HS900-7-SP-CO:
Research Design and Critical Appraisal
2022/23
Health and Social Care (School of)
Colchester Campus
Spring
Postgraduate: Level 7
Current
Tuesday 17 January 2023
Wednesday 31 May 2023
15
01 December 2022
Requisites for this module
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
HS982
DIP B906MO Health Care Practice,
MSC B906MO Advanced Clinical Practice,
MSC B90536 Professional Practice (Health Care),
MSC B9B7MO Advanced Clinical Practitioner Apprenticeship,
MSC L43912 Global Public Health,
DOCTB90460 Health Care Education,
DOCTB90060 Health Service Management,
DOCTB74060 Nursing,
DOCTB93060 Occupational Therapy,
DOCTB71260 Public Health (Health Visiting),
DOCTL59260 Social Care Education,
DOCTL59060 Social Services Management,
DOCTB62060 Speech and Language Therapy
This module provides the student with an advanced understanding of the research study designs commonly used in health research. It combines a theoretical with a practical approach to enable students to search for, obtain, and understand the research literature and the critical skills to analyse and synthesis the material into a literature review. The module covers the following themes:
* Principles of research and research methods.
* Critical appraisal and reviewing research literature
* Credibility, responsibility and ethics
Module objectives:
By the end of the module, students should:
* Have an advanced understanding of the range of research methods that are in common use in their discipline.
* Be able to conduct and report a rigorous and advanced search for research literature.
* Critically appraise research papers and construct a literature review.
* Apply research findings, including literature reviews, within their working practice.
This module aims to develop rigorous critical appraisal skills to support evidence based practice in health and social care. It aims to develop a rich understanding of research methods in order to appraise published materials to apply evidence in practice settings, and to support the skills necessary to produce a literature review that appraises, synthesises and interprets the implications of a body of evidence.
On successful completion of this module, the [learner] will be able to:
Develop an appropriate research question relevant to health and social care pratice
Have an advanced understanding of the range of research methods that are in common use in their discipline
Be able to conduct and report a rigorous and advanced search for research literature
Critically appraise research papers and construct a literature review
Apply research findings, including literature reviews, within their working practice
Evidence based practice and leadership is an essential component of responsive and responsible health and social care policy, strategy, leadership, service provision and coordination of action for health. To scrutinise the knowledge that informs and guides practice, the practitioner needs to be research-literate and a critical consumer of research evidence. This module develops rigorous critical appraisal skills for evidence based practice, and in particular supports the process of acquiring, appraising and making inferences from published evidence.
The module uses lectures and computer lab sessions supported by self-study formative tasks that develop the student's own literature review project. Group tutorial and supported study time runs after most lectures to facilitate the formative tasks. Further resources and guidance are available through Moodle.
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Aveyard, H., Sharp, P. and Woolliams, M. (2015b)
A beginner’s guide to critical thinking and writing in health and social care. Second edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/339527.
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Aveyard, H. (2019b)
Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide. Fourth edition. London: Open University Press. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6212137.
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Booth, A., Papaioannou, D. and Sutton, A. (2012)
Systematic approaches to a successful literature review. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/1117339.
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Greenhalgh, T. (2019b)
How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare. Sixth edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2098134.
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Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (no date). Available at:
http://handbook.cochrane.org/.
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Aveyard, H., Sharp, P. and Woolliams, M. (2015b)
A beginner’s guide to critical thinking and writing in health and social care. Second edition. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/339527.
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T. Greenhalgh, J. Howick and N. Maskrey (2014) ‘Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?’,
BMJ, 348. Available at:
http://www.bmj.com/content/348/bmj.g3725.full.
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Aveyard, H. and Sharp, P. (2017)
A beginner’s guide to evidence-based practice in health and social care. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6212202.
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Aveyard, H. (2019b)
Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide. Fourth edition. London: Open University Press. Available at:
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6212137.
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Booth, A., Sutton, A. and Papaioannou, D. (2016)
Systematic Approaches to a Successful Literature Review. 2nd edn. London, UK: SAGE. Available at:
https://app.kortext.com/Shibboleth.sso/Login?entityID=https://idp0.essex.ac.uk/shibboleth&target=https://app.kortext.com/borrow/170041.
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Booth, A. (2006) ‘"Brimful of STARLITE”: toward standards for reporting literature searches’,
Journal of the Medical Library Association, 94(4). Available at:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1629442/.
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Wildridge, V. and Bell, L. (2002) ‘How CLIP became ECLIPSE: a mnemonic to assist in searching for health policy/management information’,
Health Information and Libraries Journal, 19(2), pp. 113–115. Available at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1471-1842.2002.00378.x/abstract.
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Greenhalgh, T. (2019b)
How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare. Sixth edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Available at:
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=2098134.
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NICE National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2012) ‘Methods for the development of NICE public health guidance.’ Available at:
https://www.nice.org.uk/process/pmg4/chapter/introduction.
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Davies, H. and Crombie, I. (no date) ‘What are confidence intervals and p-values?’ Available at:
http://www.bandolier.org.uk/painres/download/whatis/What_are_Conf_Inter.pdf.
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Philip Lindner et al. (2014b) ‘The impact of telephone versus e-mail therapist guidance on treatment outcomes, therapeutic alliance and treatment engagement in Internet-delivered CBT for depression: A randomised pilot trial’,
Internet Interventions, 1(4), pp. 182–187. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214782914000256?via%3Dihub.
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‘Validity and reliability in quantitative studies’ (no date). Available at:
https://ebn.bmj.com/content/ebnurs/18/3/66.full.pdf.
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Polit, D.F. and Beck, C.T. (2010) ‘Generalization in quantitative and qualitative research: Myths and strategies’,
International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47(11), pp. 1451–1458. Available at:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0020748910002063.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
3,000 word literature review |
|
100% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Prof Andrew Bateman, email: a.bateman@essex.ac.uk.
Andrew Bateman
Administrator David Bidwell cpd@essex.ac.uk
No
No
Yes
Dr Nicola Clarke
Birmingham City University
Senior Lecturer/Professional Navigator/Academic Advisor/Seda Accredited Doctoral
Dr Elaine Lehane
University College Cork
Senior Lecturer
Available via Moodle
Of 87 hours, 85 (97.7%) hours available to students:
2 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.
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