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Professional and Research Skills

Module description

This module aims to develop the personal and research skills you need to conduct high-quality scientific research. You will be taught how to efficiently review published literature, establishing and critiquing current knowledge with respect to a specific research question. It will provide you with a sound understanding of research study designs and selection of appropriate statistical methodology. It will enable you to practice the skill of disseminating your research to non-scientific (lay) and scientific audiences, in oral and written forms. The module will cover the skills necessary to carry out scientific research and publish the findings.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will develop the skills necessary for you to carry out scientific research. We will provide you with a list of research topics, and you can select a project of interest. You will formulate a plan for a research project based on the topic you’ve chosen and use this to write a grant application which will form the summative assessment. You will learn how to gather and appraise published research. You will learn about different study designs, how they are selected and designed to test scientific hypotheses with statistical rigour. A scientific writing workshop will help to develop a writing style appropriate for the project proposal. You will have the opportunity to present your research proposal to a lay audience, which will enable you to appreciate the increasing importance funders place on Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) in defining and revising important research questions. You will also learn how Health Research Authority (HRA) approval seeks to ensure within-NHS research studies are of a high quality, are safe and ethical.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand the inherent strengths and weaknesses of different research designs within evidence-based health research.
• 2. Appreciate the role Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) may play in improving research quality and ethical approval.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Understand how studies are designed and conducted to test important scientific hypotheses with statistical rigour.
• 4. Learn efficient and methodical ways to gather and appraise published research.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Communicate accurately and effectively with peers, tutors and the public.
• 6. Critically reflect on personal practice and make connections between known and unknown areas, to allow for personal development, adaptation and change.
• 7. Respond to innovation and new technologies and be able to evaluate these in the context of best practice and the need for improved service delivery and/or improved research performance.

Syllabus plan

 Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, an example of an overall structure is as follows:

• Efficient searching, finding and accessing of journal articles

• Methodical approaches to critically appraising published research

• Research design protocols and levels of evidence in human health research

• Qualitative and quantitative research approaches

• Designing studies of suitable statistical rigour; power/sample size calculations, non-parametric/parametric data, paired data, outliers, subgroup analysis, correlation, regression, probability, confidence intervals

• Scientific writing; the message vs title of the paper, brainstorming, paragraph structure, storyboards, referencing, active vs passive voice.

• Regulation of health research within the NHS; Health Research Authority (HRA) approval including the role of Research Ethics Committees (RECs)

• Writing for a lay audience; readability statistics   

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

In the event of you failing a module, you will be given a chance to resubmit the failed components that led to the overall module failure. This will normally be within six weeks of the overall module result being known, except in the case of written and/or practical examinations which may take longer to reschedule. The module result will then be capped at 50.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Greenhalgh, T. (2014). How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine 5 th edition. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Matthews, J.R. (2014). Successful Scientific Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Biological and Medical Sciences 4 th edition. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press

Field, A. and Hole, G. (2003). How to Design and Report Experiments. London, Greater London: SAGE Publications

Browne, M.N. and Keeley, S.M. (2014). Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking. Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Ltd

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=6150

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Health Literacy: Evidence Pyramid

http://libraryguides.unh.edu/health-literacy/pyramid

Key words search

Professional, research, skills