Course coordinator
Associate Professor Adam La Caze
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 1, 2025 (24/02/2025 - 21/06/2025)
- Study level
- Postgraduate Coursework
- Location
- External
- Attendance mode
- Online
- Units
- 2
- Administrative campus
- Dutton Park
- Coordinating unit
- Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences School
This course develops knowledge and skills necessary for clinical pharmacists to develop and conduct research and evaluation projects within their practice. The course covers concepts of planning and design of research and evaluation projects, and will help student to develop skills in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The relevance of research and evaluation to pharmacists is supported by practical learning tasks linked to clinical practice and the workplace, including drug utilisation evaluation.
This course is designed to provide an overview of research methods that are commonly used in pharmacy practice and the clinical sciences. The aim is to help students to develop skills in identifying and specifying research questions and then implementing appropriate methods to address these questions. Different research questions require different research methods. Students will examine and apply a number of important quantitative and qualitative methods. Throughout the course an emphasis is placed on research quality. Focus is given to ensure methods are employed in such as way as to ensure the quality (reliability, validity, rigour) of the research.
The course is delivered online. The learning activities are drawn from pharmacy practice and are spread across the course to support your learning. Some learning and assessment activities will involve you working in groups, which is important because research is often a collaborative process. In these group activities, you will have a shared responsibility for your learning. Group work requires equal contribution to the task and respect for others in the group. To facilitate groupwork, each group should establish ground rules about team roles and responsibilities at the outset of group tasks.
Enhance your learning by making use of the discussion boards to share your experiences with your peers and to seek their input. You will be expected to participate in all activities.
This course will guide you in developing critical judgement, research and evaluation skills that you can build on throughout your career. It addresses one of the core postgraduate attributes expected by the university and a core competency of pharmacy practice.
National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia (2016):
Participate in research (Domain 5.2)
- Establish research partnerships
- Identify gaps in the evidence-base
- Undertake critical evaluation activities
- Design and deliver research projects to address gaps in the evidence-base and identify areas for innovation and advances in practice
- Supervise others undertaking research
Research, synthesise and integrate evidence into practice (Domain 5.3)
- Identify information needs and resource requirements
- Retrieve relevant information/evidence in a timely manner
- Apply research evidence into practice
- Provide advice and recommendations
It is the student’s responsibility to undertake all learning activities and to consult designated websites for correct and up-to-date information regarding the course.
Course requirements
Assumed background
A student coming into this course will have a Bachelor of Pharmacy or equivalent. A student will be expected to have a general knowledge of the skills required to practice clinical pharmacy. A student will have practiced as a pharmacist. In addition, students are expected to have completed PHRM7010 prior to enrolling in this course.
Incompatible
You can't enrol in this course if you've already completed the following:
PC836 PHRM7020
Restrictions
This course is restricted to students enrolled in the Graduate Certificate/Master of Clinical Pharmacy
Course contact
Course staff
Lecturer
Associate Professor Adam La Caze
Timetable
Additional timetable information
Timetables, objectives and any pre-reading or other tasks will be posted to the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site prior to the relevant module.
Students are expected to undertake all the set learning activities and self-directed learning.
Attendance and participation at tutorials is considered essential.
Aims and outcomes
Clinical pharmacists need sound research skills, both to interpret and use the research of others and to contribute to practice through research and evaluation.
This course is designed to provide clinical pharmacists with skills in appraising and designing research and practice improvement studies.
The course provides practical opportunities for students to develop their research and evaluation skills. Students have the opportunity to conduct and analyse a small qualitative research study, develop skills in quantitative data analysis, develop research and evaluation questions, pitch research ideas and to develop a project proposal.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Critically appraise and synthesise current evidence in a particular context
LO2.
Identify a gap in practice or knowledge that can be addressed through research and evaluation
LO3.
Develop focused, feasible, answerable research and evaluation questions
LO4.
Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of quantitative and qualitative data analysis
LO5.
Collect and analyse qualitative or quantitative data while ensuring the rigour and quality of that data
LO6.
Develop a project proposal in the area of pharmacy practice covering study design, methodology, data analysis and ethical considerations
LO7.
Communicate research ideas and project plans to a knowledgeable, non-expert audience
LO8.
Work collaboratively with your peers
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio |
Module Activities
|
21% (7% per module) |
Module 1: 21/03/2025 12:00 pm Module 2: 17/04/2025 12:00 pm Module 3: Post on the ethical dimensions of your project 9/05/2025 12:00 pm Module 3: 30/05/2025 12:00 pm |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation | Project Outline | 20% |
24/03/2025 12:00 pm |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation | Analysis Assignment | 24% |
28/04/2025 12:00 pm |
| Paper/ Report/ Annotation | Project proposal | 35% |
9/06/2025 12:00 pm |
Assessment details
Module Activities
- Team or group-based
- Mode
- Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia, Written
- Category
- Portfolio
- Weight
- 21% (7% per module)
- Due date
Module 1: 21/03/2025 12:00 pm
Module 2: 17/04/2025 12:00 pm
Module 3: Post on the ethical dimensions of your project 9/05/2025 12:00 pm
Module 3: 30/05/2025 12:00 pm
- Other conditions
- Student specific.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07, L08
Task description
There are three modules in this course. Module activities are a form sequential assessment that occur throughout the semester within each module of the course. The module activities are developed to support you to work though the learning activities throughout the semester.
