Key facts

Overview

There is increasing recognition that a wide range of social, political and economic factors may influence improvements in healthcare systems and outcomes. Experimental methods are not necessarily the most effective mechanism for answering research questions aimed at unpacking this complexity. Qualitative research can help bridge the gap between scientific evidence and clinical practice by exploring the attitudes, beliefs, and preferences of both patients and practitioners. Teaching will be led by Dr Jenny Hislop, Senior Researcher,from the Department of Primary Health Care at The University of Oxford.

• What are the barriers to the use of evidence-based medicine?
• How does the relationship between doctor and patient influence compliance?
• What factors influence health behaviours?
• How do patients and practitioners make sense of treatment regimens?

Description

The Qualitative Research Methods course, which is led by Dr Jenny Hislop, Senior Researcher,from the Department of Primary Health Care at The University of Oxford, explores the ways in which effective research projects can explore these issues. The course is structured to help students to design and carry out a qualitative project. Students must identify a work-based issue that can be investigated using a qualitative approach and then conduct fieldwork to collect data. Practical assistance is given with data analysis and writing up. Small group sessions are used to critically appraise the quality of qualitative research.

Who should attend?

The module aims to help students develop the practical skills that are needed in qualitative research. In order to accomplish this, students need to identify a small piece of research that can be used to practice the skills. This could be part of a project for an MSc thesis, or a work-related question that lends itself to qualitative research. Students who do not have either a work-related or academic project could consider exploring a health issue with a friend or family member.

Participants will receive the full course syllabus, which includes introductory reading materials and exercises, before the start of the course in order to do any preparation needed.

"The imaginative teaching illustrated the processes perfectly"

"Excellent synthesis of detailed knowledge of the subject and facilitation of experiential learning. I have heard other people describe their disappointment with experiences of learning about qualitative research, elsewhere. I feel really lucky to have had such a good experience of learning both the science and art of QA."

"The module was well designed to allow practical / hands-on experience of writing up qualitative research results."

Programme details

• Overview of qualitative research
• Philosophical traditions
• Application of qualitative methods to evidence based health care
• Review of different methodologies including:
  • Phenomenology
  • Ethnography
  • Grounded theory
• Using qualitative methods within evaluation research, action research, and case studies methods
  • Common data collection methods
  • Approaches to data collection
  • Data collection tools
• Ethics in qualitative research
• Qualitative data analysis
  • Use of software analysis packages
  • Strategies for presenting and describing data
• Criteria for assessing qualitative research
• Writing up qualitative research

• Participants conduct fieldwork to collect data, and practical assistance is given with data analysis and writing up. Small group sessions are used to critically appraise the quality of qualitative research.

Staff

Dr Jenny Hislop

Role: Tutor

Jenny is a Senior Qualitative Researcher in the Health Experiences Research Group at the University of Oxford. A sociologist with research...more interests in women’s health, ageing, the sociology of sleep, and qualitative methods, Jenny holds an MSc in Social Research and a PhD from the University of Surrey.

Jenny’s research at Surrey on the EU-funded Sleep in Ageing Women project and the ESRC-funded Negotiating Sleep amongst Couples has been disseminated widely at national and international conferences as well as in academic journals and in the media. Before joining the Health Experiences Research Group in October 2008, Jenny was a lecturer at Keele University where she directed the MA in Gerontology programme as well as coordinating and teaching on undergraduate sociology courses.

In her current teaching role, Jenny coordinates and lectures on the qualitative research methods programme for the Health Experiences Research Group and for the MSc in Evidence Based Health Care. As a researcher, she recently completed a study on women’s experiences of the menopause for the Healthtalkonline website (www.healthtalkonline.org), and is about to start on a new project on patients’ experiences of living with a urinary catheter. Both projects have been funded by the National Institute for Health Research, Research for Patient Benefit programme.

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Course aims

Benefits

By the end of this module students will have:

• an overview of the use of qualitative research in evidence-based practice
• an understanding of commonly used qualitative methods in health care
• the ability to discuss the issues involved in systematic review and synthesis of qualitative research
• the ability to describe steps to design, data collection and analysis for a qualitative project
• practical experience of qualitative data collection and analysis
• knowledge of methods for writing up qualitative research results

Assessment methods

Accommodation

Accommodation is available at the Rewley House Residential Centre, within the Department for Continuing Education, in central Oxford. The comfortable, en-suite, study-bedrooms are rated 3-star, and come with free high-speed internet access and TV. Guests can take advantage of the excellent dining facilities and common room bar, where they may relax and network with others on the programme.

Scholarships

Details of funding opportunities, including grants, bursaries, loans, scholarships and benefit information are available on our financial assistance page.

Fee options

Programme Fee

Module fee: £1450.00

Stand-alone short course fee: £1790.00

Apply for this course

Programmes including this module

This module can be studied as part of these programmes:

• MSc in Evidence-Based Health Care
• MSc in Experimental Therapeutics
• Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research
• Short courses in health sciences