You will gain skills, knowledge and understanding of quantitative, mixed and qualitative methods to evaluate complex interventions within health and/or social care practice. The programme also focusses on developing your interest, knowledge and understanding of how impact/practice changed can be achieved through the balancing of quality improvement and research.
Through lectures, guest speakers and case studies, you will develop an advanced understanding of the issues and concepts involved in planning and implementing a research study (within health and social care practice). The programme and module teaching are delivered online using the university virtual learning environment (Moodle). They include learning activities as well as personal study and preparation for assignments.
Popular Modules:
Year 1
Developing Real World Research Skills (20 credits)
Introduction to Qualitative & Mixed Methods (20 credits)
Introduction to Quantitative Methods (20 credits)
Quantitative Data Analysis (20 credits)
Qualitative and Mixed Method Data Analysis (20 credits)
Year 2
Developing Interventions for Real World Impact (20 credits)
Dissertation (60 credits)
Lead Academics:
Dr Lisa O’Leary is the MSc Programme Lead. Her teaching and research interests relate to intellectual disabilities, qualitative research, mixed/multi-method approaches, coproduction, designing and evaluating complex interventions and systematic reviews. She has led and collaborated on research projects that have used these methodologies. Lisa also has a background in social care/sociology and is a member and working group leader in the Centre for Mental Health and Capacity Law in the School of Health and Social Care. She reviews for a range of a health and social care publications and is associate editor for the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual disabilities.
Professor Nadine Dougall is a Professor of Mental Health & Data Science. She is highly experienced statistician and has published numerous papers in this area. Nadine sits on the Chief Scientist Office (CSO) of The Scottish Government’s Health Improvement, Protection & Services (HIPS) Research Committee funding panel. She is highly experienced in complex interventions in health sciences having led, designed and collaborated in numerous CSO, NIHR and Irish HRB-funded health research studies.
Dr Jennifer Murray is an Associate Professor of Decision Science. She is an Associate Fellow and Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society. Dr Murray is an active researcher in the areas of forensic psychology and applied health research, with an overarching theme of risk and decision making connecting these. She is passionate about developing useful, theoretically sound interventions and outputs from my research. She regularly collaborates across multidisciplinary teams, also working closely with and involving relevant stakeholders in her work to make it as applicable to ‘real practice’ as possible.
Dr Iain Atherton is a Reader in Nursing with expertise in population health. He is also Co-Director of the ESRC funded Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research. He is interested in the interaction between health care practitioners in their day-to-day work and large-scale population trends. These interests are reflected in his research and teaching. He is also passionate about education and has published in the field of nursing pedagogy.
Dr Carol Gray Brunton is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow with the British Psychological Society with expertise in qualitative health research (spanning a range of methodologies including thematic analysis; discursive approaches; grounded theory; IPA and mixed-methods). She is a member of various BPS associated groups. Carol’s areas of teaching and research expertise primarily focus on health and social experiences including (1) experiences of cancer (2) professional role identities and service evaluations and; (3) critical approaches to vaccine confidence/hesitancy.
Dr Elaine Carnegie is a lecturer, researcher and healthcare professional with over 25 years’ experience spanning healthcare, academic and third sector arenas. Training and experience include research and policy, healthcare management, general nursing, psychiatric nursing, learning disability nursing and drug counselling complimented by Master of Medical Science in Primary and Community Care and Nursing Doctorate. Her Doctoral thesis and subsequent research focus on community environmental health.
Dr Anna Bak-Klimek is a lecturer and researcher. She has teaching and research expertise in mental health of vulnerable populations. Areas of research expertise include systematic reviews, quantitative research approaches and mixed methods. She has knowledge and experience in developing and delivering psychological interventions for neurodiverse populations.
Dr Andrew Maine is responsible for mentoring and managing early career researchers within School of Health and Social Care. Dr Maine areas of research/teaching expertise include critical perspectives of nursing, systematic reviews and quantitative methodological approaches.
Guest talks from researchers include:
Professor Thanos Karatzias, Professor Jill Stavert, Professor Colin McKay, Professor Glenn Robert (Kings College London), Professor Lis Neubeck, Professor Anna Campbell, Dr Coral Hanson, Alice Pearsons, Jan Savinc, Michelle Jamieson, Dr Janet Hanley, Dr Natasha Spassiani, Lucy Johnston, Dr Janette Pow, Professor Nicola Ring, Professor Liz Hughes, Professor Alison Porter Armstrong