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1. Admissions/ Management Information
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Title of the programme – including any lower awards
Please provide the titles used for all awards relating to this programme. Note: all programmes are required to have at least a Postgraduate Certificate exit award.

See guidance on programme titles in:
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https://www.york.ac.uk/media/staffhome/learningandteaching/documents/programmedevelopment/Framework%20for%20Programme%20Design%20-%20PG.pdf
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Masters Applied Health Research (Msc).
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Postgraduate Diploma Applied Health Research (PGCert) - exit award.Please indicate if the Postgraduate Diploma is available as an entry point, ie. is a programme on which a student can register, is an exit award, ie. is only available to students exiting the masters programme early, or both.Exit
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Postgraduate Certificate Level 7
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Level of qualificationLevel72018
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Awarding institutionTeaching institution
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Unviersity of York University of York
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Department(s):
Where more than one department is involved, indicate the lead department		Board of Studies
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Lead Department Department of Health SciencesHealth Sciences Graduate School Board.
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Other contributing Departments: Not applicable
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Route code
(existing programmes only)		N/A
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Admissions criteria
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Students are generally required to have achieved a 2.1 or equivalent in their first degree. IELTS: 6.5, with a minimum of 6.5 in writing, no less than 6.0 in all other components,
PTE: 61, with a minimum of 61 in writing, no less than 55 in all other components,
CAE and CPA: (from January 2015) 176, with a minimum of 176 in writing, and no less than 169 in all other components,
TOEFL: 87, with a minimum of 23 in writing and no less than 21 in all other components.
Trinity: Level 3, with 'Merit' in each component .
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Length and status of the programme(s) and mode(s) of study
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ProgrammeLength (years/ months) Status (full-time/ part-time)
Please select		Start dates/months
(if applicable – for programmes that have multiple intakes or start dates that differ from the usual academic year)		Mode
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Face-to-face, campus-basedDistance learningOther
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MSc AHR12 monthsFull-timeSeptemberPlease select Y/NYesPlease select Y/NNoN/A
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MSc AHR24 monthsPart-timeSeptemberPlease select Y/NYesPlease select Y/NNoN/A
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Language(s) of study
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English
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Language(s) of assessment
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English
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2. Programme accreditation by Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Bodies (PSRB)
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2.a. Is the programme recognised or accredited by a PSRB
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Please Select Y/N: Noif No move to section 3
if Yes complete the following questions
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3. Additional Professional or Vocational Standards
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Are there any additional requirements of accrediting bodies or PSRB or pre-requisite professional experience needed to study this programme?
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Please Select Y/N: Noif Yes, provide details
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4. Programme leadership and programme team
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4.a. Please name the programme leader for the year to which the programme design applies and any key members of staff responsible for designing, maintaining and overseeing the programme.
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Amanda Perry
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5. Purpose and learning outcomes of the programme
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5.a. Statement of purpose for applicants to the Masters programme
Please express succinctly the overall aims of the programme as an applicant facing statement for a prospectus or website. This should clarify to a prospective masters student why they should choose this programme, what it will provide to them and what benefits they will gain from completing it.
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This multidisciplinary programme will give you a detailed and comprehensive understanding of how to apply a range of quantitative and qualitative methods to socially-significant health issues, and how to critically assess published health research. Based in one of the UK's top department’s for health research, this challenging programme will test your ability to learn and think across very different methodologies, including systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, epidemiology, health economics, statistics and qualitative methods. You will graduate with the interdisciplinary and multi-faceted understanding of applied health research that is increasingly sought-after in healthcare and research environments.
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5.a.i Statement of purpose for applicants registering for the Postgraduate Diploma programme
Please express succinctly the overall aims of the programme as an applicant facing statement for a prospectus or website. This should clarify to a prospective diploma student why they should choose this programme, what it will provide to them and what benefits they will gain from completing it.
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5.b.i. Programme Learning Outcomes - Masters
Please provide six to eight statements of what a graduate of the Masters programme will be able to do.
If the document only covers a Postgraduate Certificate or Postgraduate Diploma please specify four to six PLO statements in the sections 5.b.ii and 5.b.iii as appropriate.
Taken together, these outcomes should capture the distinctive features of the programme. They should also be outcomes for which progressive achievement through the course of the programme can be articulated, and which will therefore be reflected in the design of the whole programme.
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PLOOn successful completion of the programme, graduates will be able to:
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1critically evaluate the key methodologies used in applied health research, taking into account quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods approaches.
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2critically appraise and interpret evidence, analysing the strengths and limitations of published applied health research.
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3formulate clear health research questions and hypotheses and independently evaluate which methodologies are most appropriate to undertake them (e.g. clinical trial, case-control study, cohort study or systematic review).
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4undertake robust, credible quantitative and qualitative analyses of health related data, using the most appropriate analytic techniques and software packages.
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5independently formulate, plan, undertake a piece of research in an area related to applied heath, taking into account ethical considerations.
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6communicate clearly in written format, to a specialist audience, the outcomes of research, presenting complex arguments, carefully
weighing evidence in reaching conclusions.
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5.c. Explanation of the choice of Programme Learning Outcomes
Please explain your rationale for choosing these PLOs in a statement that can be used for students (such as in a student handbook). Please include brief reference to:
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i) ... in what way will these PLOs result in an ambitious, challenging programme which stretches the students?
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Critically examining the range of research methodologies covered in the programme is demanding, as it involves learning across diverse areas - from undertaking statistical analyses to understanding the theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research. Likewise, the ability to apply this critical approach to reading published research tests students’ ability to think critically across very different approaches to research and different types of data and findings.

