This course will focus on academic professional development, contextualized for HPER PhDs. The course will be organized around 3 integrated themes so that students can develop contextualized knowledge and practice skills in relation to: Theme 1) balancing academic citizenship and building programs of research; Theme 2) engaging with academic discourse and knowledge mobilization including academic writing, grantsmanship and peer review; and Theme 3) career planning. The course will encourage critical reading of the health professions education literature and exploration of the HPE community.

The course instructors believe that PhDs in HPER should be knowledgeable and effective educators. Thus the instructors will model evidence- and theory-informed principles and practices of education throughout the course. And one graded aspect of the course will focus on coordination as an essential skill in HPE practice. Thus, the course also becomes an introduction to evidence-informed pedagogy and skilled educational coordination.

Objectives: upon completion of this course, you should be able to: 1) Understand the concept of academic citizenship. 2) Engage with academic discourse and knowledge mobilization. 3) Consider your career trajectory in HPE.

This course addresses educational research approaches specifically in the health professions. It involves a critical examination of appropriate literature with respect to survey, qualitative, and quantitative research methods with the objective of enabling students to propose implementable research projects.

Objectives: Describe common research areas and approaches in HPER. Situate their own research interests in a domain (including philosophical, underpinnings, relevant literatures, and commonly used methodologies). Understand the process of planning and designing common research methodologies in HPER.

The course will provide an overview of key theories and theorists in the Critical and Interpretive Social Sciences, as well as how they have been applied in the interdisciplinary field of Health Professions Education Research (HPER).

Objectives: 1) Learners will be able to describe relevant theories within the field of Critical and Interpretive Social Sciences. 2) Learners will be able to relate these theories to the field of Health Professions Education. 3) Learners will demonstrate the ability to apply Critical and Interpretive Social Science theories to their specific research interests.

The course will provide an overview of key theories and theorists in the Cognitive, Behavioural, and Epidemiological Sciences, as well as how they have been applied in the interdisciplinary field of Health Professions Education Research (HPER).

Objectives: 1) Describe key theories from the Cognitive, Behavioural, and Epidemiological Sciences that inform health professions education research (HPER). 2) Explain how key theories in the Cognitive, Behavioural, and Epidemiological Sciences are applied and justified in HPER. 3) Compare and contrast theories either between or within the Cognitive, Behavioural, and Epidemiological Sciences, including their impact on study design and interpretation of results. 4) Apply Cognitive, Behavioural, and Epidemiological Sciences theories to a specific research question and preliminary study design.

This course will immerse students into the variety of research methodologies and methods social scientists use in HPE research. The course will start with a brief review of the theories underlying critical and interpretive social science research. Students will be asked to synthesize this learning and present and justify a research proposal in written and verbal format.

Objectives: 1) Describe common critical and interpretive social science research methodologies. 2) Identify appropriate methodologies in relation to HPE research questions. 3) Identify appropriate data collection and analysis approaches in relation to HPE research questions. 4) Draft, present, and justify a research proposal consistent with expectations in the critical and interpretive social sciences.

This course will expose students to the variety of research methodologies and methods used in HPE research that are influenced by the theories underlying Cognitive, Behavioural & Epidemiological sciences.

Objectives: 1) Describe common Cognitive, Behavioural & Epidemiological Sciences research methodologies. 2) Identify appropriate methodologies to guide strong HPE research questions. 3) Identify appropriate data collection and analysis approaches for HPE research questions. 4) Draft, present, and justify a research proposal consistent with expectations in the Cognitive, Behavioural & Epidemiological sciences.

The course will provide an overview of key theories and concepts in Assessment Sciences, as well as how they have been and are being applied in the interdisciplinary field of Health Professions Education. The sessions will also explore theoretical and practical considerations of performance-based assessment, and its various uses across learner levels from undergraduate to post-graduate and continuing professional development. Using foundational knowledge of assessment science gained throughout the course, students will identify research questions intended to advance assessment science and will create an assessment program relevant to their graduate research or context.

Objectives: 1) Discuss key theoretical frameworks that inform assessment in health professions education research and practice. 2) Compare and contrast assessment frameworks including their theoretical roots and justifications. 3) Explain how key theoretical assessment frameworks are applied and justified in health professions education. 4) Identify research questions and approaches to study that advance assessment science in health professions education.