There are two types of activities within each module that are graded - Module tasks and Tutorial tasks.
Module tasks (2% per module)
- Module tasks take place within each module.
- You and/or your group will be assigned an activity.
- Each student within the group is provided with a specific task that they complete and feedback to the group typically via a discussion board. Each student’s contribution provides the basis for further discussion and learning.
- Students receive an individual mark for their contribution.
Tutorial tasks (5% per module)
- Group tasks are assigned for each tutorial.
- Groups will prepare the presentation for the online tutorial. The group discussion boards are provided to facilitate group preparation for the tutorial. Every group member will discuss aspects of the group task on the group discussion board. Group members should summarise their contributions concisely so the points can be included in the final presentation.
- Slides can be designed by group members who are not presenting or the presenters, summarising the group’s findings. Presenters will be assigned by the course coordinator and all group members may be asked to elaborate on tutorial presentations. The group presentation will be marked by the course coordinator.
- All group members will receive the same mark as long as they have made a meaningful, timely and equitable contribution to the preparation of the group presentation. Moderation is assisted by peer feedback after each tutorial (individual mark = group mark x peer assessment factor).
See the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site for details and marking criteria.
Use of AI is not necessary to complete the assignment and use that is not sufficiently careful or critical may hinder your ability to demonstrate that you have met the learning objectives. If you use generative AI in this assignment, you must:
- appropriately reference the use of AI or similar tool (see guidance)
- provide a statement in an appendix regarding how you used AI and or machine translation technologies
- be able to provide documentation on request that demonstrates your process and contribution (this may include the document history and AI prompts and responses)
Submission guidelines
See the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site for instructions regarding submission for each activity.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Extensions are possible for module tasks.
Extensions are not possible for tutorial tasks as these are group tasks that are performed at the tutorial.
Late submission
You will receive a mark of 0 if this assessment is submitted late.
Project Outline
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- 20%
- Due date
24/03/2025 12:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L02, L03, L04, L06, L07
Task description
The Project Outline is a 2-page project pitch.
- The assignment is completed individually.
- The details provided above need to fit within 2 A4 pages with a readable font and a font size no smaller than 11pt.
- References can be on a third page. Reference style can be author-year or numeric, but need to be consistent with a standard academic style (e.g. Chicago, Harvard, APA, etc).
- See the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site for details and marking criteria
The Project Outline should consist of the following:
- Title - Project title
- Team - You and your collaborators (consider who you would need/like to involve to undertake the project)
- Background - The context in which the project is taking place and a focussed synthesis of the existing evidence. Identify the research gap or need.
- Aim - What you hope to achieve in the project in broad terms
- Focused Research Question(s) - Detailed, specific research question(s) that will be addressed. It may be appropriate to present in PICO form. It may also be appropriate to identify specific hypotheses that you intend to test.
- Approach - Provide a brief comment regarding what you intend to do (methods) and how you will address the research/evaluation questions (analysis)
Use of AI is not necessary to complete the assignment and use that is not sufficiently careful or critical may hinder your ability to demonstrate that you have met the learning objectives. If you use generative AI in this assignment, you must:
- appropriately reference the use of AI or similar tool (see guidance)
- provide a statement in an appendix regarding how you used AI and or machine translation technologies
- be able to provide documentation on request that demonstrates your process and contribution (this may include the document history and/or AI prompts and responses)
Submission guidelines
Submit via the Turnitin link in the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Analysis Assignment
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- 24%
- Due date
28/04/2025 12:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L04, L05, L07
Task description
This assignment provides an opportunity for you to develop and demonstrate skills in either qualitative or quantitative analysis.
Undertake either the qualitative analysis or quantitative analysis assignment (not both):
Qualitative analysis assignment
Undertake a qualitative research project that involves the collection, transcription and analysis of ONE brief interview.
- You will need to develop a research question that is of relevance to your workplace but is also suitable for a qualitative study.
- Undertake and record an in-depth interview exploring your research question. The interview should be approximately 5- 10 minutes in duration. You will need to develop an interview guide to help you with your interview. Interview someone that you work with (it can be a friend) who knows something about your topic area. You will then need to record the interview and transcribe it verbatim (that is word for word).
- The interview transcription forms a part of this assignment and is required to be handed in as part of the assessment. Please note that it can take up to three times as long to transcribe an interview as it does to actually do the interview. It will take between 30 and 60 minutes to transcribe a 10 minute interview.
