Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ORC2200

 
TITLE Research Methods in Dentistry

 
UM LEVEL 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Oral Rehabilitation and Community Care

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit will enable the students to understand the research process and its application to Dental Hygiene and Dental Technology. Students receive knowledge on how to critically review relevant literature and to conduct research using various research methodologies. Students are also guided to plan the research project and to formulate a research proposal.

Study-unit Aims:

This study-unit aims to guide undergraduate students in Dental Hygiene/Dental Technology to become familiar with the research process and to give the student an insight into the role of research in Health Care with particular reference to Dentistry. It also aims to give the student the skills to conduct a research project in partial fulfilment for the award of the degree, and to submit a relevant proposal related to the research study.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- comprehensively identify and describe the main stages of the research process;
- formulate research questions/objectives/hypotheses;
- identify the various research methodologies that are able to test a hypothesis/research question and explore a previously identified issue;
- understand the significance of the level of rigour to the validity and reliability of results/and or findings;
- recall and show an understanding of the ethical obligations of research activities involving human subjects and apply the requirements of data protection legislation;
- identify the purpose of qualitative and quantitative analysis as a means of gaining insight into phenomena and generate themes, patterns and categories from data;
- demonstrate an awareness of strategies of applying research findings in clinical practice.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- collect primary data;
- apply acquired knowledge of research ethics;
- generate statistical results;
- present a proposal, applying the research process to a specific topic.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- Bowling A. (2009) Research methods in health, (3nd edition) Buckingham; Open University Press.
- Woodford, F. P. (2011). Scientific writing for graduate students. A manual on the teaching of scientific writing. Scientific writing for graduate students. A manual on the teaching of scientific writing.
- Verschuren, P., Doorewaard, H., & Mellion, M. (2010). Designing a research project (Vol. 2). The Hague: Eleven International Publishing.

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES A pass in this study-unit is required before registering for DSG3000.

Attendance to scheduled sessions, inclusive of lectures/tutorials, practical, laboratory and clinical components is compulsory. Students who do not attend at least 90% of the scheduled sessions will not be allowed to sit for any of the assessment components mentioned below.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture and Independent Study

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Presentation SEM2 Yes 50%
Assignment SEM2 Yes 50%

 
LECTURER/S Nikolai Attard
Veronica Montebello

 

 
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.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit