Master of Statistics

This course will introduce participants to the various approaches and components of qualitative health research inquiries. Students will learn the key principles of qualitative research design, including data collection, analysis, and write-up. The course will survey common approaches to qualitative research and will provide students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in qualitative research methods through a research project related to their area of interest. Specifically, the hands-on project will utilize the grounded theory approach for qualitative inquiries a mainstay qualitative methodology that guides students from project conception through data collection, analysis, interpretation, and conclusive results writing. Students will learn to identify the kinds of research problems for which qualitative methods are appropriate, and to critique qualitative research in terms of design, technique, analysis, and interpretation. The course will also emphasize concept development and theory building as related to qualitative research inquiries. Course material and related activities focus heavily on qualitative research methods as applied to community health and midwifery models of care. The goal of this course is to provide students the foundational knowledge, skills, and tools necessary to develop highquality qualitative health research projects, and evaluate published qualitative research in terms of validity, reliability, and methodologyUtilize appropriate and expanded qualitative research terminology.

Critically discuss the ethical and methodological issues integral to qualitative research. Compare and contrast commonly used methods, techniques and approaches from a variety of traditions in qualitative health research. Demonstrate the application of qualitative methods and approaches to community health research and midwifery models of care. Theorize about research questions and designs appropriate for developing strong, qualitatively based inquiries into maternal-child health. Develop practical research design skills in terms of data collection, analysis, write-up and interpretation. Describe the role of qualitative research methodologies in the development of research knowledge for practice and application; and Critically assess the reliability, validity, rigor and quality of qualitative research.