| CODE | MID5002 | ||||||||||||||||
| TITLE | Research Methods Applied to Midwifery | ||||||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Midwifery | ||||||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit is primarily intended to enable midwifery students to develop the necessary skills and competencies to undertake postgraduate research. Students will learn about the main traditions of qualitative and quantitative enquiry as well as the specific methods adopted by these traditions. Furthermore, students will be exposed to a range of methods of analyses (including statistics and interpretative methods) and the relevant software packages. Study-unit Aims: The aim of this study-unit is to assist students to develop the required skills and competencies to be able to design and subsequently be able to conduct an ethically and methodologically sound research study. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Differentiate between a range of social science research designs; - Judge the merits of different methods of data collection; - Differentiate between types of sampling techniques and case selection strategies; - Assess the rigour of various research papers; - Evaluate a range of reliable, valid and rigorous strategies across a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods; and - Critically discuss a range of pertinent ethical issues across a range of qualitative and quantitative research methods. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify, analyze, evaluate and synthesize relevant published material from diverse sources and settings, including systematic reviews; - Develop critical thinking skills that can be applied to the research process; - Construct empirical research questions and hypotheses; - Select a correct methodology according to a given research question/hypothesis; - Analyse qualitative and quantitative data with the appropriate statistical tools, using software packages where appropriate; and - Write a research proposal that is methodologically and ethically sound. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Bowling, A. (2014). Research methods in health (4th ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press. - Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods Oxford (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. - Griffiths, F. (2009). Research Methods for Health Care Practice. London: Sage Publications. - Mertens, D.M. & Ginsberg, P.E. (2009). The Handbook of Social Research Ethics. London: Sage Publications. - Polgar, S. & Thomas S.A. (2008). Introduction to research in the health sciences. (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. - Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2006). Essentials of nursing research: methods, appraisal, and utilization. (6th Edition). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. - Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. (2020). (7th ed.). Washington DC: APA. (latest edition ordered) - Robson, C. & McCartan, K. (2016). Real world research: a resource for users of social research methods in applied settings. (4th ed.). Oxford: Wiley Publishers. Supplementary Reading: - Bruce, L. & Berg, L. (2007). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon. - Bland, M. (2000.) An introduction to medical statistics (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. (latest edition ordered) - Cresswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. London: Sage Publications. - Field, A. (2017). Discovering Statistics using IBM SPSS Statistics. (5th ed.). London: Sage Publications. (latest edition ordered) - Hardy, M. & Bryman, A. (2009). Handbook of data analysis. London: Sage Publications. - Huberman, A. M. & Miles, M. B. (2002). The qualitative researcher's companion. London: Sage Publications. - Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. London: Sage Publications. - Mason J. (2017). Qualitative Researching. (3rd ed.). London: Sage Publications. (latest edition ordered) - Qualitative research and evaluation methods. (3rd ed.). London: Sage Publication. (available at UM library) Richards, L. (2009). Handling qualitative data: a practical guide. London: Sage Publications. - Wagner, W.E. (2013). Using IBM SPSS statistics for research methods and social science statistics. (3rd ed.). London: Sage Publications. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Independent Study & Tutorial | ||||||||||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Trevor Abela Fiorentino Josephine Attard Marjorie Bonello Liberato Camilleri Christie Hili Cynthia Formosa Rita Pace Parascandalo (Co-ord.) Josianne Scerri Agata Maria Scicluna Derkowska Georgette Spiteri Josef Trapani |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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