BSc Healthcare Science (Audiology) / Course details

This module looks at basic graphical and statistical techniques for summarising data, comparing groups of data and investigating simple relationships between two sets of data. The course unit uses the SPSS software package to develop practical skills in data analysis.

The research methods lectures focus on a range of research methods. Topics include research principles and terminology, research ethics & governance, critical appraisal, framework/classification of research designs (research with single cases/groups, observational and experimental designs).

The unit aims to:

• To further develop knowledge of research and statistics so that students can (a) design, conduct and analyse a clinical research project and (b) understand the statistical issues described in research papers.

Students will be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Demonstrate understanding of the relationship between clinical research and audit, and clinical practice.
• Demonstrate awareness of the Dept. of Health's policies on evidence-based practice.
• Demonstrate understanding of the principles and practice of research ethics, research governance and intellectual property regulation.
• Demonstrate understanding of the concept and limitations of sampling.
• Consider the value and limitations of a range of quantitative research designs.
• Demonstrate ability to search for, and begin to critically evaluate, published research findings.
• Demonstrate a good theoretical understanding of the issues described below under 'syllabus'.
• Demonstrate knowledge of a range of statistical tests and how to use and interpret their results.

Intellectual skills

• Describe and explain the benefits of different experimental designs.
• Ability to summarise and interpret data and its analysis.
• Interpret and report statistical results in a clinically meaningful way.

Practical skills

• Set up a data file and enter data in SPSS.
• Produce graphs and summarise data.
• Produce confidence intervals.
• Perform appropriate statistical tests.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

• Make use of IT, and in particular SPSS, for the purpose of data analysis and interpretation, and use this to show and understanding research in a healthcare context.

• Research principles.
• Research in the NHS.
• Ethics.
• Framework/classification of research designs (experimental and observational).
• Research with single cases and research with groups.
• Introduction to important features of a study - main research question, target population, outcome, explanatory factor and sample.
• Principles of graphs (theory & practice).
• Types of summary statistics (theory & practice).
• Sample and population (theory & practice).
• Group comparisons (theory & practice).
• Hypothesis tests (t-test and chi-squared) (theory & practice).
• Correlation (theory & practice).
• Introduction to Analysis of variance (theory & practice).
• Interpretation and reporting.

Lectures and computer-lab practicals; online demonstrations/tutorials of statistical procedures using SPSS; online formative assessments (MCQ); formative mock assignment.

1. Mock written assingment (2000 words, formative)
2. Written assignment (1500-2000 words, 100%)

Ongoing group and individual feedback during statistics sessions, group formative feedback on mock assignment, written feedback on summative assignment via Blackboard.

Field, A. (2017) Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS 5th edition. Sage.

Coolican H. (1996) Introduction to research methods and statistics in psychology. 2nd ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Greenhalgh T. (2010) How to read a paper. The basics of evidence based medicine. 4th ed. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Robson C. (2002). Real World Research: A resource for social scientists and practitioner-researchers. 2nd ed. Oxford: Blackwell.

Gonick L & Smith, W. (1993) The Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Harper Collins, New York.

Jaisingh, L. (2000) Statistics for the Utterly Confused. McGraw-Hill, New York.