PHCA9205 The Literature Review: Context, Contribution and Critique.

2019

9

1 x 5-day intensive workshop per semester
1 x 12-hour independent study weekly
1 x 50-minute on-line exercises fortnightly

Knowledge of principles of research methods in the medical, health or social sciences.

This topic is available to students in masters or doctoral programs, with permission of the students’ Course Coordinator.

Assignments

The literature review is essential to good research design and a successful thesis or dissertation. This topic guides students through the processes involved in undertaking a systemic literature search and constructing a critically engaged narrative, realist, scoping OR systematic literature review. Students are also required to locate and contextualise their research question or sense of an issue, in an area of inquiry and debate within their discipline, while refining their skills in systematic searches and critical analysis of the extant literature. By the end of this topic, students will have a much deeper understanding of the literature on their area of interest and be able to identify gaps in current knowledge that can be addressed in their future dissertation.

This topic aims to develop advanced skills in conducting systematic searches and critical reviews and synthesis of the extant literature on a topic of interest. By the end of the topic, students will become immersed in the literature on their area of interest, identified key gaps in current knowledge, identified a research question for their future dissertation and prepared a literature review that has the potential for publication in a refereed academic journal.

On completion of this topic, students will be expected to have:

1. A capacity to undertake a systematic literature search
2. The ability to carry out an advanced critical analysis and synthesis of a health or public health issue within the context of current debates
3. An understanding of public health as a scholarly field
4. Ability to demonstrate how a thesis or dissertation topic and research questions is positioned in the social sciences, medicine, health sciences or public health.