autumn 2014
HEL-8012 Quantitative Research Methods - 6 ECTS

Application deadline

23.12.2013

Type of course

The course is a basal course at the PhD programme in Health Sciences.

Admission requirements

To take PhD courses you need at a minimum a master’s degree or equivalent, or admission to a Medical Student Research Program.

 

For information about how to apply for admission, go to: http://uit.no/helsefak/forskning/phd/emner

It is recommended that you taket his course early in your PhD study.


Course overlap

If you pass the examination in this course, you will get an reduction in credits (as stated below), if you previously have passed the following courses:

HEL-8024 Quantitative Research Methods 3 stp
HEL-8026 Scientific Writing and Publishing in Health Sciences .5 stp

Course content

The course shall be relevant for all PhD students in the health sciences. The objective is to introduce topics regarding the formulation of research hypothesis, selection of design, understanding of the principles of experimental/randomized studies and observational studies and insight in problems regarding choice of measurement methods (reliability, validity). A basic introduction to some regression methods often used in health sciences and methods to evaluate diagnostic tests will be given with emphasis on interpretation and description of the results of the analysis. Methods for evidences evaluation and meta-analysis will also be presented. The students will also be introduced to scientific writing.

Objectives of the course

Knowledge

• Be able to account for the steps in the research process, and know how to formulate clear research questions, and apply this within their own discipline.

• Be able to explain the relation between research design and pertinent methods for analysis

• Be able to describe the strengths and weaknesses of different experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, consider when they actually may be applied, and suggest how the problems with the different designs can be remedied.

• Be able to detail the research process related to evidence based studies and evaluate the quality of such studies.

 

Skills

• Ability to identify the design of published studies

• Basic knowledge of different statistical software and ability to perform some statistical analyses, like multiple linear regression, logistic regression and survival analysis (Cox regression).

• Interpret statistical results and describe these the way it should be done in a scientific publication.

• Perform sample size/power calculations for own planned studies.

• Perform scientific writing.

 

Competence

• Become an effective user of the literature by applying the acquired methodological knowledge

• Better methodological knowledge base to improve the ability to critically evaluate the research done by others.

• Improve the understanding of the research process across the health science disciplines and develop broader insight into the basis of and methods used within the health sciences.


Language of instruction and examination

The course is taught in English if there are any English speaking students that term.

Teaching methods

The course schedule will consist of two sessions of four days, 1-3 weeks apart; a little more than half of the time will be lectures covering the theory and the rest of the time will be group exercises including student presentations.

Assessment

Work requirement:

A written assignment

 

Home exam with multiple choice questions and a data analysis assignment. Evaluated with passed/not passed. The Candidate will be give approximately 10 days to complete the exam.

 

Re-sit exam:

The course will be arranged each semester and no continuation exams will be given.


Recommended reading/syllabus

One of these textbooks about quantitative research methods from a relevant research tradition, can be used:
Hulley SB, Cummings SR, Browner WS, Grady DG, Newman TB (2007): Designing clinical research. Wolters Kluwer Lippincott Willians & Wilkins (some chapters).

Shadish WR, Cook TD, Campbell DT (2002): Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company (some chapters).

Martinussen M et al (2010): Kvantitativ forskningsmetodologi i samfunns- og helsefag. Fagbokforlaget.

Laake P, Hjartåker A, Thelle DS, Veierød MB (2007): Epidemiologiske og kliniske forskningsmetoder.

Gyldendal Akademisk

 

No specific textbook in statistics is required, but support can be found in:

MJCampbell:Statistics At Square Two (Second Edition)

(Statistics At Square One can be downloaded for free at: http://resources.bmj.com/bmj/readers/statistics-at-square-one)

Hills & De Stavola:A Short Introduction To STATA For Biostatistics (Updated to STATA 11)

Andy Field:Discovering StatisticsUsing SPSS (Third Edition)

In addition, three downloads from the IBM SPSS webpage can be found. They cover logistic regression, linear regression and survival analysis, respectively.

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  • About the course
  • Campus: Ukjent |
  • ECTS: 6
  • Course code: HEL-8012
  • Tidligere år og semester for dette emnet