Research Methodology and Biostatistics – Part 3 online Course

COURSE CURRICULUM

There are 3 parts in this Research Methodology and Biostatistics – Part 3 Online Course:

PART A – Literature Review – This consists of 6 lessons with assignments consisting of 10 multiple-choice, true/false, and missing word questions.

PART B – Writing the Doctoral Dissertation – This consists of 12 lessons with assignments.

PART C – Biostatistics – each lesson comprises of 3 videos, making a total of  22 short videos – most are 5 – 10 minutes long covering a specific aspect of Biostatistics. There are assignments after each lesson.

PART A – LITERATURE REVIEW

Lesson 1 – Select a Topic – personal interest in the former research topic, choosing a research topic, research bias, selecting the focus of your study, choosing the vantage point for the study, developing your research statement, library use, writing the preliminary research topic statement

Lesson 2 – Search the Literature – search tasks and tools, search the literature to review, conduct a literature search, manage your data, scan the literature, use the Internet and library, map your materials, map by core idea, refine your topic

Lesson 3 – Develop the Argument – building the case for a literature review, the basics of arguments, teamwork, understanding claims, building evidence, connecting the evidence to the claim, multi-claims argument

Lesson 4 – Survey the Literature – building the argument, assembling and cataloging the data,  reasoning patterns, organizing the information, analyzing the patterns of the data, building the discovery argument, analyzing the argument

Lesson 5 – Critique the Literature – interpreting the literature, implicative  reasoning, argument patterns, backing, evaluating literature critique

Lesson 6 – Write the Review – the writing process, write to understand, literature review format, composing drafts, writing to be understood, completing the final draft, auditing the final draft, tips on writing

PART B – Writing the Doctoral Dissertation

Lesson 1 – What is a Research Proposal – 7 basic questions, the structure of research proposals, the evaluation of research proposals

Lesson 2 – Successful Research Proposals – essential elements of a research proposal, why research proposals may be rejected, exceptional research proposals

Lesson 3 – Selling an Idea – providing information, target audience, the art of persuasion

Lesson 4 – The Aims of the Research – clarity, accuracy, precision, aims, background research

Lesson 5 – Literature Review – what do we already know, what literature to include, literature search, reviewing publications, what should the literature review contain, scoping the research

Lesson 6 – Research Questions – the importance of good research questions, the format of research questions, types of research questions, the difference between aims, research problems, objectives, and research questions, the need for an open-minded approach

Lesson 7 – Research Methods – description of the methods, how will the data be analyzed, choice of methods, risk assessment, limitations

Lesson 8 – Planning of Resources – planning the time, the scale of the project, accounting for the costs, research skills

Lesson 9 – Research Ethics – what kind of research need ethical approval, do all research proposals cover research ethics, code of research ethics, principles of research ethics, risk assessment, ethics approval

Lesson 10 – Research Outcomes – value for money, outcomes, and findings, types of outcome, dissemination of findings, impact

Lesson 11 – Management of Dissertation Activities – research records, planning and control of daily work, writing the dissertation drafts, methodological assistance, personal health, and family relationships, writer’s block

Lesson 12 – The Defence and Publishing of the Results – preparing for the defense of the dissertation, journal articles, and books,

PART C – Biostatistics

Lesson 1 – Introduction to Statistics – bar charts, pie charts, histograms, time plots, mode, median, mean, range, and standard deviation

Lesson 2 – The Effects of Transforming Data – on spread and center, the effects of outliers on spread and center, the five number summary, boxplots, and outliers

Lesson 3 – Percentiles – symmetry, skewness, explanatory and response variables, correlation

Lesson 4 – Regression and R-Squared – residuals, the effects of outliers, and extrapolation on regression

Lesson 5 – Causation and Association – placebo effects, control groups, double-blind experiments, types of experimental designs

Lesson 6 – Types of Sampling Methods – census, density properties, and their properties

Lesson 7 – The Normal Distribution – 68-95-99.7 rule, Z-scores, standardization, standard normal distribution, probability, sample spaces, and complement rules

Lesson 8 – Null and Alternative Hypotheses – statistical hypothesis testing

Research Methodology and Biostatistics – Part 3 Course

Research Methodology and Biostatistics – Part 3 Course

Course Materials

All of the materials are supplied online and in downloadable .pdf files.