Course Coordinator:

Prof. dr. Siswanto Agus Wilopo, SU, M.Sc., Sc.D.,

Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistician, and Demographer of The Department of Reproductive Health, Graduate Public Health Program, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University

Address                : Gedung IKM Lantai 1, Phone: +62-274-565076 or 548156

Email                     : sawilopo@ugm.ac.id

Class web-side  : https://elok.ugm.ac.id/course/edit.php?category=764&returnto=category

 

Course Description:

The course provides fundamental health research skills for students to work in research and applied settings. It focuses on issues involved in the design, conduct, and evaluation of health research. Each session will deal with skills and issues relevant to a specific stage of the research process. Students will experience and apply their knowledge through the development of a research proposal.

In this course, the students will learn:

• The nature, role, and context of research in health
• Theoretical issues and research approaches.
• Developing research questions and hypotheses.
• Sampling technique and data collection techniques
• Data processing and analysis
• Publication, socialization, and dissemination of research findings.

Prerequisite

It is highly recommended students have undergraduate research methods and statistics. The course requirements are intended to help students understand and apply the course material. The weekly discussion with the teaching assistant will test students’ understanding of the readings. The written assignments focus on the application of the course material to specific health development projects. Students should upload each assignment to the appropriate eLok discussion thread by the deadlines posted.

 

General Learning Objectives:

 Upon completion of this course, each student should be able to do the following:

•  Critique published health research,
•  Develop a design for a research or evaluation project, and
•  Understand the data collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination processes.

 

Specific Learning Objectives

After completing the course students will be able to: 

• Describe the essential steps of the scientific method,
• Conduct a literature review, critically evaluate and synthesize that literature, and identify gaps in the literature that warrant additional research,
• Develop a conceptual framework for a study, showing the hypothesized causal variables and the expected outcomes,
• Identify and critically analyze the basic components of a research proposal,
• Identify different types of study design, including observational, pre-experimental, and experimental designs, and their inherent threats to internal and external validity,
• Understand how survey research is used in health research and evaluation, in terms of choice of sampling techniques, determination of sample size, and approaches to writing survey questions,
•  Analyze qualitative and quantitative data and be familiar with electronic programs that facilitate this analysis,
•  Identify and use secondary data and existing information sources in research projects, and
•  Understand the process of interpreting analyzed data and disseminating results through presentation and publication.

Course Organization:

The lecture will be given once weekly or depending on our department’s schedule. In each topic, the lecturer will conduct the materials and discuss them with the class. The instructor will assign the exercises at the end of each session as stated in the lecture module. Exercises provide reinforcement of quantitative skills and specific content areas. They may be completed as written assignments or in-class discussions. During the course, students will experience and apply their knowledge through the development of a research proposal. See the detailed schedule provided.

 

Coordinator of Teaching Assistants

 Dr. drs. Abdul Wahab, MPH (awahab@ugm.ac.id)

Address                : Gedung IKM Lantai 1 and Center for Reproductive Health

Office hour         : Monday-Friday 12-16.30 pm and by appointment

 

Textbook/Module:

1. Portney, L. G.  and Gross, L (2020). Foundations of clinical research: applications to evidence-based practice (Fourth;4; ed.). Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.
2. Tolley, E. E.; Ullin, P R; Mack, N; Robinson, ET; Succop, SM (2016). Qualitative methods in public health: a field guide for applied research (Second;2; ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
3. Wilopo, SA (2025). Metodologi Penelitian Kesehatan: Dari Teori ke Aplikasi. In Draft

Lecture Notes:

Copies of the lecture notes (PowerPoint or pdf Beamer) may be obtained from the class web.

Handouts:

Copies of course materials and homework can be obtained from the course coordinator. It is strictly available for registered students only. Due to copyright restriction student is not allowed to share this material with others. It is the student’s responsibility to follow the existing copyright law.

Software:

For writing, Report students can use Microsoft Office or LaTeX and EndNote or similar Reference Managers.

Lecture Topics

The lecture will cover methodological theories and their application to public health research. It will be given at least twice a week. Each session is about 100 minutes. There will be 14 sessions of lectures during this class (see the following Table Class Calendar: 2024-2025). 

Laboratory Exercise

Students will be given the opportunity to explore further details of the lecture materials in the form of discussion and exercise in the class. The teaching assistants are assigned to lead this class discussion and exercise. Their tasks provide student’s better understanding of the lecture materials and problem sets for the homework/assignment.

Problem Sets for Homework

Problem sets require the use of a text editor and reference manager. The homework should be submitted to the teaching assistant on time. The deadline for the submission will be announced in the class or laboratory exercise.

Assignments/Grading

Graded is based on the assignment and class attendance. All assignments and exams should be submitted in the electronic form to avoid plagiarism. Students who conduct plagiarism will not be given a grade and she/he has to retake a similar class next year.