MALK5900 Master's Thesis Course description

The master’s program final exam is a written thesis in the form of an innovation project report with an executive summary. The thesis should describe a project based on best practice for the relevant field.

The 60 ECTS thesis for the specialisation in Innovation and Implementation will justify and describe an innovation project in an organization, whether public or private. The student must be in a position to suggest and implement the project, or the organization may request a particular project for the student to conduct. The thesis will describe all relevant factors in the change process, and include an evaluation of the results, including customer satisfaction. Needs assessment; choosing primary and secondary objectives; means and methods of change; implementation strategies; required resources, and results, must all be reported. The candidate must present an analysis of risk and success factors, and an analysis of ethical and legal concerns in the project.

All courses included in the specialisation must be completed with pass grades and all coursework requirements must be approved before the candidate may submit the master’s thesis.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student can

• analyze and critically assess the scientific work of others

Skills

The student can

• demonstrate working knowledge of the ethical and technical principles that govern scientific research and publication, including international citation and reference standards
• demonstrate that they can plan, implement and evaluate a supervised innovation project in accordance with research ethics guidelines and regulations, and guidelines from relevant governmental bodies (i. e., The Norwegian Data Protection Authority, relevant Norwegian Research Ethics Committees and so on)
• choose and apply relevant methods of data collection for research or scientific inquiry
• write a thesis according to criteria determined by the university
• critically assess the results of his own work
• critically assess various sources of information

Competence

The student can

• participate and promote the development of behavioral sciences
• justify their professional behavior with reference to ethical guidelines, general ethical considerations and their own assessment of the situation
• analyze and critically assess various sources of information with relevance for the thesis

The thesis outline and the thesis are individual work. The thesis outline must be submitted the semester before thesis submission at the latest.

In addition to the compulsory seminars on research ethics, the students must participate in and submit work requirements for the 6 compulsory thesis seminars. The seminars require preparatory work in research methods, implementation strategies, article writing, and use of library services and search engines. Individual adaptations are dictated by the candidate’s chosen project. Students are advised to find a lab group to participate in.

Thesis supervision is compulsory. Students are assigned a field supervisor employed and trained for this purpose by the Department of Behavioral Science, with responsibility for students for the duration of the project. Field supervision is 40 hours per project, distributed according to agreement between student and supervisor. In addition, the Department of Behavioral Science provides back-up supervision as needed up to 20 hours per project. As the supervisor is formally responsible for the fulfilment of requirements by data protection authorities and ethics review boards, the thesis cannot be submitted without the written approval of the (main) supervisor.

As the thesis supervisor is formally responsible for the fulfilment of requirements by data protection authorities and ethics review boards, the thesis cannot be submitted without the written approval of the field supervisor.

The student must have passed the second year of the programme.

After completing the module, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

• has knowledge of partial foot, ankle, knee and hip disarticulation surgery and the consequences thereof in terms of prosthetic treatment and design for these amputation levels
• has knowledge of the significance of shoes for functioning at partial foot and ankle disarticulation level
• has knowledge of medical reasons for dysfunction and amputation of upper limbs and functional consequences thereof
• has knowledge of control technology used in upper limb prostheses and orthoses
• is familiar with theories on health behaviour change
• is capable of describing the Norwegian patient injury compensation system
• has knowledge of responsibilities relating to prosthetist/orthotist's follow-up plan and authorisation requirements

Skills

The student is capable of

• planning and giving grounds for follow-up plans based on users- needs
• solving clinical problems concerning prostheses or orthoses within the subject areas covered by the module
• conducting and analysing functional examinations of upper limbs
• carrying out clinical processes and making orthoses for users who need upper limb orthoses
• analysing and applying biomechanical theory to different cases
• applying and giving grounds for using ICF and outcome measures in relation to users- goals and orthopaedic follow-up plan
• identifying and analysing the characteristics of normal and pathological movement and function in the upper limbs
• discussing research articles relevant to the module content

General competence

The student

• is capable of cooperating with the user to develop an orthopaedic follow-up plan
• is capable of discussing interdisciplinary cooperation in the rehabilitation of people with injuries, disorders or loss of upper limbs
• is capable of documenting and communicating relevant clinical and biomechanical assessments in patient records and communicating such assessment orally
• is familiar with the objectives and functions of relevant user organisations
• is capable of discussing anger and conflict management

The work and teaching methods used vary between seminars, a clinical and technical module, lectures, digital resources, group work and self-study.

The following coursework requirements must be met before the student can take the exam:

• clinical and technical module, see the `Skills training- section in the general part of the programme description
• minimum attendance of 80% at seminars and skills training

Exam content: The learning outcomes

Exam form: Individual clinical exam, 1 day