Research | Education: Virtual campus | Management

Sample Module: introduction to Modules and Courses.

This part of the CIREM website explains how the Modules and Courses are structured, and gives access to excerpts of the Modules (samples) without the need for a password.

Module structure
Each of the Modules follows a clearly defined structure and includes:

A Module home page with an overview and contents list;
An Introduction, Aims and Objectives and Learning Outcomes;
The main learning material in sections (example 1, example 2), including any Definitions used (compilation of some of the definitions used in the courses);
A Summary and Conclusions;
Most Modules also contain Self assessment exercises to help students practise their new skills (example). Answers are included in the Module in a linked section that also outlines Next Steps for students.
A list of Further Reading and Other Resources. Although links to articles used for teaching are provided at the appropriate point in the Module, additional links to relevant online support material (eg online publications and websites) are also included at the end of each Module (example).
Some Modules have associated Appendices, including useful proformas and guides.

Module:	Title and content (Courses that include this Module):
1	Develop and Refine a Research Question: How to choose a research topic, develop and define a research question and set aims and objectives. (Health Research Skills)
2	Search the Literature: how to carry out a comprehensive literature search using relevant online facilities. (Health Research Skills)
3	Critically Evaluate the Literature: an introduction to the process of critical evaluation of published original research papers and the preparation of a critical literature review. (Health Research Skills)
4	Overview of Qualitative and Quantitative Research, and Research Design Issues: the definition and goals of qualitative and quantitative research, types of study design and their advantages and limitations. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
5	Statistics in the Research Process: the statistical issues that are relevant when designing a study: (1) sampling from populations, (2) reducing the potential for bias, (3) choosing an outcome measure, (4) planning the analyses and (5) determining a sample size. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
6	Economic Evaluation of Health Care Programmes: definitions of the terms used, and the main methods of evaluation, cost-effectiveness analysis, cost–utility analysis and cost-benefit analysis. (Health Research Skills)
7	Questionnaire Design and Survey Methods: the basic principles of questionnaire design, how to design a survey, the advantages and disadvantages of mailing questionnaires and interviews, and techniques for increasing response rates. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
8	An Introduction to Interviewing: a comprehensive introduction to the process of interviewing, including the strengths and weaknesses of the approach, the types of interviews that can be conducted and many of the practicalities involved in conducting research interviews. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
9	Ethics, Data Management and Research Governance: ethical issues in research, research governance, data collection, properties of data, and legal requirements of the Data Protection Act. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
10	Statistics Issues in Data Analysis 1: Probability and distribution, objectives of inference, standard error and standard deviation, confidence intervals. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
11	Statistics Issues in Data Analysis 2 Hypothesis tests, type I and type II errors, power and sample size. (Health Research Skills; Survey Methods in Human Research)
12	Prepare a Research Protocol and Conduct a Pilot Study: guidance for writing a research protocol and conducting a pilot study. (Health Research Skills)
13	Introduction and Background to Survey Methods in Human Research: course outline and overview, objectives, learning outcomes and glossary of terms. (Survey Methods in Human Research)

Course structure
Each course provided by CIREM comprises a series of online Modules that provide the teaching material. All the material is published in web format; some sections are also provided as Adobe Acrobat PDFs for ease of printing.

Course C1: Health Research Skills
In this comprehensive course, the Modules take the student sequentially through the research process: from formulating a health-related research question to the stage of preparing a research protocol (further information).

Course C2: Survey Methods in Human Research
This course focuses on questionnaire design, survey methods, statistics in research design and data analysis. Essential issues of human research (such as ethical aspects and data protection) are also included (further information).

Module samples (excerpts from Modules): A | B | C | D
Some excerpts of the contents of the Modules are provided below.

These samples will enable you to assess the Module content and view the way in which the teaching material and the self assessment exercises are included within the text (no passwords are required).

A:	Text from Module 5: Statistics in the Research Process 'Statistical Issues within the Research Route'
B:	Self Assessment Exercise from Module 5: Statistics in the Research Process 'Self Assessment 5.1': questions, questions and answers
C:	Text and Self Assessment Exercise from Module 7: Questionnaire Design and Survey Methods 'Survey Methods, Populations and Subject of Interest'
D:	Further Reading and Other Resources from Module 8: An Introduction to Interviewing 'Further Reading and Other Resources'

Evaluation
The modules and structured courses are evaluated by the students, and externally assessed.

For further details about each of the CIREM Modules and Courses, please see the following outlines: