Course description
* Gain a solid grounding in research methods and statistics underpinning evidence based practice;
* Develop a sound understanding of the evidence underpinning your practice and enhance your career prospects in accordance with the Modernising Careers Frameworks;
* Compare treatment results within a framework of clinical governance;
* Sound preparation to undertake research within your practice;
* Ideal preparation to undertake PhD research;
* Benefit from valuable and stimulating opportunities for inter-professional learning;
* Flexible stand-alone modules in statistics, systematic reviews, research governance and ethics, and qualitative research.
The Faculty of Health in partnership with the Evidence Based Practice Research Centre, the Department of Social and Psychological Sciences and the Faculty of Education has an enviable reputation for high quality research and scholarly activity. The Postgraduate Certificate in Social Research Methods builds on that expertise but also capitalises on the research strengths of colleagues from the Faculties of Health and Education. The cross-faculty approach means that students from a range of disciplines take part in a shared learning experience stimulating useful inter-professional debate.
What will I gain from this programme?
The programme has been developed in response to local and national drivers that require increasing numbers of health and social care practitioners to develop an evidence-based approach to their practice. The programme provides a strong grounding in research methods and statistics underpinning evidence based practice.
Whilst there is a balance between quantitative and qualitative methods and analysis, the programme will enable you to develop a critical understanding of discipline-related research, allowing you to make defendable choices in selecting research approaches, methods and analyses.
The programme will enable you to critically appraise the ethical issues raised by the conduct of research within your area of practice. You will develop skills in writing research proposals, compiling research reports and using analytical software for organising, handling, summarising, representing and analysing data.
What will I study?
The programme comprises six distinct 20 credit modules and a 60 credit dissertation that combine to produce a well-rounded qualification in research methods, whilst also appealing as stand alone modules for CPD purposes.
Moreover, the requirement to meet the differing needs of potential participants has enriched the module content above and beyond that typically found on single discipline programmes. We envisage that the diverse range of experience and expertise amongst participants will lead to a highly stimulating learning environment with the potential for a broader level of critical appraisal and debate than would normally be possible.
Topics covered across the programme include:
* Understanding the research process of evidence-based practice;
* Research traditions in social science and their impact on academic and practice-based research. The philosophy of science: positivist, constructivist, critical and feminist traditions;
* Writing a research proposal, including, planning, the ethical approval process, organisation and management, dissemination and theoretical, practical and/or policy implications;
* Critiquing research findings;
* The ethics of research involving human beings;
* Univariate analyses; bivariate analyses & multiple regression, factor analysis;
* Evaluating measures: Assessing reliability and validity;
* Data screening, interpreting and reporting outcomes of statistical analyses;
* Systematic reviews;
* Philosophical underpinnings of qualitative research;
* Ontology, epistemology and reflexivity;
* Approaches to qualitative research and qualitative research design issues;
* Analysis in qualitative data.
How will I study?
The delivery of the programme will take place over two years running from September to August with students normally attending on a part-time basis. The programme is taught through a combination of lectures, seminars/discussions, workshops, individual and group tutorials and guided independent reading and study tasks.
A blended (flexible and conventional) approach will be used incorporating both face-to-face and Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) mediated delivery. Within modules, there are opportunities for problem-based learning and personal reflection as well as for independent choice that will enable you to tailor the curriculum to your specific discipline, area of interest, expertise or practice.
Who will be teaching me?
The programme team comprises staff from the Faculty of Health, the Evidence Based Practice Research Centre, the Department of Social and Psychological Sciences and the Faculty of Education. Edge Hill University enjoys an excellent reputation for teaching quality and members of the programme teaching team publish in international journals and present at national and international conferences.
How will I be assessed?
Assessment methods include: a research proposal; contribution to online discussions and completion of online activities; data analysis and interpretation; critical review of relevant research; research diary, research report, and dissertation.
What are my career prospects?
In an increasingly competitive health and social care service, professionals need to continually seek opportunities to add to their portfolio of qualifications in order to advance their careers. This is especially true for doctors, nurses and allied health professionals where a postgraduate qualification is increasingly deemed essential. The MSc Evidence based Practice Programme will provide a solid preparation and highly relevant qualification for such professionals and provide them with an edge over their peers. The programme also provides health and social care professionals with CPD opportunities.
Further study at Edge Hill University
The MSc Evidence based Practice Programme provides excellent training in research methods and will provide excellent preparation for those considering a PhD.
