Fundamentals of Health Research and Epidemiology

Overview

Course description

This course introduces students to the concepts of health research and epidemiology, methods to detect bias, and approaches to determining validity and reliability. Included is the opportunity to identify a research question and hypothesis, perform a literature review, and complete a critical analysis of findings.

Course content

Research and epidemiology frameworks and terminology
Principles of scientific investigation
Research study design
Testing a hypothesis
Process to identifying bias in research and epidemiological studies
Steps in performing and critiquing a literature review
Design and purpose of epidemiological studies
Relationship between research and epidemiology within health information management
Process for securing and ensuring ethical research
Relationship between data integrity, governance, and health information management

Learning activities

In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities such as lectures, case study analysis, independent research, exercises, training on data classification technology, participant presentations, classroom discussions, and guest speakers.

Means of assessment

Assessment will be based on course objectives andwill be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course.

This is a Letter graded course. All assignments must be completed to pass the course

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Define key research and epidemiology terminology;
Design a research study to test a specific hypothesis;
Detect and describe different types of bias pertaining to research studies performed in health care;
Examine the most effective methods to test validity and reliability;
Design a literature review including a critical analysis of findings;
Analyze epidemiological studies, identify advantages/disadvantages of each study design, and identify the various health care statistics used or generated;
Explain how various epidemiological research study designs can be used in health information management;
Explain how study design facilitates outcome studies;
Identify the relationship between research methodology and evidence-based practice in health information management;
Demonstrate the importance of ethics in research and epidemiological studies;
Identify data governance and data integrity issues pertinent to research and epidemiology.

Textbook materials

Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester.

Requisites

Prerequisites

HIMP 2240 and HIMP 3300 and HIMP 3340

Students in the PBD-HIM and BScHIM programs are required to maintain a minimum grade of 65% (C+) in all courses in order to progress in the program.

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

None

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

May 2026 (Current)

May 2021

January 2020

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution	Transfer details for HIMP 4430
Thompson Rivers University (TRU)	TRU HLTH 4XXX (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC)	UNBC HHSC 351 (3)
Vancouver Island University (VIU)	VIU HSLC 4th (3)