units

MPH5213

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

18 September 2017 22 December 2024

print version

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 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.

Monash University

6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Postgraduate - Unit

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

Faculty

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Organisational Unit

Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

Coordinator(s)

Dr Anita Wluka

Offered

Alfred Hospital

  • Second semester 2016 (Day)
  • Second semester 2016 (Off-campus)

Synopsis

This unit provides an introduction to the research methods used in observational studies and is designed to help the student develop the practical skills required in the design and assessment of a research project. It covers issues in protocol design, including study type selection, introduction to questionnaire design, sampling methods, and ethics approval. This introduces the student to planning data management and statistical analysis and developing a study budget. An introduction to the role of qualitative research is also covered.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. pose a research question answerable by observational study methods used to examine public health;
  2. design and present a research protocol to answer the stated question using observational study designs;
  3. describe and demonstrate how information may be collected from people and transformed into usable data for scientific study;
  4. identify, evaluate and communicate when qualitative methodologies may be useful; and
  5. demonstrate the ability to participate and communicate effectively within a group.

Assessment

Assignment 1 (up to 1,500 words, including references) (10%)
Assignment 2 (up to 3,500 words, excluding references) (30%)
Examination (2 hours) (45%)
Quiz (15 minutes) (5%)
Participation (30 minutes each week - online or face to face) (10%)

Workload requirements

The total workload requirement for this unit is 12 hours of work per week. This incorporates the following:
For option 1 (On campus learning): 2 hours per week;
For option 2 (Off campus learning): 15 contact hours over 2 days + OCL (discussion online)

Note: These options are not interchangeable midway through semester.

See also Unit timetable information

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Anita Wluka

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Public health

Prerequisites

MPH5040 and MPH5041.

Prohibitions

MPH5249.

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at:

http://www.med.monash.edu.au/epidemiology/pgrad