Postgraduate Course: Research Methodologies in Ageing and Care (SHSS11003)
Course Outline
School | School of Health in Social Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
Summary | Building on the challenges explored in the semester 1 course 'Challenges of Ageing and Care', this semester 2 core course will explore some of the key debates relating to 'evidence', what is multi/interdisciplinary working within these debates and will provide a practical overview of social science methodologies and approaches and what they offer to the broader debates around evidence, research-informed practice and links to policy.
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Course description |
Research Methodologies and Methods in Ageing and Care is concerned with the philosophies, techniques and practices of doing empirical research. Building on the challenges explored in the semester 1 course 'Challenges of Ageing and Care', this semester 2 core course will explore some of the key debates relating to 'evidence,' what is multi/interdisciplinary working within these debates and provides a practical overview of methodologies and approaches and what they offer to the broader debates around evidence, research-informed practice and policy.
Overall, the aim is for the student to develop their ability to engage confidently with methodologies and methods relating to advanced issues and problems in Care, and to link these issues to student's own research practice and experience in an interdisciplinary manner.
This course uses 11 weekly workshops, to explore and develop a broad understanding of the methodologies and methods available across the quantitative - qualitative spectrum in health and social care research. It will focus on developing a broad professional competence in understanding research approaches and will work towards the development of a research proposal as part of the summative assessment.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
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Lecture Hours 33,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
163 )
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Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Additional Information (Assessment) |
20% - Poster Presentation
80% - Research proposal (max 4000 words) |
Feedback |
Formative Assessment and Feedback
Prepare and submit a 'Briefing Paper' on a research design challenge of your choice (drawn from the course content and relevant to your own work). The Briefing Paper should be no more than 2 sides of A4, should be visually engaging, be written for an academic audience of your peers, and should present the key strengths and weaknesses of your chosen research design. Feedback from the CO will be returned within 15 working days. This work is to be submitted by the end of week 5. |
No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical and contextualised understanding of the key methodologies relevant to health and social care including being able to identify and conceptualise key research ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies relevant to health and social care research, including the influence of different disciplinary perspectives.
- Demonstrate a critical and contextualised understanding of key issues in research design and ethics including the appropriateness and effectiveness of different methods in different circumstances.
- Be able to formulate, justify and criticise focused research questions relevant to health and social care research practices.
- Formulate and clarify specific ethical issues and dilemmas in their own practice settings, with reference to Codes of Ethics and other relevant literature
- Demonstrate research literacy through critical appraisal and synthesis of research and be able to apply these critical skills and knowledge into a formal research design format that demonstrates logical links between research questions, design and (primary/secondary) data collection.
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Reading List
Becker, H.S. (1998) Tricks of the Trade: How to think about your research while you're doing it, Chicago University Press
Alan Bryman (2008) Social Research Methods, third edition, Oxford University Press
Bechhofer, F. and Paterson, L. (2000) Principles of Research Design in the Social Sciences, London: Routledge
Blaikie, N. (2009) Designing Social Research, Cambridge: Polity
Hakim, C. (2000) Research Design: Successful Designs for Social and Economic Research, London: Routledge
Hancké, B. (2009) Intelligent Research Design. A guide for beginning researchers in the social sciences, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Moses, J. and Knutsen, T. (2007) Ways of Knowing: Competing Methodologies in Social and Political Research, Basingstoke: Palgrave |
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
Keywords | Advanced Care,Research methodologies,Research methods,ageing,care,Ageing and Care |
Contacts
Course organiser | Prof Heather Wilkinson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3925
Email: H.Wilkinson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Katharine Morris
Tel: (0131 6)50 7815
Email: Kate.Morris@ed.ac.uk |
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