Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

None

Aims

• To allow students to undertake a general training in research methods and management within a first class research environment involving an appropriate project exploring one or more aspects of clinical research.
• To enable students to make informed choices about their further career development in clinical medicine, science or business.
• To enable students to develop a range of professional and key skills, which will enable them to engage in research at an advanced level in higher education or in a senior professional capacity in other fields of employment
• To ensure that, within these aims, the students will experience a range of cutting edge research within the Faculty of Medicine or in their own working environment.

Outline Of Syllabus

Students will undertake a single research project in the field of the degree programme studied. Projects will offer diverse experiences in research techniques and methods across the range of Research activities in the Faculty of Medicine Medical Sciences in collaboration with their own workplace environment. Choice of project rests with the student. From the outset the purpose of the project is to widen the students’ outlook to, and experience of, research. The project is intended to allow students from diverse backgrounds to sample areas of current research that are of interest to them in an active research environment and to help them make an informed choice about future career directions and/or help them progress within their chosen career. Students will be supported by the module leader and if appropriate it is highly recommended that students also have a workplace mentor.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of this module, students will:

•be aware of the broad spectrum of clinical research activity in the University and elsewhere.
•be aware of the importance of time management and setting priorities within a project to ensure that the aims of a project are met
•have gained first hand knowledge of how research programmes are designed, implemented, adjusted and managed
•have gained first hand knowledge of the various outcomes from research programmes and the different methods by which they are prepared and presented to research community
•understand how their project relates to the current literature

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

•make an informed choice of research project based on their own career aspirations and be able to defend this choice to academic staff
•select an appropriate variety of research methods applicable to their project
•critically discuss the research aims of their project
•maintain a record of their research project
•manage time appropriately for their project
•understand the importance of personal skills when working in a research environment
•manage and analyse data specific to their project
•critically evaluate their own finding and those of others (from current literature)
•to produce a short dissertation and develop appropriate writing skills

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The students will develop a range of professional and key skills and will be trained and empowered to engage in research at an advanced level in higher education or in a senior professional capacity in other fields of employment. Students will be fully engaged in the project selection and development through a dialogue with their project supervisors. They will gain hands-on experience of a range of techniques used in research (appropriate to their own project) and will be required to maintain detailed records of their work and produce a short dissertation. Students will also prepare a lay summary, an oral presentation and an E-poster. This module will involve a significant amount of private study, including research-based fieldwork and practical experience of a range of clinical research techniques. The amount of hours spent on practicals, fieldwork and private study will vary with the individual project but should be approximately as stated above.

Given the wide variety of project types, and professional situations that students find themselves in, there is no fixed timeline within the module - students determine their own planning and time management with advice.

As each dissertation project is unique and chosen by the student there are no set class activities. Students interact in a one-to-one manner with an experienced investigator and are supported in the workplace by additional specialist advisors for specific needs (stats advice, use of qualitative methods etc.).

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

First hand knowledge of how research programmes are designed, implemented, adjusted and managed will be obtained and the outcomes reflected. The knowledge and practical skills generated are assessed in all of the above assessments. Research outcomes are appropriately expressed in peer-reviewed publications and presentations at national and international meetings. The assessment of this module reflects the real world of medical research and trains the students in the necessary skills required to write and submit: a lay summarygraphical abstract (GA) , a short report or dissertation, and to present their findings in both a poster and an oral format. The lay GA summary tests the student’s ability to communicate their own work to a wider lay audience, a recognised and required skill in healthcare research. There will be tested training materials in the completion of this task given to the students.

The short dissertation tests the student’s ability to critically evaluate their own data and compare their own findings with the published literature, as well as their ability to present and analyse data and discuss their own work in a written format. The oral presentation and poster assesses the student’s ability to prepare and deliver a short summary of their project using appropriate software in clear way to an audience of peers in a time-limited and space-limited fashion. Interpersonal communication; planning & organising; initiative and adaptability are all qualities that contribute to the production of all four outputs (poster, lay GA summary, oral presentation and dissertation) as on this course the entire research process from initial idea to final dissertation is the responsibility of the student, they do not just work an established project supplied by a supervisor. Computer literacy is assessed in the poster, GAlay summary, dissertation and oral presentation

General Notes

N/A