Involving students in curriculum design: a research and statistics course designed by students for students

Abstract

The following study relates to the development of a research and statistic training course for staff members and postgraduate students within the Faculty of Health Sciences, Staffordshire University. As part of the research and advanced scholarship university agenda, the demand for increase in research and advanced scholarly outputs, a need was identified by numerous staff and postgraduate students for additional research and statistics methods training. University funding was obtained to further investigate staff and students’ specific needs for such training. As a result, a basic research and statistics course was developed and delivered as a pilot to a small group of staff and postgraduate students. Written evaluation of the course was obtained by all attendees and analysed with the aim of improving the training course. Staff and student involvement was a vital part of the study throughout all stages, from course design to delivery and evaluation. The paper presents and discusses the key study findings as well as recommendations for practice.