Research and Evidence in Practice

• • • Introduction.
  • • Ethics in research and practice.
  • • Asking questions to guide your search for evidence.
  • • Acquiring the evidence.
  • • Introduction to quantitative research design.
  • • Introduction to qualitative research design.
  • • Sources of bias and threats to validity in qualitative and quantitative research.
  • • Reliabilty and rigour in qualitative and quantitative research.
  • • Outcome measures and scales of measurement in health research.
  • • Introduction to descriptive statistics and statistical inference.
  • • Treatment effects: mean difference, odds ration, risk ration, confidence interval.
  • • Probability (p-values), statistical significance and power.
  • • Treatment effects and forest plots.
  • • Meta-analysis.

Others

Past La Trobe University students who have previously completed HLT1RAE (Research and Evidence In Practice) are ineligible to enrol in this subject.

Additional requirements

• Other requirements - This subject is available through Open Universities Australia (OUA) and the course is restricted for enrolment. Single subject enrolments for restricted subjects are not available at OUA, please see https://www.latrobe.edu.au/study/apply/pathways/single-subject-entry for further information. Students who successfully complete two from the four open enrolment subjects (HBS101, DTN101, CHM101, PHE102) may apply under the Academic Eligibility category for admission to the restricted Bachelor of Food and Nutrition. You must be enrolled in the Bachelor of Food and Nutrition to be eligible to enrol in all other non-open access subjects offered in the degree.

In this subject you will be introduced to essential skills for evidence-based practice in the field of human nutrition. A systematic 5 step approach will be used to build basic skills in formulating answerable questions, searching for relevant research articles, critically appraising the evidence and evaluating the rigour of the evidence. You will develop a basic understanding of of descriptive and inferential statistics, assessment of research outcomes and the strengths and limitations of key research designs and contemporary challenges of research in human nutrition. The focus is on the types of research that answer questions about the effectiveness of interventions, and about human experience and meaning and being able to interpret these. You will also consider the complex interaction between social, economic and environmental influences in the field of nutrition science.

• Two 30 minute online quizzes (35%)
• One 1,000-word critique (individual written assessment) (25%)
• One 600-word search strategy (10%)
• One 1500-word critical appraisal (written individual assessment) (30%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).