New graduate level course offered

The School of Dentistry launched a new course for graduate students this year. The focus of this three-credit course is on qualitative research. The contents cover a wide-range of topics from defining the research focus (e.g., objectives and questions) to producing an academic manuscript, including commonly used qualitative research methods, strategies of data collection and analysis, criteria of rigor, knowledge translation, and mixed method designs. What underpins this course is the alignment to a broad understanding of health, chronic disease management, and patient-centered care where psychosocial factors play a major role.

Students will gain insight in how to approach relevant clinical and educational problems from multiple philosophical, theoretical, and methodological perspectives.

Dr. Arnaldo Perez, a member of the School of Dentistry’s Educational Research and Scholarship Unit (ERSU), is the main instructor. He is a psychologist by training and has extensive experience in conducting and reporting qualitative research in medical and dentistry journals. Guest speakers include Drs. Nick Holt (Faculty of Kinesiology), Michael Van Manen (Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry), Helen Vallianatos (Department of Anthropology), Tatjana Alvadj-Korenic (Faculty of Extension), and Jillian Byrne (Alberta Health). 

The School of Dentistry supports scholarship in oral health care and education and beyond by utilizing qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Findings of conducted studies are disseminated/translated to improve oral health practice, education, and policy. 

If you are interested in qualitative research or think that this type of inquiry may help you address a research question, we invite you to register for a future offering of this course. Send us an email at: dentersc@ualberta.ca.