There are 2 pieces of summative assessment;

1. A written critical essay demonstrating knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research and demonstrating skills of analysis. Length 4000 WORDS weighted at 100%. (assessing all LO's)
2. 250 word contribution to a discussion forum to assess LO 1 (weighted 0%) pass/fail

Both elements of assessment must be passed

Formative assessment:
Students will receive formative feedback throughout the module comprising of a combination of weekly task related online feedback and also comments directed through discussion boards during the course of the delivery of the module. Skype, or telephone tutorials will also be offered.

This module will enable students to develop knowledge and understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research designs within public health. Students will be given basic theoretical and practical skills for planning, undertaking and interpreting research, analysing data sets and in reporting research findings. Statistical analysis will be explored and a number of inferential statistical techniques will be included (e.g., t-tests, correlations, chi-square, Analysis of Variance and Multiple Regression). Selected qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis relevant to public health (e.g., content analysis, grounded theory) will also be explored. Issues of sampling and sample size calculations will also be addressed.

Students will follow an 8 week guided study programme and access a range of support material via Blackboard. Students will also be required to access additional support material independently. Understanding of key concepts will be self-assessed via weekly questions posed on the Blackboard discussion group. Weekly Tutor feedback will be provided for this formative assessment. Students should engage in on-line discussion sessions and will be required to support discussions with evidence based arguments.

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: (2 hours)
2 hours Skype tutorial

Guided Independent Study (148 hours)
100 hours representing a combination of further and additional reading and a series of optional tasks and activities
48 hours specific preparation for the module assignment

Access to an appropriately specified PC with internet access and accompanying Microsoft Word, Excel, SPSS, Blackboard VLE, Adobe and Java software.

Course textbooks and online Library facilities

Donaldson L. & Rutter, P. (2017) Donaldson’s Essential Public Health, CRC Press, 4th ed.
Field A (2013). Discovering statistics using SPSS. Sage Publications,4th ed.

Punch, K. F (2014) Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. Sage Publications, 3rd ed.

Stewart A (2016). Basic statistics and epidemiology: a practical guide. CRC Press, 4th ed.

Research Methods and Data Analysis in Public Health will enable you to develop knowledge and understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research within public health. This module will provide you with basic theoretical and practical skills for planning, undertaking and interpreting research, calculating sample size, analysing data sets and in reporting qualitative and quantitative research findings.