Summative Assessment 4 (35% of unit marks):
19227800 266700-1270
Summative Assessment 4 (35% of unit marks):
Writing a qualitative research protocol
Key deadlines for your diary (non-negotiable):
Assessment Submission: Wednesday 17 January at 12 noon
1. Assessment Instructions
This task requires you to produce a research protocol (maximum 2000 words) for a primary public health research study that uses qualitative research methods (i.e., one or more of the methods covered in weeks 8-11 of the Research Methods unit: interviews, observations, focus groups, or a mix of these methods). You will be working individually on this assessment, and it must be entirely your own work. Any evidence of copying between students will be penalised in your final mark.
You have been provided with two research topics (shown at the end of the document). Please select ONE topic and use this as a basis for devising your own research question (or research aim) and a research protocol to address this.
As a minimum, your protocol should include the following essential information:
Background/justification for the research proposed, with reference to the literature (what is known on the topic, the gap(s) in the literature the proposed research is designed to address);
A carefully conceived research question or research aim;
A statement explaining the intended research design;
Sampling and recruitment plans;
Approach(es) to data collection;
Approach(es) to data analysis;
2. Intended learning outcomes
This assessment covers the following unit intended learning outcomes:
Apply knowledge of the main methods of qualitative sampling, and data collection and analysis
3. Good academic practice
This is a piece of COURSEWORK that contributes to your Unit mark and you can:
Use resources to support you in completing your answer.
Draw upon a range of accepted resources including, your own notes, lecture slides/recordings, course material, textbooks, journal articles, online resources. ALL work should be written in your own words.
Ask for help from your personal tutors or academic lecturers if you do not understand an aspect of the coursework.
Broad discussion with your tutors, fellow students, friends or family on the assessment topic and your ideas/approach may help you to further your knowledge and understanding and provide support and encouragement during the assessment period.
Please remember this is a formal assessment and you should behave in a manner consistent with our values. This means you cannot:
Allow others to directly contribute to your written answer by revising or adding to the academic content. This is collusion and is against University Regulations.
Share your assessment with others or ask others to share their work with you.
Copy and paste any material (text, images, coding, calculations) from other sources, including teaching material and shared revision notes directly into your answer without appropriate acknowledgement. This is plagiarism (see section 6)
Pay another person or company to complete the assessment for you. This is contract cheating and is against University Regulations.
Use artificial intelligence or chatbots (e.g., ChatGPT) to help prepare your assessment
4. Assessment submission
The Assessment should be submitted via Blackboard by 12 noon Wednesday 17th January 2024. Please label your submission as follows: [unit name] _ [assessment name] _ [your student number] (e.g., Research Methods_QualiProtocol_01234). Please also complete an assessment cover sheet for your assessment this is available on blackboard.
Submissions should be in WORD or PDF format. Please use Arial, Calibri or Times font at 12-point, in a single column.
To upload your coursework to Blackboard, click on "Assessment, submission, and feedback", scroll to the bottom of the page, and then click on the title Summative Assessment 4: writing a qualitative research protocol. Then click 'Browse Local Files, select your filecontainingyour completed assessment, and then press "Submit".
If you encounter problems with your submission, please email the course administrator as soon as possible publichealth-courseadmin@bristol.ac.uk.
Failure to submit on time will incur penalties unless you have an approved extension. Please see the Programme Handbook on Blackboard for details on the extension and exceptional circumstances procedure, and for the penalties for late submission of coursework. If you encounter problems with your submission, or if you are likely to have a problem submitting on time, please email the course administrator as soon as possible (publichealth-courseadmin@bristol.ac.uk) and Unit leads [Lucy Selman and Hayley Jones]. Additionally, you may speak to your personal tutor if you are experiencing unexpected personal, family, health or other problems that impact on your academic performance as the Extenuating Circumstances policy may apply.
5. Marking
You will be assessed according to the following:
The content of your protocol specifically, the level of detail you provide in each section. Protocols should provide a detailed account of the research plans, to the extent where a reader should be able to replicate the study based on the information presented.
Knowledge and understanding of qualitative research methods, which can be demonstrated through appropriate explanations and application of concepts/terms.
Presentation and referencing of materials (e.g. spelling, grammar, clear and logical structure, and completion and accuracy of references).
Marks will be awarded for each section of your protocol, as follows:
Section of protocol/criterion Total marks available (% of total)
Title 5 marks (5%)
Background 20 marks (20%)
(Please note, an overall mark will be awarded for these three sections, as they are inter-related).
Research question/aim Research design Sampling and recruitment of participants 20 marks (20%)
Data collection methods 25 marks (25%)
Approaches to analysis 25 marks (25%)
Presentation and referencing 5 marks (5%)
Please see the asynchronous lecture on Writing a qualitative protocol (week 8) and the asynchronous talk entitled Introducing Summative Assessment 4 (week 8), on Blackboard.
A copy of the marking scheme that will be used by assessors has been included on Blackboard, under "Assessment, submission, and feedback", in the section relating to this assessment.
6. Referencing, Copyright and intellectual property
You need to include references in your protocol. References must follow the Vancouver system.
It is important that the coursework you submit is your own work. All written assessments will be checked by Turnitin for issues related to plagiarism, collusion, and cheating. Please see the Programme Handbook for important information on academic integrity. You are also able to re-listen to the course Welcome Week academic integrity talk at any time or view the guidance on the Universitys website www.bristol.ac.uk/students/support/academic-advice/academic-integrity/
Copyright and intellectual property rights are also important issues to be aware of when using the work of others in your coursework. This is not just about ensuring that you correctly reference everything, but you also need to be sure that you have permission to re-use this work. Examples of this might be displaying a figure you have taken from someone elses work or using an existing questionnaire. If you have any concerns about copyright issues, please speak to the unit lead in advance of submitting your assessment.
