Postgraduate - UnitDPH6003 - Advanced research methods in public health

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine
Offered	Alfred Hospital Second semester 2014 (Off-campus)
Coordinator(s)	Professor M Abramson

Synopsis

Quantitative skills necessary to undertake and complete doctoral level projects. Major types of epidemiological study designs, defining research questions and hypotheses. Assessment of reliability, validity of questionnaires, selecting appropriate instruments for public health research. Steps in preparing a grant application for competitively awarded funding, alternative sampling strategies for subject election, data analysis strategies and bias control. Ethical issues in public health research & role of ethics committees.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit, students will be able to:

demonstrate a thorough understanding of quantative research methods in public health;
design, develop and present an original research protocol;
prepare an application for approval by an Ethics Committee;
design and outline methods for validating a questionnaire suitable for data entry; and
write a paper suitable for publication in a peer reviewed journal.

Assessment

Written appraisal (20%)
Oral presentation (25%)
Written protocol (25%)
Draft questionnaire and manuscript (20%).

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Michael Abramson

Workload requirements

2 contact hours per week