YRM-30306 Research Methods in Public Health and Society

Course

Credits 6.00

Teaching methodContact hours
Lectures16
Literature study
Problem-based learning12
Tutorial12
Self-study
Course coordinator(s)dr. H Tobi
Lecturer(s)dr. H Tobi
Examiner(s)dr. H Tobi

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

HNE-24806 Epidemiology and Public Health, MAT-15303 Statistics 1 and MAT-15403 Statistics 2, YRM-10306 Research Methods in the Social Sciences, YSS-20306 Advanced Research Methods in the Social Sciences.

Contents:

This course deals with relevant methodology topics for the study of public health and society. Methods from the social sciences, epidemiology and public health research will be discussed, compared and integrated to facilitate interdisciplinary thinking as required in the study of health and society.
In this course doing research is approached as a process. Students will learn and practice to adequately formulate research questions while connecting public health and social sciences. The classification of research designs based on reference period is a very relevant one for the study of health issues. Using this classification, this course pays attention to the frequently used study designs including the cross-sectional study, the case-control study, the cohort study, the intervention study and randomised clinical trials. Issues of reliability, validity and sources of bias in the study of health and society as well as some qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques are discussed. During this course, you will read different 'method' sections and several empirical research papers, which will help you learn to separate chaff from wheat. Special attention is paid to guarding the link between the research question and the research methodology while taking into account ethical and practical constraints of research in public health and health promotion.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to:
- know about and be aware of scientific terminology with regard to methodology in social sciences and in health sciences;
- know about ethical issues in research in health and society research, and their implications;
- be able to critically assess research proposals (at the Master level) and scientific papers in the field of public health and social sciences;
- be able to design a research project in the area of public health and health promotion;
- be able to make thought-out choices with respect to research question, study design and data collection methods in the field of public health and society;
- be able to deal with the limitations that practice puts on research design and data collection and vice versa, in a creative way;
- be able to calculate and interpret basic epidemiologic measures;
- be able to write a research proposal (at Master level) in a scientific way.

Activities:

Workshops with both lecturing and interactive learning.

Examination:

- 3 assignments (respectively 10%, 20% and 20%);
- written exam with open and closed questions (50%).
To pass both the average of the 3 assignments and the written exam require at least a 5.50.

Literature:

Bowling, A. & S. Ebrahim (eds., 2005). Handbook of health research methods: investigation, measurement and analysis. Berkshire, New York: Open University Press.

ProgrammePhaseSpecializationPeriod
Compulsory for: MCHCommunication, Health and Life SciencesMScB: Health and Society1MO