Entry requirements

University degree, minimum of 180 credits in medicine, nursing, nutrition or another area relevant to international health. All applicants need to verify English language proficiency. This is normally attested by means of an internationally recognised test such as TOEFL or IELTS.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students are expected to be able to:


Outline and compare the theoretical foundations and principles of analysis in qualitative and quantitative studies.

Critically assess the social and cultural influence on the research topic and the interaction between researchers and project participants.

Develop a research protocol and perform a simple population-based qualitative or quantitative research project.

Critically assess ethical aspects of a population-based research project and prepare an application for ethical review of a small research project.

Critically read and analyse qualitative and quantitative research reports.

Collect, record and assess quality of data according to sound methodological and ethical principles using qualitative research interviews and focus group discussions.

Prepare collected data for analysis by transforming audio recorded data to texts including transcription, translation and evaluation of the quality of the data transformation.

Employ qualitative content analysis of manifest messages in a text, identify latent messages and appraise methodological limitations and strengths in such analysis.

Employ basic principles for design of epidemiological studies and use this for a specific research topic.

Identify key issues and principles in the epidemiological and statistical analysis of data.

Explain statistical analysis of data; central measures, measures of dispersion, categorical data, regression, correlation.

Employ cross-sectional, cohort and case-referent design and analyse data from such studies by use of appropriate software.

Perform stratified analysis, managing confounding and analysis of interaction in epidemiological data.

Content

The content of this course covers the theoretical basis as well as considerations and practical steps of planning, implementation, critical analysis and interpretation of qualitative and quantitative studies in low resource settings. Throughout the course examples will be given from ongoing and reported collaborative research projects. The following topics will be covered:

• The theoretical basis for qualitative and quantitative research

• The research process, identifying a research question, choice of appropriate qualitative or quantitative design or combined methods

• Cultural challenges in global health research

• Organisation of field work in low- and middle-income countries

• Ethics in global health research, application for ethical review of a research project

• Presentation of research results orally and written report

• Critical appraisal of research reports in global health

• Qualitative research interviews

• Analysing interview technique using video recording

• Focus group discussions

• Transcription, translation and quality check of textual data

• Analysing qualitative research data using qualitative content analysis; manifest and latent messages in texts

• Measures to achieve trustworthiness; validity and reliability

• Pre-understanding and interpretation in qualitative research

• Epidemiological measures of disease occurrence, epidemiological design

• Cohort, case-referent studies and analyses

• Sampling and sample size calculations

• Bias, confounding and effect modification

• Stratified analysis, adjustment

• Life table analysis

• Biostatistical principles and analyses; measures of central tendency, dispersion, categorical data, regression, correlation

Instruction

The course consists of a series of lectures, workshops, computer lab exercises, seminars and individual or group assignments. The assignments include analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, development of a research protocol and an application for ethical review of a research project. Seminars include theoretical parts as well analyses of published research reports. Sessions are interactive and all teaching is conducted in English. Students are encouraged to draw on their own experiences and exposures to issues related to global health research in low- and middle-income countries.

Assessment

The assessment is based on:

• A brief written research plan including ethical considerations (25%)

• An orally presented critical appraisal of a research report (25%)

• A written examination at the end of the course, 4 hours (50%)

Participants who do not receive a passing grade have the right to redo their course work, including examinations and assignments.

Other directives

Priority will be given to applicants who take this course as part of the Master's programme in International Health or within the TropEd network as well as those who have two years minimum of work experience relevant to global health issues.