Modules
HEA 4011 Foundations of Social Research This module is delivered primarily by Virtual Learning Environment and will introduce you to the research process including philosophical debates surrounding both quantitative and qualitative traditions and a range of research methodologies. You will develop a proposal that demonstrates your abilities to plan a small-scale project in a chosen discipline as well as demonstrating your awareness of the theoretical and practical implications of undertaking such a study. A blended approach is designed to encourage group online interaction as well as independent learning.
SPS 4001 Analysis of Quantitative Data This module is designed to equip you with the ability to organise, analyse, interpret and report findings of research involving quantitative (numerical) data. The focus is on identifying different types of data arising from typical research methods/designs and selecting appropriate analyses to answer relevant research questions. The module is designed to provide a progression from organising, entering and summarising data through univariate and on to multivariate data analyses.
Issues relating to parametric assumptions, the meaning of significance and reliability and validity are addressed, to enable you to critically evaluate research findings and conclusions. An important component of the module will be the provision of training in the appropriate use of SPSS for Windows as a means of organising, manipulating and analysing data.
SPS 4002 Approaches to Qualitative Research and Analysis This module is designed to develop a sound understanding of approaches to qualitative research and analysis. It will equip you to acquire further knowledge and skills relating to qualitative research paradigms, methods and approaches to analysis. Topics covered include: Approaches to qualitative research, e.g. grounded theory, phenomenology participatory/ emancipatory research, action research; qualitative research design issues; methods in qualitative research e.g. interviews, focus groups, observation, participation and analysis in qualitative research e.g. thematic analysis, content analysis, discourse analysis.
HEA 4019 Systematic Reviews in Health and Social Care Practice This module is designed to enable the development of a sound understanding of systematic reviews and the methods used to identify and synthesise evidence of effectiveness for health and social care and service delivery. It will enable you to read and critique published systematic reviews, developing knowledge and skills to undertake a systematic review. Key-note lectures and computer-laboratory based workshops will enable you to develop literature searching skills, develop and use a literature search strategy, develop a protocol for undertaking a systematic review, extract data and assess the quality of studies.
HEA 4022 Research Governance and Ethics This module is designed to prepare you to conduct research with living participants by developing your awareness of ethical issues and how these issues relate to the research process. The module will introduce you to theoretical perspectives underpinning ethical principles which guide research with living participants, either animal or human. The application of such principles to health and social research will be explored through examination of official scrutiny procedures, professional codes of practice, legal obligations, and specific issues such as informed consent, confidentiality, and participants’ rights (e.g. the right to withdraw without penalty). There module content also includes consideration of broader issues concerning the potential social impact of research (e.g. moral panics), including responsibility for the application of research findings, and research in developing countries.
HEA 4020 Utilisation of Evidence in Specialist Clinical Practice (MSc Evidence Based Medicine ONLY) Designed to enable postgraduate medical doctors to accredit learning developed within clinical practice, this module is available to medical staff from diverse areas of specialist clinical practice to accredit practice-based learning as part of an approved postgraduate programme. You will work closely with both clinical and academic supervisors to identify appropriate outcomes for the development of evidence based knowledge and skills in you specialised area of clinical practice and develop a learning contract detailing how this learning will be achieved and assessed.
HEA 4024 Writing Successful Grant Applications (Option) This module introduces you to the demands and procedures commonly encountered in preparing applications for research funding. The ability to obtain research funding from external bodies may bring important benefits to your career development and will be valued by employers. The module will familiarise you to the major UK research councils and equivalent overseas bodies, as well as smaller grant making trusts. The module content includes the process of costing out research as part of preparing a grant application and the complications arising with applications incorporating more than one institution.
MSc Evidence Based Practice dissertation students may select from two dissertation modules:
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HEA 4009 Dissertation for Practice Based Professionals The Dissertation for Practice Based Professionals is designed to enable you to consolidate and develop further your research knowledge and skills gained during previous modules. This module will enable you to focus upon a significant piece of investigative enquiry relating to your specialist area of practice from conceptualisation through to completion.
This Dissertation for Practice Based Professionals builds upon the other modules within your programme, which are concerned with the application of theory, evidence and research to practice. You may elect to undertake a primary research project or a secondary research project including a systematic review or historical/archival research.
OR
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HEA 4002 Advanced Practice Project
The Advanced Practice module is designed to enable you to consolidate and develop further your research knowledge and skills gained during previous modules. This module will enable you to synthesise learning as you apply your specialist knowledge to identify, plan, implement, evaluate and disseminate the findings of a small-scale project that will potentially promote service/treatment/practice development within your area of practice.
In accordance with the professional status and responsibility of an advanced practitioner, the module will also prepare you to share good practice with professional colleagues via written and oral modes of dissemination.
