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MPH5277 · Practical data management

Official Handbook

2026 Handbook6 credit pointsLevel 5Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine

Last checked: 23 Aug 2026 UTC

Overview

Managing health data has never been more challenging or significant. Data now plays a pivotal role in health care provision, discovery and research. As health data becomes more widely accessible, it is essential that health data users can identify high quality data and understand the implications of poor data management. In this unit, you will explore health data management using a practical, skills-based approach. You will be guided through the process and pitfalls of health data management from project inception to final data analysis for a hypothetical study. Practical skills will be developed through the completion of weekly data management tasks and coding exercises. Topics covered include: data management for project set-up, data collection design and pitfalls, data querying and cleaning, handling tricky data, interim data reporting and preparing for data analysis.

Offerings

CampusTeaching periodMode
Alfred HospitalFirst semesterSome activities have a choice of on-campus or online teaching activities in a block period (FLX-BLK)

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

#AssessmentTypeWeightHurdle
1Weekly coding exercisesExercise50%
2Operational data report (1,500 words, plus data tables)Written25%
3Data set portfolio (1,500 words, plus data dictionary)Portfolio25%

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

  1. Develop and implement a data management workflow from a project protocol
  2. Interpret the role of data management in identifying and supporting operational KPIs
  3. Design and construct interim data reports
  4. Summarise the barriers to data quality and the impact upon analysis
  5. Apply new knowledge of data quality and monitoring to synthesize an analysis data set
  6. Apply knowledge and skills of user experience to create a data set handbook

Workload

6 hours of teacher-directed learning activities per week, and 6 hours of self-directed study per week, plus 3 on-campus Block Days.

ActivityDuration
Workshops24 hours

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