Research and Statistics for Non Medical Professionals (OPHT0058)

This module provides a comprehensive engagement with the evidence based approaches (data and literature review) which underpin research and clinical practice developments. Contemporary approaches to research and analysis will be considered, emerging from theory and practice as a context. You will encounter the range of frameworks (ethical and legal), data sets and the evidence bases which inform the field, and develop their capacity to identify, interrogate and interpret these in order to draw conclusions which will inform practice and understanding. You will evaluate own learning in order to frame an individual strategy for study, and its synthesis with your practice as preparation for the research project.

You will engage in tasks such as conducting literature searches, critical reading of papers, statistical analysis, identifying and designing projects, evaluative report and presentation writing. Delivery will be structured through focused online modules of study supported by face to face workshop/seminar style sessions in order to consolidate and synthesise understanding in advance of summative assessment.

In this module you will learn an introduction to the theory and skills required for the successful completion of a research project. You will undertake good...

Experimental Design and Research Methods in Nutrition (MEDC0039)

In this module you will learn an introduction to the theory and skills required for the successful completion of a research project. You will undertake good clinical practice training (GCP) and be aware of research in modern clinical practice. There are sessions on ethical considerations, and a formative task to create a proposal for your own clinical trial. There are practical sessions on data organisation and analysis, covering both quantitative and qualitative information.

Topics include:

• Hypothesis testing: the null-hypothesis, one and two tailed hypotheses, planning and designing research
• Operational definitions, independent and dependent variables
• Samples and groups, generalisability of findings
• Reliability, validity, external validity
• Experimental design including repeated measures designs and single test studies
• Questionnaire, scales, tests and measurement issues
• Descriptive statistics
• Probability and significance
• One-way analysis of variance
• Qualitative analysis
• Medical ethics

It is a requirement that this module is taken in combination with MEDC0037 Practical Nutritional Assessment.