Postgraduate Course: Evaluation of Global Health & Development Programmes (GLHE11048)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Molecular, Genetic and Population Health Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Across the globe, many programmes and interventions exist to improve health, wellbeing and conditions of individuals and communities. But how do we know if these programmes are working? Should we continue to fund them if they are not effective, and even if they are effective, how can they be improved and made more efficient? Furthermore, how do leaders, organisations or communities make decisions about the best interventions, out of a range of promising programmes, for their contexts? In resource constrained environments, this is even more important.
This twenty credit module explores what evaluation is, when it can be used and the range of evaluations and methods. It aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills to design an evaluation of a public health or development programme taking into account specific contexts. Case studies will be used to illustrate concepts.
The module would particularly benefit health and development programme managers, researchers and practitioners. This would include staff from ministries of health or development, non-governmental organisations and academic institutions.
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| Course description |
The course will aim to equip students:
To understand why evaluation of health and development programmes is important and necessary in the global context;
To be able to use frameworks to formulate expected outcomes and key questions around which evaluations can be planned;
To be familiar with types of evaluation, the merits and limitations of each, and which are the most suitable for the questions being asked in the context;
To understand key methods and methodological approaches used in process and impact evaluations of public health and development interventions;
To be able to report on, communicate, interpret and appraise evaluation findings in the global context.
Topic 1: What is evaluation? Why evaluate? Defining key questions / Do we want to know about inequalities? Programme implementation / effectiveness / accountability.
Topic 2: Results chain/ Outcomes Frameworks / Developing and testing Theory of Change/ the counterfactual/ developing indicators
Topic 3: Types of evaluation. Matching types of evaluation with key questions and specific contexts. Considering what has worked in, and gathering evidence from, other contexts.
Topic 4: Process evaluation, qualitative and mixed methods
Topic 5: Evaluating effectiveness I. Methods used for impact evaluation/ randomised controlled trials and their application to public health and development programmes and policies.
Topic 6: Evaluating effectiveness II. Quasi-experimental evaluation designs/ complex interventions/ natural experiments.
Topic 7: Observational studies and their use in global programme evaluation
Topic 8: An overview of evaluating cost effectiveness
Topic 9: What is feasible and ethical to evaluate in the local context? Capacity, data sources and data linkage
Topic 10: Using, interpreting, translating and communicating evaluation findings.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Flexible |
| Course Start Date |
07/08/2017 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Formal summative written assessment will constitute 60% of the student's grade. Online assessment will incorporate a variety of activities and will constitute 40% of the overall course grade and is taken to represent a summative assessment of learning throughout the programme. |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- To understand why evaluation of health and development programmes is important and necessary in the global context
- To be able to use frameworks to formulate expected outcomes and key questions around which evaluations can be planned
- To be familiar with types of evaluation, the merits and limitations of each, and which are the most suitable for the questions being asked in the context
- To understand key methods and methodological approaches used in process and impact evaluations of public health and development interventions
- To be able to report on, communicate, interpret and appraise evaluation findings in the global context
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
During this course students will have to demonstrate the ability to work both independently and collaboratively with others. Their knowledge and understanding of the topic will improve but they will learn generic approaches/skills such as hierarchies of evidence in health, critically analysing materials evaluation skills and evidence-based speaking and writing. Since the course is distance learning, it will contribute to their IT, writing and communication skills. Finally, they will be expected to be able to bring together and draw from the information provided through the course during their essay writing. Competencies such as structuring of work and accurate referencing should improve. |
| Keywords | Programme evaluation; public health interventions; theory of change; impact evaluation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Rosemary Geddes
Tel: (0131 6)51 4139
Email: |
Course secretary | Dr Varia Christie
Tel: (0131 6)51 4152
Email: |
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