Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE IHC3600

 
TITLE Dissertation

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 10

 
DEPARTMENT Faculty of Health Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION Students will design and carry out a research study, under the supervision of an academic supervisor nominated by the University of Malta. The research study will be documented and submitted as a dissertation according to the University of Malta guidelines and APA referencing style.

Study-Unit Aims:

The aim of the study-unit is to provide the students with an opportunity to engage in a research exercise under the supervision of an academic supervisor. Examples of research exercises would include: carrying out a literature review; preparing a research proposal; carrying out and reporting an empirical study; carrying out a laboratory-based study; preparing a paper for publication in a peer reviewed journal.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to discuss:
- the meaning of empirical and systematic research;
- the purpose of reviewing the literature;
- the concept definition and other operational definitions;
- the research methodological designs and their respective methods of data collection;
- the issues related to validity and reliability of empirical findings;
- the ethical concerns in health care research;
- the analysis and quantification of findings;
- the strengths and limitations of an empirical study; and
- the importance of communicating research findings.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:
- design a research proposal/protocol;
- construct an appropriate review question, to answer specific objectives;
- formulate a search strategy;
- employ the use of different healthcare related databases;
- identify and select studies against a predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria;
- report search findings using the PRISMA;
- employ the use of risk assessment tools;
- describe and summarise the study characteristics;
- compare and contrast results from the selected studies;
- discuss the findings and the quality of evidence;
- identify strengths and limitations of present published research;
- identify strengths and limitations of their own review;
- identify gaps in current knowledge; and
- report a list of key points for clinical practice and future research.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Recommended Reading:

- Gerrish K and Lacey A (2006) The research process in nursing. Blackwell science publications.Watson R (2008) Nursing Research: designs and methods.
- Macnee CL and McCabe S (2008) Understanding nursing research: reading and using research in evidence-based practice. 2nd Edition.
- Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2008). Systematic reviews in the social sciences: A practical guide. John Wiley & Sons.
- Straus, S. E., Glasziou, P., Richardson, W. S., & Haynes, R. B. (2018). Evidence-Based Medicine E-Book: How to Practice and Teach EBM. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Recommended Journals:

- Research and Theory for Nursing Practice - Springer Publishing Company
- Canadian Journal of Nursing Research - McGill School of Nursing
- International Journal of Nursing Practice - Blackwell publishing
- International Journal of Nursing Studies - Elsevier
- International Nursing Review - Blackwell publishing
- Journal of Advanced Nursing - Blackwell publishing
- Journal of Clinical Nursing - Blackwell publishing
- Nursing Forum - Blackwell publishing
- Nurse Education in practice
- Nurse education today
- Nurse Leader
- Nursing Outlook
- Journal of Nurse-Midwifery
- The Journal for Nurse Practitioners
- Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health
- Public Health Nursing - Blackwell publishing

Useful websites and databases:

- CINAHL
- DYNAMED
- MEDLINE
- PUBMED www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed
- Health Technology Assessments
- http://highwire.stanford.edu/
- http://ejournals.ebsco.com/Home.asp
- www.ingentaconnect.com
- www3.interscience.wiley.com
- http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org
- www.cochrane.org
- www.sciencedirect.com

 
RULES/CONDITIONS Before TAKING THIS UNIT YOU MUST PASS IHC3005

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Before taking this unit students must have completed study-units IHC3004 and IHC3005. Students should follow the respective dissertation guidelines prevalent at the time of registration.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Dissertation

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Dissertation See note below Yes 100%
Note: Assessment due will vary according to the study-unit availability.

 
LECTURER/S

 

 
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 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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