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Unit of study_
BMRI5020: Research Inquiry
2024 unit information
Doctors and researchers depend on the latest scientific literature published week by week in countless different journals, but not every study can be trusted. Scientific studies are fraught with complications that can threaten their reliability, or the extent to which their results can be applied very widely. This unit will help you develop the skills necessary to critically appraise the research literature and identify sources of bias and confounding. Students will learn how cross-sectional studies, case-control studies, cohort studies and clinical trials are more or less vulnerable to these problems. Similarly, students will look at the basic design of laboratory research, and what the different types of questions are that can be asked from studies on humans, rats or brain tissue. All classes will be based on published examples of research literature and students will learn how to navigate different methods and data types. This unit will give students the confidence to read widely across the mental health field, and judge for themselves which findings can be relied upon to inform future research or medical practice.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Brain and Mind Science
| Code | BMRI5020 |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Brain and Mind Science |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
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None |
|---|---|
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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PUBH5010 or CEPI5100 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. evaluate the merit of different clinical study designs in the ‘levels of evidence’ hierarchy
- LO2. identify sources of selection bias and information bias in a research study and their potential effects on data
- LO3. assess the statistical design of a given study
- LO4. ascertain confounding variables in research and ways to address these
- LO5. recognise different levels of laboratory research and navigate papers presenting a range of complex data and experiments
- LO6. critically appraise and compare publications from clinical and basic research.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2024
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Normal evening | Mallett Street, Sydney | |
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Semester 1 2024
|
Online | Mallett Street, Sydney |
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
