Unit information: Health and Social Care Research in 2016/17

Unit name	Health and Social Care Research
Unit code	SPOLD2020
Credit points	20
Level of study	D/8
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Lart
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	School for Policy Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Description including Unit Aims

The field of health and social care has long been characterised by diversity in the disciplines and epistemologies it contains. The key occupational groups within the field differ in the ways they perceive the purposes of policy, the means to achieve policy objectives and the most appropriate ways of evaluating policy and establishing truths. Current policies promote on the one hand, evidence based policy and practice, and on the other an increased role for both users of services and the wider public in decision making about policy. The Researching Health and Social Care unit is organised around three themes: 'need' and how different stakeholders perceive need, and the consequences of this for research policy and practice; 'evaluation', and the different approaches to evaluating policy; and 'issues' within the research/policy relationship in health and social care. Please note that 'health and social care' are here taken to mean general health provision and related social care, ie 'community care'. The unit does not examine child protection or general family welfare provision.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On completion of the unit, the student should be able to:

• describe competing philosophical approaches to research within the health and social care field
• describe and evaluate different ways of establishing and researching need within the field
• describe and evaluate different approaches to evaluation of policy within the field
• critically discuss selected issues within the field.

Teaching Information

Lectures, seminar discussions, group exercises.

Assessment Information

4000 word essay requiring students to demonstrate the achievement of the unit learning outcomes in relation to a particular topic covered in the unit

Reading and References

• Neale, J (ed) (2009) Research methods for health and social care Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan

• Bowling, A (2002) Research Methods in Health: Investigating Health and Health Services, Buckingham: Open University Press,

• Bowling, A. and Ebrahim, S. (2005) Handbook of health research methods: Investigation, measurement and analysis Buckingham: Open University Press,

• Saks, M and Allsop, J.(eds) (2007) Researching Health: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods London: Sage