FHE4010 ¨C Introduction to Research Methods

Course content

The course introduces basic concepts and methods used in quantitative and qualitative research related to health, health outcomes, health care services and interventions. Students will develop a good understanding of what type of research questions can be answered using various research approaches and designs.

Through lectures and seminars, students will learn strategies to collect, produce and analyse quantitative and qualitative data, and to reflect critically on alternative research designs and the research process. The students will learn different quantitative study designs including observational studies, surveys, and randomized controlled trials, in addition to the fundamental statistical methods used to analyse, interpret and present them.

Further, the students will also learn key designs used in qualitative research such as phenomenology, case study, ethnography, grounded theory, and data collection strategies including individual and focus group interviews, observations and text analysis. Students will learn to identify and reflect upon ethical challenges in health care research.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Describe the fundamentals of quantitative and qualitative research

• Understand research questions that can be answered using quantitative and qualitative methods

• Describe the main research designs and methods used in qualitative and quantitative research and identify their strengths and weaknesses

• Understand when mixed methods are useful in health research

• Describe the different steps in the research process

• Explain quality criteria of quantitative and qualitative research

• Discuss the concepts of validity and reliability

Skills

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Discuss the fundamentals of quantitative and qualitative research

• Develop appropriate quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research designs to address specific research questions

• Apply basic principles of qualitative data analysis

• Be reflexive as part of the research process

• Use statistical software to perform basic statistical analysis, interpret and present results

• Critically appraise research the strengths and limitations of quantitative and qualitative research

General skills

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Critically read and evaluate research studies

• Identify and reflect upon scientific and ethical issues of research methodologies

Admission to the course

The course is available for students at the following master programmes:

• Health Economics, Policy and Management (master)

• International Community Health (master)

• Folkehelsevitenskap og epidemiologi (master)

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.

Teaching

The course consists of lectures and seminars. In the seminars, the students do exercises and assignments related to the course.

Examination

Written individual examination

Examination and grading at The Faculty of Medicine.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• How to use AI as a student
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.