Course Title: Research Methods in Medical Radiations

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Research Methods in Medical Radiations

Credit Points: 12.00

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
RADI1176	Bundoora Campus	Postgraduate	160H Medical Sciences	Internet	Sem 1 2010, Sem 1 2011

Course Coordinator: see Part B Guide

Course Coordinator Phone: see Part B Guide

Course Coordinator Email: see Part B Guide

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Specialised knowledge of health sciences as in successful completion of undergraduate degree or equivalent.

Course Description

This course provides a broad overview of research process and methods by introducing students to the knowledge and skills that are fundamental to their subsequent research studies in Medical Radiations. The topics covered will include:
• Planning a research study;
• Quantitative research method;
• Qualitative research method;
• Ethics in research;
• Research proposal;
• Project management;
• Research dissemination;
• Research in Excellence for Australia (ERA) and national research funding.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

You will develop an understanding of research methodologies that are fundamental to your subsequent research studies in Medical Radiations.

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Explain role of research in Medical Radiations;
• Conduct information literacy search with the aim of writing a literature review as part of a research proposal;
• Describe the various elements of a research proposal;
• Plan a research project stating the hypothesis and/or research question(s) and the methods by which the aims are to be achieved;
• Discuss various research methods;
• Explain the limitations of the proposed research methods;
• Discuss the significance of the proposed project in terms of its impact (on the workplace) and contributions to Medical Radiations;
• Apply ethical principles in ethics applications;
• Understand and explain the processes of conduct experiments professionally and ethically and record the data according to codes of good practice;
• Discuss the various aspects of the research dissemination process;
• Discuss the concept of ERA and national funding priorities in the context of research funding applications

This course emphasises the graduate capabilities of critical-thinking, written communication skills, self-directed learning skills including time management skills and basic research competencies.

Overview of Learning Activities

The course consists of a series of online learning activities including online discussions, tutorial activities, group and individual assignments. To complete this course, students will be required to successfully complete these range of online learning activities. As this is a fully online course, there is no face-to-face teaching.

Overview of Learning Resources

Research is a broad topic and it is impossible to single out a single book as a prescribe text. Thus, for each topic, we have put forward as many resources as possible, be it web based, texts and journal articles. However, students are also strongly encouraged and expected to read beyond the prescribed/recommended resources to further enhance their understanding.

Overview of Assessment

To pass this course, students must satisfactorily complete each assessment component, obtaining an overall mark greater than or equal to 50% of all available marks. Please see Blackboard, Course Content folder for details of each assessment activity.