Graduate Courses: POPM*6250 Project in Epidemiology (F, W, S)
Calendar Description:
Collection and analysis of field data and the preparation of a written report suitable for publication, and oral presentation of the findings to the graduate faculty. This course is part of the MSc program by course work in epidemiology.
Course Goal(s):
This course is designed to help the student learn and practice a variety of skills necessary to design, implement, and analyze data from, observational studies or field trials. The student will also gain experience in the writing of scientific papers.
Teaching Strategy:
A research-based course in which the student implements his/her knowledge of epidemiology and a specific problem/discipline in order to help solve health problems. The student is expected to meet with his/her advisor and/or committee on a regular basis.
Course Content:
Research problems amenable to investigation in short-term projects, using epidemiological techniques, are appropriate. The student is expected to meet with faculty and devise an acceptable research strategy for the project. It is expected that a "publishable" paper will be developed based on the research effort.
Required/Suggested Texts:
As necessary.
Assessment/Examination Strategies
Preparing the paper:
- In consultation with the advisor, the student should identify the journal he/she wishes to submit the paper to and follow the style and format of that journal, including references, tables and figures.
- The paper should be appropriate for submission to the peer review research journal. This means that the paper should not contain an extensive explanation about, or defence of, the methodology used in the study; the literature review should be concise and in keeping with the style of the journal selected.
- Additional material, not intended to be part of the journal submission, may be included as appendices.
- Departures from 1) and 2) are not allowed unless the advisor has explicitly agreed to modifications of the above procedures (ie. The advisor must inform, in writing, the other examiners about what has and has not been agreed to with regard to the style and content of the paper).
Evaluating the paper and general knowledge:
- The examiners will assess the paper as if they were doing a peer review for the specified journal. This includes noting that the objectives, methods, results and discussion are consistent and appropriate; noting the clarity and conciseness of the written presentation; noting spelling and grammatical errors, and verifying that the reference style, table heading, etc. are appropriate for the specified journal. The examiners should not, at this stage, downgrade the paper because it requires explanation unless this is a major failing of the paper. Rather, these explanations should be sought during the oral defence of the project/paper.
- The candidate will make an oral presentation to the department defending the work and its conclusions.
- The oral examination should concentrate on questions arising from the review of the paper as well as more wide-ranging questions concerning epidemiology that arose from either the written or oral presentation. These questions should probe both areas of suspected weakness as well as areas of strength. The intent of the examination is to evaluate the student's general knowledge as well as matters pertaining to the project itself.
Marking (grading) the project
- Normally, there will be three examiners. Each examiner will mark the paper out of 15, with an "average" paper receiving a mark of eleven (11).
- The advisor will assign a mark out of 10 reflecting her/his quantitative and qualitative input to the final status of the paper. A paper requiring an average amount of input from the advisor would receive a mark of 7. If excessive input is required, the student may be downgraded accordingly. Overall knowledge, ability, organization, clarity of thought, and conciseness of expression will be evaluated by the advisor during the process of performing the research and writing the paper.