- Analyse your interview. Use thematic analysis to analyse this interview. You will need to analyse the interview in terms of your research question and suggest changes or modifications to your interview guide that you would make should you be doing more than one interview.
- Reflect on your interview – what worked well? and what you could have done better?
Quantitative analysis
- The assignment will consist in several quantitative analysis exercises. The exercises will build on the learning material provided in the module.
- You will need to use statistical software (e.g. R via R Studio) to analysis, display and appropriately interpret the data.
- The assignment will be marked on the basis of correctly responding to each exercise (the marks for each exercise will be provided in the assignment worksheet via Blackboard).
See the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site for details and marking criteria.
Use of AI is not necessary to complete the assignment and use that is not sufficiently careful or critical may hinder your ability to demonstrate that you have met the learning objectives. If you use generative AI in this assignment, you must:
- appropriately reference the use of AI or similar tool (see guidance)
- provide a statement in an appendix regarding how you used AI and or machine translation technologies
- be able to provide documentation on request that demonstrates your process and contribution (this may include the document history and/or AI prompts and responses)
Submission guidelines
Submit via the Turnitin link in the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Project proposal
- Mode
- Written
- Category
- Paper/ Report/ Annotation
- Weight
- 35%
- Due date
9/06/2025 12:00 pm
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07
Task description
This task requires you to prepare a project proposal that could be used as a basis for a research or quality improvement project.
- A template for the proposal is provided on the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site.
- Students are encouraged use this opportunity to develop a project they intend to conduct.
- Research and/or evaluation questions are everywhere, but it takes some time to refine the question, review what is already known or has been tried and to develop appropriate methods to answer the question. It is important to start developing ideas about your project proposal early in semester.
- See the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site for more details and the marking criteria.
Use of AI is not necessary to complete the assignment and use that is not sufficiently careful or critical may hinder your ability to demonstrate that you have met the learning objectives. If you use generative AI in this assignment, you must:
- appropriately reference the use of AI or similar tool (see guidance)
- provide a statement in an appendix regarding how you used AI and or machine translation technologies
- be able to provide documentation on request that demonstrates your process and contribution (this may include the document history and/or AI prompts and responses)
Submission guidelines
Submit via the Turnitin link in the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 28 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
Late submission
A penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark will be deducted per 24 hours from time submission is due for up to 7 days. After 7 days, you will receive a mark of 0.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 1 - 29 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 30 - 44 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 45 - 49 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is available for this course.
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Find the required and recommended resources for this course on the UQ Library website.
Additional learning resources information
There are many texts and online resources available to help students (see library catalogue and Blackboard site).ﾠ Students should also choose additional readings that best suit their needs.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Multiple weeks From Week 1 To Week 4 |
Not Timetabled |
Module 1: Developing Research & Evaluation Questions Active online learning. This module introduces the overall aims of the course and unpacks the necessary steps to develop focused research questions that are feasible to answer and make a contribution to practice. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L06, L07 |
Week 1 (24 Feb - 02 Mar) |
Tutorial |
Introduction Tutorial Online tutorial to introduce the course and meet each other. Learning outcomes: L08 |
Week 3 (10 Mar - 16 Mar) |
Tutorial |
Module 1 Tutorial Online tutorial for Module 1. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L06, L07, L08 |
Multiple weeks From Week 5 To Week 8 |
Not Timetabled |
Module 2: Principles of Qualitative & Quantitative Analysis Active online learning. This module covers the principles of qualitative and quantitative analysis. You need a good grasp of these principles in order to plan, conduct and communicate your research or evaluation. Qualitative analysis: Good qualitative research can help us to better understand why some phenomenon is occurring and identify barriers and facilitators that influence how we might be able to intervene. As in quantitative analysis, there are many different approaches to qualitative analysis. The module aims to provide an overview of the most common approaches and to identify some aspects that each of these approaches share. A key focus of the module is on the methods employed to improve data quality and ensure rigour. Quantitative analysis: This component of the module will cover (review) some of the principles of quantitative analysis. The aim is to reacquaint you with introductory statistics and to ensure you are sufficiently confident to undertake straightforward quantitative analysis. Learning outcomes: L03, L04, L05, L06, L07 |
Week 7 (07 Apr - 13 Apr) |
Tutorial |
Module 2 Tutorial Online tutorial for Module 2 Learning outcomes: L03, L04, L05, L06, L07, L08 |
Multiple weeks From Week 9 To Week 13 |
Not Timetabled |
Module 3: Writing a Project Proposal Active online learning. Develop your research proposal. Build on the work you have completed in Modules 1 and 2 and complement this with learning activities regarding human research ethics and project planning. Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07, L08 |
Week 11 (12 May - 18 May) |
Tutorial |
Module 3 Tutorial Online tutorial for Module 3 Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04, L06, L07, L08 |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments - Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.