• Offered for Year: 2024/25

• Module Leader(s): Dr Robyn Cooke
• Lecturer: Dr Claire-Louise Chapple, Dr Jérémie Nsengimana, Ms Kathia Fiaschi, Dr Judith Mott, Mrs Elisa Wrightham, Ms Elizabeth Jefferson, Professor Christopher Harding, Professor Peter Thelwall, Professor Christopher Eggett

• Owning School: School of Medical Education
• Teaching Location: Mixed Location

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

In this module students will identify and plan a research project to contribute to the improvement of patient care through research, service evaluation, audit or other relevant methods. This module allows students to build on and put into practice the underpinning knowledge and skills gained from completing MSC8002, supported by additional teaching within this module.

Outline Of Syllabus

Stage 1: Identify an appropriate research question and methodology
To formulate a research question and to identify a suitable research methodology to address it.

Stage 2: Work up of an initial proposal
To perform a literature search of the chosen topic and use critical appraisal, to produce a concise literature review for the formative proposal that puts the research question into context.
To produce a lay summary of the proposal and gain feedback from a lay representative.
To produce an initial proposal (formative proposal) for review and feedback from subject specialists.

Stage 3: Approval Planning
To plan the process of how the proposal is guided through the necessary regulatory framework within the institution (Registration, R&D, ethics board).

Stage 4: Research Proposal
To expand the research question into a full research proposal, covering all relevant issues such as the required study design, ethics, data analysis and interpretation and resources required.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

This module is widely supported by Canvas VLE and a number of introductory briefing documents have been assembled to support the learner remotely.

A series of sessions are also delivered in the teaching block to support student learning, with further webinars scheduled as appropriate through the year to support application of theory to practice. Students also have the opportunity to participate in a 1-1 feedback session with a lay representative to obtain feedback on and develop their lay summary prior to submission, with formative written feedback also provided on the final Lay Summary section of the summative assessment.

Students will be fully engaged in the project selection and development through a dialogue with their workplace supervisors. They will gain hands-on experience of designing a research project pertinent to their own workplace and in guiding that project through the required professional and institutional structures to the point of “go live”. The students will be required to develop an in-depth knowledge of the subject and the required project methodology and of the regulatory, ethical and legal requirements that planning such work requires.

As each student’s project is unique, individual self-directed study with mentoring/pedagogic support from the course teachers and supervisors is the relevant teaching and learning method. The students will identify their workplace supervisor following discussion with their line management (in keeping with the practice employed with students on workplace based projects on other part-time distance learning Masters programs within the Faculty). Students may also choose to discuss aspects of their research with relevant module teachers.

Students will work independently within their own workplace with advice from the workplace mentor. Advice from the Module Leader and contributors will be via email. The research project and dissertation seeks to assess the students' ability for independent work within their own profession and within their own workplace. The amount of hours spent on practicals, fieldwork and private study will vary with the individual project, but should be approximately as stated above.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Zero Weighted Pass/Fail Assessments

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The structured project proposal follows the style of an ethical submission, to include the following key components: lay summary; literature review; proposal and methodology; governance summary. To encourage succinct writing each section is word-limited to give a maximum word count of 5510 words. It is expected that most students will not need to complete all sections, and therefore a 4000-word submission would be more common. Students also submit two supporting documents: a Gantt chart showing the planned time course of the project, and a flowchart for the experimental/analytical protocol.

The main content of the summative project proposal tests understanding of study design, organisation, planning skills, and critical analysis in selecting appropriate methodology, statistical analyses and study objectives. The literature review and analysis section tests knowledge and depth of understanding of the topic area and critical analysis skills in putting the project into a wider context. The ethics and governance, risks to completion and security sections test knowledge of the necessary legal, ethical, contractual and practical processes that need to be addressed to conduct the project, and tests the critical awareness in identifying those aspects particular to a specific project.

The final assessment is through a structured proposal containing all these elements and with hard character limits, which is submitted via a web-based form. This will assess IT and literacy skills, and the student’s ability to present complex information in a concise and accessible manner.


The formative project proposal will allow students to assess their knowledge and understanding. It will support students by providing an early specialist review on the suitability of the research project being developed. This element will not be assessed but must be completed in order to pass the module.

Patient and public representatives provide feedback to help the student develop their lay summary. This provides an element of patient and public involvement in the course, and helps students develop their writing and communication skills for different audiences.

Reading Lists

• MSC8003's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• MSC8003's Timetable