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Gold Coast

Unit Summary

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

12

AQF level

7

Level of learning

Advanced

Unit aim

Equips students with the knowledge and skills to identify and address significant questions concerning occupational therapy practice. Develops competencies in generating practice-based evidence in order to better address the occupational performance needs of a variety of population groups and to guide assessment, intervention, policy development and clinical decision making.

Unit content

  • Evaluation in the context of research, quality improvement, accreditation standards, clinical risk and safety, provision of services, needs analysis, assessment, research and policy development 
  • Researching and critically evaluating the empirical literature 
  • Research writing and communication skills 
  • Paradigmatic frameworks of research 
  • Methodology and research design 
  • Approaches to data analysis 
  • Understanding and responding to the values and beliefs of key stakeholders and professional ethics in the design and conduct of practice-based research 
  • Research and evaluation infrastructure

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to: GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 conceptualise and prioritise questions of critical concern to professional practice
2 comprehensively investigate research literature in order to understand and critically evaluate a topic of clinical interest
3 identify and defend a coherent framework for the conduct of evaluation
4 design a well integrated, effective, coherent and comprehensive methodological approach to addressing questions of critical concern
5 identify, respect and address the values and beliefs of all stakeholders in the design and implementation of an evaluation that is consistent with professional standards of ethical conduct
6 prepare an evaluation proposal which is succinct, logical, unambiguous, compelling and well written and researched.
7 evaluate research proposals and reports of professional peers consistent with peer review guidelines employed by academic journals and scholars in occupational therapy.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. conceptualise and prioritise questions of critical concern to professional practice
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  2. comprehensively investigate research literature in order to understand and critically evaluate a topic of clinical interest
    • GA1:
  3. identify and defend a coherent framework for the conduct of evaluation
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  4. design a well integrated, effective, coherent and comprehensive methodological approach to addressing questions of critical concern
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  5. identify, respect and address the values and beliefs of all stakeholders in the design and implementation of an evaluation that is consistent with professional standards of ethical conduct
    • GA1:
    • GA3:
  6. prepare an evaluation proposal which is succinct, logical, unambiguous, compelling and well written and researched.
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  7. evaluate research proposals and reports of professional peers consistent with peer review guidelines employed by academic journals and scholars in occupational therapy.
    • GA1:
    • GA3:

Prescribed texts

  • Any edition is suitable for this unit: Portney, L.G., 2020, Foundations of Clinical Research: Applications to Evidence-Based Practice, 4th, F.A. Davis, Philadelphia. ISBN: 978-0803661134.
Prescribed texts may change in future teaching periods.