MSc Advanced Leadership for Professional Practice (Allied Health Profession) / Course details

This unit will introduce students to basic and more advanced statistical methods commonly encountered in health and social care research. The emphasis is on practice rather than theory, and Statistics is taught using the statistical package SPSS to illustrate what the methods actually do.  Students will acquire practical skills in analysing data using SPSS and writing up their findings to the standard seen in publications.

• introduce students to basic and more advanced statistical methods used in health and social care research.
• enable students to conduct statistical analyses within a statistical package.
• enable students to appropriately interpret statistical results.

Teaching and learning for this unit takes place over one semester. Learning methods utilised involve e-learning via Blackboard including accessing course material online, downloading and reading relevant papers, interactive demonstrations and activities using statistical software, and taking part in online discussions with students and tutors. Directed study will include specified reading and keeping a reflective learning diary.

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of different data types and the ability to summarise data appropriately.
• Critically explore the concepts of probability distribution, estimation, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.
• Understand and critically apply a range of statistical methods commonly used in health and social care research.

• Select appropriate statistical methods to analyse data when doing research.
• Critically evaluate a range of issues related to sample size calculations.

• Utilise a statistical software package to analyse data and present results of analysis in an appropriate and rigorous way.
• Write up the results of the analyses in the form expected by academic journals.

• Critically reflect on their own academic performance and utilise a range of strategies to improve these and overcome any particular difficulties.
• Further develop and enhance skills in effective communication to a range of audiences in a variety of settings.
• Demonstrate skills in working collegiately and effectively with others as a member of a team.
• Effectively utilise information technology / health informatics.
• Utilise skills in systematic and creative approaches to problem-solving and decision-making in relation to complex issues.

Students will normally have the opportunity to receive feedback on formative work submitted prior to the summative assessment. Other feedback opportunities will also be available in class and online discussion boards. Online feedback is provided in Grademark. Provisional feedback based on internal marking will be made available prior to the Exam Board on the basis that these marks are yet to be ratified at the Exam Board and therefore may be subject to change. A standard feedback mechanism in Grademark is utilised across all postgraduate programmes within the School which provides detailed and constructive feedback on each component and aspect of assessment and identifies areas of strength and those aspects which could be enhanced.

Student feedback is obtained through open discussion forums on blackboard, in class discussions, via formal University unit evaluation forms and also qualitative, in house evaluations at the end of the unit. 

http://www.readinglists.manchester.ac.uk/modules/nurs60019.html