Please remember to sign and submit the assessment cover sheet, at the same time as you submit your assessment.
7. Wordcount
The word limit for this assessment is 2000 words. This includes:
All text including in-text titles and headings
All in-text citations
Figure and Table Legends
The word limit does not include the below:
Cover sheet
Title Page
Contents page(s)
List of abbreviations/nomenclature
Acknowledgements
Abstract(s)
List of references
Text in tables
Text in figures
Index
Foot notes
Appendix
Any tables and/or figures should be included as appendices after the references and will not be included in the word count.
Exceeding the word limit will incur the following penalties:
Coursework that exceeds the stated word limit by: Penalty (absolute):
Up to 10% 10% of total mark available is deducted
Between 10% and 20% 50% of total mark available is deducted
By over 20% A mark of 0 is awarded
Please see the Programme Handbook for further information on penalties.
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Please see next page for choice of research topics
Research topics
Choose one research topic to base your protocol on
Access to alcohol misuse treatment
An estimated 10 million people in England regularly exceed low-risk drinking guidelines, including 1.7 million who drink at higher risk and around 600,000 who are dependent on alcohol [1]. This means that around 21% of adults in England drink in a way that could risk their long-term health. Alcohol is a risk factor for many life-limiting and chronic diseases, including cancer and diseases of the liver, kidney and cardiovascular system [2,3]. It is also associated with mental health disorders, self-harm and suicide, and is a major cause of preventable death [3]. Alcohol harm impacts not only drinkers themselves but also families and wider communities. The Office for National Statistics reported that alcohol was linked to 42% of all violent crime in 201920, and there is evidence that it does most harm in the most deprived communities [4,5]. Alcohol treatment services are effective and cost- effective [4], but only 18% of dependent drinkers in England are in treatment [1], and only 23% of referrals are from health services [6]. Little is known about how to increase the use and impact of alcohol treatment services.
Design a research protocol, featuring a specific research question, setting, and participant group of your choice, that seeks to contribute qualitative evidence related to the above topic.
References
Alcohol Treatment Services: A Briefing by the National Audit Office. 2023. Available from: https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/alcohol-treatment-services.pdf
Shield KD, Parry C, Rehm J. Chronic diseases and conditions related to alcohol use. Alcohol Res. 2013;35(2):155-73.
Iranpour A, Nakhaee N. A Review of Alcohol-Related Harms: A Recent Update. Addict Health. 2019 Apr;11(2):129-137. doi: 10.22122/ahj.v11i2.225.
Rao R, Schofield P, Ashworth M. Alcohol use, socioeconomic deprivation and ethnicity in older people. BMJ Open 2015;5:e007525. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007525
Erskine, S., Maheswaran, R., Pearson, T. et al. Socioeconomic deprivation, urban-rural location and alcohol-related mortality in England and Wales. BMC Public Health 10, 99 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-99
UKATT Research Team. Cost effectiveness of treatment for alcohol problems: findings of the randomised UK alcohol treatment trial (UKATT). BMJ. 2005 Sep 10;331(7516):544. doi: 10.1136/bmj.331.7516.544.
OR
Falling childhood vaccination rates
Vaccination programs are a key public health measure saving millions of lives around the world every year. Immunisation rates have been consistently dropping in recent years, including in the UK [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that on a national basis at least 95% of children are immunised against vaccine-preventable diseases and these diseases are targeted for elimination or control. In 2021/22, for the fourth consecutive year, none of the routine vaccinations met this target in the UK, with NHS data showing that vaccine coverage fell in 13 out of 14 routine programmes for children up to 5 years old [2-4]. Similarly, uptake of the adolescent vaccines against tetanus, diphtheria and polio and meningococcal disease have fallen to well below pre-Covid-pandemic levels [4,5]. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is urging parents and guardians to ensure their children have received the routine jabs against potentially serious diseases, warning of outbreaks of preventable but life-threatening diseases unless vaccination rates increase. Little is known about the reasons for the decreasing immunisation rates in recent years (for example, how they might relate to the Covid-19 pandemic) or what might help increase equal access to and uptake of vaccination.
Design a research protocol, featuring a specific research question, setting, and participant group of your choice, that seeks to contribute qualitative evidence related to the above topic.
References
Maltezou HC, Medic S, Cassimos DC, Effraimidou E, Poland GA. Decreasing routine vaccination rates in children in the COVID-19 era. Vaccine. 2022 Apr 20;40(18):2525-2527. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.03.033.
NHS Digital. Childhood vaccination coverage statisticsEngland, 2021-22. 29 September 2022. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/2021-22Health and Social Care Committee. Prevention in health and social care: vaccination. 27 July 2023. https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/41050/documents/199887/def....
Limb M. Alarming decline in vaccine uptake must be tackled, say MPs BMJ 2023; 382 :p1741 doi:10.1136/bmj.p1741
Meningococcal ACWY (MenACWY) vaccine coverage for the NHS adolescent vaccination programme in England, academic year 2020 to 2021. Health Protection Report Volume 16 Number 2 8 February 2022: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1052798/HPR0222_MenACWY.pdfTetanus, diphtheria and polio (Td/IPV, 'school leaver booster') vaccine coverage for the NHS adolescent vaccination programme in England, academic year 2020 to 2021. Health Protection Report Volume 16 Number 2 8 February 2022: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1052627/HPR2022-TdIPV.pdf