The programme also challenges students to develop their own research questions, plan, undertake and report research. In this context, the need to write complex, even-handed accounts pushes students to develop their skills and understanding.
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ii) ... in what way will these PLOs produce a programme which is distinctive and advantageous to the student?
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Fulfilling the PLOs provides students with the ability to critically understand and apply very different applied health research methodologies to pressing health issues. This is the central, distinctive feature of this programme, allowing students to go on to undertake pragmatic, impactful research wherever they go on to work.
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iii) ... how the design of the programme enables students from diverse entry routes to transition successfully into the programme? For example, how does the organisation of the programme ensure solid foundations in disciplinary knowledge and understanding of conventions, language skills, mathematics and statistics skills, writing skills, lab skills, academic integrity
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The programme is structured such that competencies gained in modules in term 1 (e.g. statistical skills) are employed and progressed in terms 2 and 3. Students come from a diverse range of backgrounds and experience, and the first term is therefore designed to put the building blocks in place for future modules.

Students also undertake an online academic integrity tutorial to ensure that they understand and adopt good academic practice.

At the individual level, students receive extensive early support from their supervisor and module leads. As a result, any issues concerning learning in the first term are identified early on and responded to. Module leaders help students with any problems that arise, such as limited statistical knowledge, writing skills or grasping key theoretical concepts. Support on writing skills is also provided by the University’s Writing Centre.
Formative work is incorporated throughout which will also help identify students that may benefit from additional support from elsewhere within the University. The programme leader will also have a key role in supporting transition into the programme.
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iv) ... how the programme is designed to enable students to progress successfully - in a limited time frame - through to the end of the award? For example, the development of higher level research skills; enabling students to complete an independent study module; developing competence and confidence in practical skills/ professional skills. See QAA masters characteristics doument http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Masters-Degree-Characteristics-15.pdf
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Students are encouraged to think about their dissertation plans from the early stages of the programme, with a taught session on the dissertation in the Health in Practice module and discussions with supervisors. Students continue to develop their methodological understanding and skills over the first two terms, completing seven compulsory methodological modules (in addition to the introductory Health Research in Practice): Introduction to Health Statistics, Epidemiology (and unless part-time), Randomised Controlled Trials, Qualitative Research, Systematic Reviews, Introduction to Regression Analysis and Health Economics. These modules, and their associated assessments, provide students with the independent research skills they need to undertake their dissertation, including their critical thinking, data analysis, data management and written skills. Discussion about dissertation topics begins with personal supervisors in the first term. Some students – often those coming from NHS settings – arrive with a fairly clear idea of the area in which they would like to undertake their dissertation. Others do not, but all have areas that they find interesting and this provides a starting point for exploring options. The Department provides a number of staff projects that students can apply for but students are still expected to develop these projects and ‘make them their own’. Once a dissertation topic is decided, two dissertation supervisors are allocated and the initial ideas are developed further in the first few meetings.
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v) ... how this programme (as outlined in these PLOs) will develop students’ digital literacy skills and how technology-enhanced learning will be used to support active student learning through peer/tutor interaction, collaboration and formative (self) assessment opportunities (reference could be made to such as blogging, flipped classroooms, response 'clickers' in lectures, simulations, etc).
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Students are engaged in digital media in a range of ways. The VLE is used across the whole programme as a means of communicating with students and making teaching materials available. The VLE also provides the scope for online discussion boards to encourage debates among student groups. Students learn how to use statistical packages such as SPSS and how to undertake online systematic database searches, employing reference management tools such as Endnote. In addition, students are actively encouraged to be competent and proficient in the use of microsoft word, excel and powerpoint. These are all transferable skills that will be useful in further study and/or employment
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vi) ... how this programme (as outlined in these PLOs) will support and enhance the students’ employability (for example, opportunities for students to apply their learning in a real world setting)?
The programme's employablity objectives should be informed by the University's Employability Strategy:
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http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/careers/staff/
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Supervisors put a strong focus throughout the programme on students’ plans for the future and ensuring that students are aware of the full range of opportunities available to them. The interdisciplinary, multi-faceted understanding of applied health research that our programme provides is sought after in both healthcare and research environments. Reflecting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of much funded research, universities increasingly look for applicants to have a holistic understanding of health research, rather than have a narrow area of expertise. Likewise in health-related sectors, evidence to inform policy and practice is increasingly expected to draw across qualitative, quantitative and economic methodologies.
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vii) Consultation with Careers
The progamme proposal should be discussed with Careers (tom.banham@york.ac.uk, ext. 2686)
Please provide details of Careers' comments and your response.
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Personal advisors have discussions with students about their future plans in terms of research degrees and/or employment from the first meeting. In order to consider module choices (which needs to be done very early on), this is a natural topic to discuss - i.e. which areas and skills do students wish to develop with a view to their future careers.
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viii) ... how learning and teaching on the programme are informed and led by research in the department/ Centre/ University?
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The teachers on the programme are all recognised and active researchers in their fields of expertise. They on recent and current research in exemplifying points made in teaching and this window into real-life research is highly valued by students on the programme. Students also attend departmental seminars where high profile academics from outside the Department present on their research.
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5.d. Progression
For masters programmes where students do not incrementally 'progress' on the completion of a discrete Postgraduate Certificate and Postgraduate Diploma, please summarise students’ progressive development towards the achievement of the PLOs, in terms of the characteristics that you expect students to demonstrate at the end of the set of modules or part thereof. This summary may be particularly helpful to students and the programme team where there is a high proportion of option modules and in circumstances where students registered on a higher award will exit early with a lower one.

