Design & Methods for Clinical and Health Research

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Identify and justify appropriate and feasible research question(s).
• Critically appraise and integrate a wide range of literature related to your area of research, both from a scientific and a pragmatic perspective, and in the context of a health care environment
• Demonstrate an understanding of relevant research design and methods through critical appraisal of selected literature
• Identify questions or topics relating to your area of practice and carry out a comprehensive literature search
• Critically evaluate relevant research evidence and synthesise recommendations for your area of research or practice

The value and meaning of scientific research in the context of health care services and systems

2.Information and data management skills, including using effective search strategies

3.Critically appraising research material using appropriate tools

4.Designing research questions, aims and objectives;

5.Research paradigms, philosophies and methodologies;

6.A wide range of research designs, for example randomised controlled trials, complex intervention studies, surveys, economic evaluation, phenomenology, case study and action research

7.Introduction to data collection methods used in quantitative and qualitative traditions; including for example, surveys, use of routine data, physiological measurement, interviews, diary-method

8.Construction of data collection tools used in research;

9.Introduction to the issues of reliability and validity and the naturalistic equivalent of credibility

10.Introduction to data protection and data management

11. Introduction to statistics: e.g. the use of quantitative data in epidemiology and population demographics, describing and summarizing data, estimation and confidence intervals, hypotheses and significance testing, determining sample sizes;

12.Qualitative data analysis techniques;

13.Introduction to ethical principles relating to the conduct of research and research in clinical practice.

Teaching sessions are designed and facilitated by research active staff from across the School. You will learn collaboratively and inter-professionally throughout the module. The taught sessions are shared with students from the MRes and the doctoral training programme.

Active student participation in all learning activities of the module will be promoted so that you will assume responsibility for your own learning.

A range of student-centred learning and teaching strategies will be employed, for example: workshops, interactive lectures by key experts in their field, tutor- and student-led seminars, independent supported learning and individual supervision.

To support your learning throughout the module, learning materials, resources and course documentation and further reading suggestions will be available via Blackboard - the University’s web-based managed learning environment.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Written summary

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: For the formative assessment, students will receive brief e-mail feedback on their assignment plan/extract from the module leader, in line with the policy on reading drafts.
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.