 499 Module 4 sample paper?
Find the full method plan above: a peer call pilot designed with improvement cycles, ethics requirements and thematic analysis.
How do you analyze interview data?
Braun and Clarke describe six phases of thematic analysis: familiarization, coding, generating themes, reviewing themes, defining them and writing up.