Note: it is not expected that a position statement is written for each masters PLO, but this can be done if preferred.
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On completion of modules sufficient to obtain a Postgraduate Certificate students will be able to:
If the PG Cert is an exit award only please provide information about how students will have progressed towards the diploma/masters PLOs. Please include detail of the module diet that students will have to have completed to gain this qualification as an exit award.
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Students exiting the programme with a PG Cert will have successfully completed 60 credits from any of the taught compulsory modules. Students will have made some progress towards PLO's 1-4.
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On completion of modules sufficient to obtain a Postgraduate Diploma students will be able to:
If the PG Diploma is an exit award only please provide information about how students will have progressed towards the masters PLOs. Please include detail of the module diet that students will have to have completed to gain this qualification as an exit award.
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Students exiting the programme with a PG Dip will have successfully completed 70 credits from compulsory modules and 50 credits from optional modules. Students will have made good progress towards PLO's 1-4, and possibly 6 depending on their optional choices.
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6. Reference points and programme regulations
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6.a. Relevant Quality Assurance Agency benchmark statement(s) and other relevant external reference points
Please state relevant reference points consulted (e.g. Framework for Higher Education Qualifications, National Occupational Standards, Subject Benchmark Statements or the requirements of PSRBs): See also Taught Postgraduate Modular Scheme: Framework for Programme Design:
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https://www.york.ac.uk/media/staffhome/learningandteaching/documents/programmedevelopment/Framework%20for%20Programme%20Design%20-%20PG.pdf
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http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Masters-Degree-Characteristics-15.pdf
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http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements
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http://www.qaa.ac.uk/publications/information-and-guidance/publication?PubID=2843#.VthM1fmLS70
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The University of York's Taught Postgraduate Modular Scheme: Framework for Programme Design' has been consulted along with guidance documentation and examples provided as part of the York Pedagogy.
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6.b. University award regulations
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The University’s award and assessment regulations apply to all programmes: any exceptions that relate to this programme are approved by University Teaching Committee and are recorded at the end of this document.
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7. Programme Structure
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7.a. Module Structure and Summative Assessment Map
Please complete the summary table below which shows the module structure and the pattern of summative assessment through the programme.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
If the structure of your programme does not fit the usual academic year (for instance students start at the beginning of September or in January) please contact your Academic Quality Team contact in the Academic Support Office for guidance on how to represent the structure in an alternative format.

To clearly present the overall programme structure, include the name and details of each invidual CORE module in the rows below. For OPTION modules, ‘Option module’ or 'Option from list x' should be used in place of specifically including all named options. If the programme requires students to select option modules from specific lists by term of delivery or subject theme these lists should be provided in the next section (7.b).

From the drop-down select 'S' to indicate the start of the module, 'A' to indicate the timing of each distinct summative assessment point (eg. essay submission/ exam), and 'E' to indicate the end of teaching delivery for the module (if the end of the module coincides with the summative assessment select 'EA'). It is not expected that each summative task will be listed where an overall module might be assessed cumulatively (for example weekly problem sheets).

Summative assessment by exams should normally be scheduled in the spring week 1 and summer Common Assessment period (weeks 5-7). Where the summer CAP is used, a single ‘A’ can be used within the shaded cells as it is understood that you will not know in which week of the CAP the examination will take place. (NB: An additional resit assessment week is provided in week 10 of the summer term for postgraduate students. See Guide to Assessment, 5.4.a)
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http://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/registry-services/guide/
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Full time structure Students are required to take 70 credits of compulsory modules combined with 50 credits of options. However, they can only select either option 14 or 15. Module choices are discussed with students at their first supervision meeting for autumn term. Module choices for sping and summer terms can be made later on in the programme which a student has started to think about their dissertation and what methods they may choose.
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CreditsModuleAutumn TermSpring Term Summer Term Summer Vacation
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CodeTitle12345678910123456789101234567891012345678910111213
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10HEA00091MIntroduction to Health Statistics.SEA
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10HEA00013MEpidemiologySEA
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10HEA00034MRandomised Controlled Trials.SEA
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10HEA00033MQualitative Health Research.SEA
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10HEA00001MIntroduction to Regression Analysis assessment is in wk 12 SpT .SE
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10HEA00036M Systematic ReviewsSEA
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10HEA00019MHealth EconomicsSEA
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20HEA00065M or HEA00066MOption 1 SEA
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20HEA00063MOption 2 SAEA
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10HEA0002M/HEA00094MOption 3 SEA
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10HEA00021MOption 4 SEA
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10HEA00028MOption 5 SEA
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10HEA00092MOption 6 assessment is in wk 11 SpT .SSE
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60HEA00088MDissertation SEA
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10TBCOption 7 SEA
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Part time structures
Please indicate the modules undertaken in each year of the part-time version of the programme. Please use the text box below should any further explanation be required regarding structure of part-time study routes.