Self-paced
Decoding Science and Research
Navigating and using scientific literature for better patient care
A$
399
Prices are in Australian dollars. Checkout and course access are through Teachable.
About this course
Learn how to find, read and appraise research relevant to clinical questions.
The course explains common study designs, statistics and sources of bias in plain language.
You will practise deciding how much confidence to place in a finding and whether it applies to the person in front of you.
The course has three core outcomes:
1. Critically appraise research and understand the role of philosophy of science, statistics and evidence-based medicine in healthcare.
2. Find and access relevant literature, including strategies for obtaining full-text papers.
3. Examine personal and collective biases when appraising research and applying findings in practice.
Curriculum
Introduction
- Understand the resources and expectations of the course.
- Contrast modern philosophy of evidence-based medicine to historical interpretations.
Finding Full-Text Literature
- Set up Google Scholar to improve access to full-text papers.
- Apply different strategies to obtain full-text literature.
The Philosophy of Science
- Understand the concept of conjecture and refutation.
- Understand the importance of falsification.
- Delineate between inductive and deductive reasoning.
- Contrast the philosophies of rationalism and empiricism.
- Identify the traits of good and bad explanations.
- Understand the importance of theory and theory-ladenness.
- Identify the hallmarks of sound and valid arguments.
Fundamental Statistics Made Easy & Research Methods
- Identify the features of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis.
- Define and understand the concepts of validity, reliability, distribution, sample size and sampling.
- Interpret common analyses, including t-tests and ANOVAs.
- Understand and interpret correlations, effect sizes, p-values, and confidence intervals.
- Analyse odds ratios, relative risk ratios, and forest plots.
- Evaluate sensitivity versus specificity and number needed to treat.
- Identify and avoid predatory journals.
- Understand the importance of qualitative research.
Assessing Our Own and Others' Biases
- Identify strategies to explore our own and others' epistemology (how we know what we know) through conversation.
Appraising Research
- Understand how to use a supplied tool to appraise research papers.
- Appraise two research papers using the research appraisal tool
Wrapping Up & Some Final Words
- Provide feedback on the course and upload workbook for review.
