module specification

The module is designed to provide students with an understanding of the skills needed for planning, organisation and practice of research in health sciences.

By the end of this module, students will be able to:
- utilise available resources effectively – ability to work autonomously, find and use learning resources, manage time effectively, use computer based skills (word processing, mathematical, statistical, referencing, presentation);
- apply advanced statistical hypothesis testing tools;
- manage the project process – from proposal to publication;
- work collaboratively with others – building inter-disciplinary relationships;
- be a morally responsible researcher – an appreciation of the wider academic community and the ability to take an ethically sound stance when considering the potential impact of research on others; and
- communicate effectively – being able to communicate knowledge both orally and in a visual format, to demonstrate interactive and group skills; to write in a scientific manner and designated format; to demonstrate written and statistical literacies appropriate to sub-discipline.

Lectures will cover a range of statistical methods, and examination of already published data to examine validity/reliability. LO 1, 3

Lectures will cover a range of topics from proposal writing, the project process, managing the project and your supervisor, ethical processes, and dissemination of project output. LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Practical sessions will cover a range of computer software skills including advanced word processing layout and formatting skills for large projects, referencing software, poster design, project funding, journal publishing, and statistical techniques in statistical software. LO 1, 3, 4

Students will undertake a range of lectures discussing research methods and data analysis.

Practical sessions will make use of a number of statistical packages in preparation for their project data analysis.

In addition to the practical sessions, students will be given a number of additional statistical tests to perform, some with guidance, and some to be submitted as coursework.  Additional questions will be given for students to investigate issues/concerns with the statistical tests being examined.

On successful completion of this module a student should be able to:

1. Formulate a novel research proposal at the forefront of their academic discipline.
2. Comprehensively understand ethical processes and procedures when undertaking research involving human subjects.
3. Identify, employ and critically evaluate a range of statistical skills and techniques, showing a comprehensive understanding of their use, applicability and faults.
4. Demonstrate critical scientific writing skills.
5. Evaluate the routes of publication for research output in the student’s sub-discipline and the wider research community.

In Class, Open Book Statistical Test - Students will be given a variety of scenarios and data sets from which a number of questions will be presented ranging from deciding which statistical test to run, to executing a test, to reporting the output from a test.

Project Proposal - outlining the background literature, rationale, research aims, questions and hypothesis, project design, methodology, proposed statistical analysis and considerations relating to research governance including ethics.

Scrapbook of tutorial Tasks – For each of the weekly computer based practical sessions, a small number of questions will be posed which students will be expected to answer and store in an on-line workbook, suitably formatted.

Core texts:
• Beins, B.C. and McCarthy, M.A. (2017) Research methods and statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Field, A. (2018) Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics, 5th edn, London: Sage.
• Thomas, J.R., Nelson, J.K., and Silverman, S.J. (2015) Research Methods in Physical Activity, 7th edn. Leeds: Human Kinetics.

Other texts:
• Holmes, D, Moody, P and Dine, D (2011) Research methods for the biosciences. 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Locke, L.F., Silverman, S.J. and Spirduso, W.W. (2009) Reading and understanding research. 3rd edn. London: Sage Publications.
• Locke, L.F., Spirduso, W.W. and Silverman, S.J. (2014) Proposals that work. 6th edn. London: Sage.
• Moore, D. Notz, W, and Fligner, A (2015) The basic practice of statistics. 7th edn. New York: W H Freeman.

Journals:
• Journal of Mixed Methods Research
• Methods
• Research Synthesis Methods

(Other journals as appropriate to individual research area)

WebSites:
• US National Library of Medicine / National Institute of Health (PubMed)
• SPORT Discus
• Medline
• EBSCO