Evaluate how the skills of critical enquiry might positively contribute to your area of practice.

Task details

and

instructions:

This assignment is a critical exploration of research techniques/

methods/ procedures in the context of your professional field of

practice. You should:

Choose a topic of relevance to your profession that interests

you. Create a simple search strategy to locate contemporary

literature on your area of enquiry. Run the search in a database

that is relevant to your profession. Select two primary research

studies from the literature as the focus of your essay.

Identify the research techniques/ methods/ procedures used in

the studies before providing a critical exploration of these in the

context of the two papers. NB. You are NOT expected to

complete a critical appraisal of each paper. Throughout your

discussion consider any ethical issues that are relevant to the

studies and the clinical nature of the participants.

NB Your essay should include details of all the points mentioned

above. The hyperlinks in the text below take you to useful

explanations and/or supplementary information.

Possible broad topic areas

You are NOT conducting a piece of research therefore you do

NOT need to create a research question. You do, however need

to identify a focused topic area to use to demonstrate your

understanding of the way research techniques/ methods/

procedures apply within your field of practice.

The following list of broad topic areas are examples. They should

be considered indicative rather than definitive and you are

encouraged to choose a topic of interest to you.

• A specific health condition and aspects of its

management.

• An aspect of professional practice and its application

within the context of health and social care provision.

• An organisational aspect of health and social care

provision.

• The impact of a piece of specific health or social care

legislation.

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Remember, the topic is NOT the focus of your assignment, it is

purely a vehicle to demonstrate your knowledge of the research

methods used to investigate it.

Database searching

You should conduct your search on a discipline-appropriate

electronic database accessed via the A-Z list of databases on the

Library Gateway. Suitable databases include: Medline,

Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature

(CINAHL), Assia and Psychinfo

N.B The Library Gateway itself is NOT a suitable database, nor is

Google Scholar.

You are advised to use a structured search (e.g., PEO, PICO,

PICOS, SPIDER etc.) however you can still demonstrate your

competence by using a range of search techniques such as

Boolean Operators (to combine key words); truncation; wild

cards.

To ensure currency of evidence, the two main articles you select

should have been published in the past five years.

The two articles should also be primary research NOT literature

reviews or other forms of secondary research. They should both

be investigating the same broad topic area but may have

different aims / questions. They can employ the same research

techniques/ methods/ procedures of use different ones.

You should use screen capture (e.g., Ctrl + Prtscn) to evidence

your search and include this image as an appendix to your

assignment which you should signpost readers to from the

account of your search (see example).

Research techniques/ methods/ procedures.

Although this module covers the whole research process, your

assignment should not. Instead, it should focus on the inner

‘segment’ of Saunders et al’s (2007) Research Onion i.e., the

actual techniques/ methods/ procedures used in the studies,

rather than their broader designs, methodologies, or

underpinning philosophy.

The terms techniques/methods/ procedures are often used

interchangeably however, be aware that the method sections of

your chosen articles are likely to contain details of more than

just the techniques/ procedures. For the purposes of this

assignment, you should focus on one or more of the topics

covered in sessions K-M of the module i.e. recruitment, data

collection, and / or data analysis.

You can select papers that have used different techniques/

methods/ procedures (for example, you could explore the use of

individual interviews versus focus group discussions, or the use

of surveys versus individual interviews, for data collection).

Alternatively, you could select papers that have used the same

technique/ method/ procedure (for example, you could focus on

surveys and explore the ways in which they are administered in

your two studies, or you could focus on a particular statistical

analysis approach used in both papers.

In all cases, you should critically discuss the principles of your

chosen techniques/ methods/ procedures, with reference to a

range of authoritative literature regarding the research process.

You should also consider how they have been applied in your

selected studies.

Ethical Issues

You should also consider the ethical aspects of the research (see

module session J) and how those have been applied in the

studies you focus on. This should be reflected throughout your

discussion. For example, if you focus on an aspect of

recruitment, you should consider the ethical issues related to

selection and recruitment of the study population.

Presentation format

• Your work MUST be presented electronically

• Use a clear font such as Arial, Verdana or Times New Roman

using font size 12 and black text colour.

• Your work should be submitted in Microsoft Word format for

example .doc or .docx file type. All SHU computers have

Microsoft Word installed. If you are using your home

computer and you don’t have Word installed or use a Mac

you can either use your free SHU Office 365 account to

create your assignments in Word online, download and then

upload the document to grade centre OR to create the

assignment in Pages and export to Word then upload.

• Text should be presented using double line spacing except

for quotes over two lines long which should be indented and

single spaced as per SHU referencing Guidelines.

• Pages must be clearly numbered.

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• Avoid using bullet points. It is preferable to express your

ideas using complete and structured sentences.

• Leave yourself time to proof read for errors and omissions.

Marks will be lost if assignments contain numerous errors of

grammar, spelling and style, or, if cited references and the

reference list do not match or the source material is not

properly incorporated in the text.

• Use the front page provided with the following information

detailed in the example at the end of this document.

• If you have a Learning Contract, please ensure that you copy

the wording of the sticker given to you by the disabled

student support team onto the front page of your

assignment

Referencing style/requirements

• All work must be accurately referenced using the APA.

method. It is vital that you familiarise yourself with the

system and apply it correctly. Please see Referencing

guidelines for more detail.

• It is advised that you aim to submit by the submission date

as the submission link will close after the grace period has

lapsed.

Please remember:

• Check your hand-in date and time carefully; late assignments

will not be accepted, unless there is an approved extension.

Late submissions after the 1 working day grace period will be

recorded as a fail.

• Keep a copy of all your work and back-up with a USB stick.

You should also keep a hard copy of all your submitted work.

• Do not lend your work to another student and do not leave

your work (USB stick) where it can be accessed by others.

• Ensure that you are familiar with the Cheating and Plagiarism

Regulations

• Ensure that you have accurately referenced all quotations

within the assignment and that all references used in the

text are accurately identified in the reference list.

• Ensure that you have included a full reference list at the end

of your assignment and that you have followed the

University guidelines for referencing.

• Any reference to workplaces, patients, clients, carers and

their family must maintain anonymity and confidentiality.

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Failure to maintain confidentiality will result in academic

misconduct proceedings.

• If you have any problems which may result in you not being

able to meet your deadline contact Hallam Help at the

earliest opportunity. Please do not wait until the day of

submission to raise a problem or ask for help.

Module

learning

outcomes:

On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

1. Objectively appraise the literature using effective electronic

search strategies related to a contemporary issue relevant to your

area of practice

2. Explore the selected topic and organise your findings to

summarise what is known and how collectively this has advanced

your understanding of the topic.

3. Evaluate how the skills of critical enquiry might positively

contribute to your area of practice.

4. Critically discuss the professional, ethical and practical factors

that are relevant to the topic area

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