Research
Brief description of module:
This module requires the students to demonstrate research skills, analytical capability and creative thinking. It also enables students to pursue an area of interest, identify practice issues and translate one of these into a research question. It further provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate in-depth understanding of a specific area of practice.
Aims:
To advance students’ research and problem solving skills
Learning outcomes:
This module enables students to meet the following learning outcomes:
- Translate practice issues into a research question
- Develop a detailed research proposal suitable for submission to the Local Research Ethics Committee
- Demonstrate advanced knowledge in a specific area of practice
- Demonstrate advanced understanding of the research process
- Demonstrate analytical capability
Module content:
- Research designs
- Methods of data collection and analysis
- Conducting a literature review
- Developing research questions
- Developing research proposals
- Ethics and research
- Research governance
Assessment tasks:
Year 2:
A detailed research proposal incorporating a comprehensive literature review that could potentially form the basis for a submission to the Local NHS Research Ethics Committee (8000 words). The area chosen must be agreed with the relevant programme leader or their designated representative and must have a clear link to students’ professional practice.
20.10.08 Final agreement of your research topic, approved by:
These people are responsible for allocating students to a particular tutor who will provide tutorial support during the academic year.
It is the responsibility of students to arrange contact with their allocated research tutors. This may be by face to face tutorial, telephone or email. If a student is having difficulty making contact with their allocated tutor they should contact xxx for advice.
The research tutor will be one of the markers of the research proposal. In addition the research tutor will comment and provide feedback on the initial submission of the literature review which is a formative piece of assessment.
Submission dates:
12.1.09 Submission of literature review for formative assessment. This should be submitted by email to your research supervisor.
06.02.09 You should receive feedback on this work by this date
22.6.09 Final submission of complete work (literature review and research proposal). Please note this will be both a hard copy submission and an electronic submission via OCS.
The marks for this assignment will be equally split between the two components (literature review & research proposal). It is anticipated that the word count will be equally split between the two elements although this may vary depending on the topic chosen.
Literature Review:
Your literature review must relate to the research question you are developing. It should be an evaluation of literature related to your research question that will allow you to finalise your question based on a “gap” in the literature.
The process (search strategy) by which you undertook the literature review must be clearly articulated. This could be an outline in the main text with additional detail in an appendix if required.
Remember it must be analytical and critical and synthesise your findings to support your proposal. It is not just a description of relevant literature or an annotated bibliography.
The following texts are all available in the library and will be useful.
H62.9.L5
Conducting research literature reviews : from the internet to paper / Arlene Fink
Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Sage, c2005
Z711.2
Effective literature searching for research / Sarah Gash
Aldershot: Gower, 2000
H62.H2
Doing a literature review : releasing the social science research imagination / Chris Hart
London : Sage, 1998
LB 2371.D6
Doing postgraduate research / edited by Stephen Potter
Milton Keynes, U.K. : Open University in association with SAGE Publications, 2006
2nd ed
LB 2369.R8 **This book is available as an online electronic resource**
How to find information : a guide for researchers / by Sally Rumsey
Maidenhead : Open University Press, 2008
2nd ed
LB 2371.W5
The postgraduate research handbook : succeed with your MA, MPhil, EdD and PhD / Gina Wisker
Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2008
2nd ed
Research Proposal Guidance:
Your proposed research must be informed by the literature you have reviewed. You are not constrained by any particular timeframe so it does not have to be a piece of research suitable to be undertaken within the timescale of your MSc studies. You are looking for gaps in the evidence base to support your chosen area of practice (nursing, speech and language therapy or physiotherapy). This may be a piece of research that you would want to undertake in the future.
Your proposal should include:
Title of Research
Summary of your literature review – to a maximum of 500 words. This does not count within your word limit but it must clearly support the research idea you present within your proposal.
Aims & Objectives including (where appropriate):
Principal research question/objective
Secondary research questions/objectives
Hypotheses
Detailed methods section including:
Overview of planned research including theoretical framework that informs it (this should include information about exactly what will happen to each research participant – time commitment, recruitment, inclusion and exclusion criteria)
Population, sample type/size/selection
Proposed location of research (type of trust/organisation/department) Likely access to research subjects?
Method of data analysis
Summary of main ethical issues or problems which may arise with the proposed study and steps which will be taken to address these
Proposed Timescale and plan of work (eg Gantt Chart)
Proposed dissemination methods
Appendices (which do not count in the word limit) should include:
· Information sheets
· Recruitment information
· Consent documentation
· Budget and resources
(templates for much of this information are available via the nres site link below)
Useful websites:
http://www.ethicsweb.ca/
This is a Canadian ethics websites and useful links include: Biotechnology and Health Care Ethics ; http://www.ethicsweb.ca/resources/decision-making/index.html
http://www.cochrane.org/
The Cochrane Library is an electronic publication designed to supply high quality evidence to inform people providing and receiving care, and those responsible for research, teaching, funding and administration at all levels.
http://www.library.nhs.uk/Default.aspx
Clinical Evidence is freely available to NHS staff, patients and the public in England through the National Library for Health. It provides a regularly updated guide to evidence about the effectiveness of care.
http://www.nres.npsa.nhs.uk/ UK central office for Research Ethics Committees
http://www.dh.gov.uk/PolicyAndGuidance/ResearchAndDevelopment/fs/en Department of Health’s section on research and development
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/pehru/ipeph/ London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , international programme for ethics, public health and human rights
http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm World Medical Association – Declaration of Helsinki
http://www.phru.nhs.uk/Pages/PHD/CASP.htm
Critical appraisal skills programme and evidence based practice
There are many additional research texts available in the library. You will also find many articles written about particular aspects of research and some journals are dedicated to such writing – for example Nurse Researcher.
Submission instructions
The guidelines for the layout of written work as provided in the postgraduate students’ handbook should be followed.
Work should be submitted by NAME and STUDENT NUMBER.
Two hardcopies, which must be securely fastened, should be submitted to the School office.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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