This module is offered during each of the semesters from the first semester of second year medicine until the tenth and final semester of the degree program. Every medical student has to write a thesis on any given topic of national interest as partial fulfillment towards earning the medical degree is expected to produce doctors with a sound scientific training necessary for the life-long practice of continuing learning and evidence based clinical practice. Research activities are carried over the five years of schooling and these include literature review, fieldwork, practicum, and when appropriate laboratory investigations. In each semester a student is expected to present his/her findings in a class seminar and submit them in writing for evaluation purposes. The module intensifies students on the use of computer programs for storing and analyzing data, and accessing information via the network and discusses basic statistics, probability theory and distribution, principles of sampling, data presentation, measurements of central tendency and dispersion, health statistics, demography, principles and methods of research methodology.
Each semester a student is expected to present his/her findings in a public seminar and submit them in writing for evaluation purposes. A student will be assigned a mentor(s) primarily from the Faculty of Health Sciences, or the Ministry of Health and Social Services or other Namibian institutions, and, when appropriate, from outside the country. Topics: Literature review, reference citations, journal article critique, journal article presentation, research proposal development, tool of data collection, questionnaire development, quantitative or qualitative research, sampling techniques and sample size determination, descriptive and analytical statistics, application of spread sheets and other statistical packages for data analysis and presentation (e.g. Excel, EPI Info, STATA, SPSS), manuscript development and publication; application of skills and methods of knowledge management (including telemedicine, and virtual library); practical and evidence-based application of skills in research methodology, descriptive and analytical statistics, demography and health statistics, association, causality and statistical inference.
