Writing a Research Question and Outline
Full course description
The outline written during the current module is the outline for the research protocol that is to be written later on this year (EPI4927 in period 4) and will guide you during your thesis period. Essentially, therefore, you start working on your thesis from the current module onwards. The knowledge gained in the master program so far should enable you to formulate a clear research question, write an introduction on your study topic that logically leads up to the research question, and give an outline for the methodology needed to investigate the research question. The reason for starting with this early on in the program and separating this from the module ‘Writing a Research Protocol’ (EPI4927 in period 4) is that it takes time to formulate a good research question and to familiarize yourself with the research setting within which your internship will take place. The research protocol will be worked out in full using this outline during the module ‘Writing a Research Protocol’.
Course objectives
By the end of this module, you should have attained the following learning goals:
Knowledge and understanding:
knowledge on and insight into how to formulate a research question; and basic knowledge of and insight into the outline of a(n epidemiological) research protocol.
Applying knowledge and understanding:
ability to formulate a research question; and ability to understand the basic principles of writing an outline for a research protocol
Making judgements:
ability to form a balanced judgement on the quality of a research question