Postgraduate Course: Research Design in Medical Anthropology (SCAN11036)
Course Outline
| School | School of Social and Political 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 | This is a course for students enrolled on the MSc in Medical Anthropology. Students engage with faculty research to learn more about the field, learn about research design, methods, and ethics, and develop skills leading to a proposal for dissertation research. |
| Course description |
This required, year long course for students on the MSc in Medical Anthropology degree will expose our MSc cohort to cutting edge faculty research, integrate students in an intellectual community centred on critique, and teach students to develop their own research questions. The course will further have modules on research design, ethics, and methods in dissertation research. The Spring semester will integrate directed dissertation workshops and build towards the students submission of a proposal for their dissertation work. The course will thus prepare students for eventually undertaking their independent dissertation research. It is expected that the course organiser will be the MSc programme director, lending coherence to the degree programme.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 20 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 15,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
181 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
45%, Memos, 3500 word max«br /»
55%, Dissertation Proposal, 2500 word max |
| Feedback |
Students will receive regular feedback on their memos from the CO/PD. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Participate in an advanced level conversation about academic research; ie, listen to and synthesize information from a research presentation, integrate that presentation into a framework for the field, ask the researcher questions about their work
- Consider and communicate the ethical implications of ethnographic fieldwork
- Describe ethnographic research methods in an advanced manner and how they enable particular sets of questions
- Independently develop anthropological research questions
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Reading List
Cooper, Jessica. 2018. 'Unruly Affects: Attempts at Control and All that Escapes from an American Mental Health Court,' Cultural Anthropology.
Street A, Kelly AH. Tolerable tests: Regulating diagnostic innovation in a global health emergency, lessons from Ebola. Science, Technology, & Human Values (ST&HV). 2024 May 20;1-28. Epub 2024 May 20. doi: 10.1177/01622439241252709
Denyer Willis, Laurie.2023. Antibiotic 'entanglements': health, labour and everyday life in an urban informal settlement in Kampala, Uganda.'Critical Public Health, 1-10. (co-authored with C. Nabirye, S. Nayiga, M. Kayendeke, S.G. Staedke & C.I.R. Chandler) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- develop verbal, interactive communication skills, including listening and questioning
- develop independent research skills and the ability to exercise personal judgement and take initiatives
- develop reflective awareness of ethical dimensions of work and research |
| Keywords | Medical anthropology,ethnography,research ethics,research design,methods,dissertation proposal |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jessica Cooper
Tel: (0131 6)51 1732
Email: Jessica.Cooper@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr James Wills
Tel:
Email: jwills2@ed.ac.uk |
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