The course will provide an overview of key theories and theorists related to issues of identity, embodiment, subjectivity, and lived experience (individual and collective) as well as their application in the interdisciplinary field of Health Professions Education Research (HPER). The intersection of social and professional identity construction and lived experience will be explored through different disciplinary perspectives and paradigms. By considering how different identity related constructs are operationalized in empirical and non-empirical academic activities, learners will develop foundational knowledge they will apply to their own scholarship.

Objectives: 1) Gain an understanding of selective but central concepts in defining different forms of identity (e.g., professional, organizational, self). 2) Develop a focus in a specific domain of interest related to issues of identity in the field of Health Professions Education. 3) Explore new theoretical and/or research ideas; applying critical and Interpretive Social Science theories to specific research interests related to identity.

Health professions education is concerned with creating health professionals for the future. However, this future is increasingly complex and uncertain. The models of professions and professionalism that have historically shaped the foundations of health professions education need to be continually examined and re-examined in light of enormous technological and societal shifts that shape professionals and their roles in society. This reading course will provide an overview of the literature in the sociology of the professions, providing a historical foundation while also pointing towards new questions in the sociologies of work and sociologies of expertise. The intention is to provide a firm grounding in these bodies of literature, creating intellectual space to connect these ideas with contemporary areas of focus in the field of health professions education.

Objectives: 1) Have an understanding of the broad topics and key thinkers within the sociology of the professions. 2) Identify ways in which sociology of the professions has influenced the domain of health professions education. 3) Be able to articulate their own research interests in relationship to the sociology of the professions.

Michel Foucault coined the term "the examined society." He argued that, although we give it very little thought, the examination is one of the most brilliant, if least studied, inventions of our time. When we think of technologies what usually comes to mind are concrete inventions: the light bulb, the radio, the computer, and the smart phone. But changes in societies are also driven by more diffuse technologies such as social media, advertising, and education. To that list I would add the examination. It is a technology as powerful in shaping who we are as humans as anything made of tungsten, copper, or silicone.

When I first read Foucault's writing about the examination it got me thinking: Who invented examinations? How did examinations become so ubiquitous that we can scarcely imagine life without them? What are the effects, good or bad, of so much examination? Do they improve us as individuals? Do they make our societies better? And what will happen as we increasingly ask intelligent machines to take on the task of examining humans? The purpose of this course is to address these questions.

Objectives: 1) Be conversant about the history and social effects of the technology of examination. 2) Analyze critical uses of examination that are learning and growth oriented versus those for production or surveillance. 3) Identify the elements of examination design associated with validity. 4) Develop familiarity with a range of social science theories as they apply to examination.

The course will address current controversies, established areas of research, and emerging ideas in Health Professions Education Research (HPER). The sessions will provide an overview of the wide range of disciplinary and substantive areas within HPER and will include analyses of the assumptions and presuppositions (about research, knowledge, education, and health professional practice) that underpin research in each of these areas (and the implications of those assumptions or presuppositions for limiting or strengthening that research).

Objectives: by the end of the course: 1) Learners will be able to describe a range of substantive and disciplinary areas of research within HPER. 2) Learners will be able to relate the controversies and advances in several of those areas to their own research program. 3) Learners will be able to identify and analyze the assumptions and presuppositions implicit in academic work (including their own).

This is a seminar course focusing the tools of microeconomic theory in modeling individual and provider behavior using examples drawn from the health literature. The course introduces students to problems of unconstrained and constrained optimization. Additional topics considered include non-negativity constraints, questions concerning planning over multiple periods, and the issues of uncertainty and unanticipated health shocks. Students are expected to develop their own theoretical model with testable predictions, which in most cases will serve as the basis for the theoretical chapter of their dissertation. Students must have completed Advanced Health Economics and Policy Analysis (HAD5760H) and be familiar with intermediate calculus.

Objectives: To introduce participants to the theoretical tools used in economic analysis. To enable participants to apply these theoretical tools to the analysis of a range of health policy issues. To develop analytic skills so that participants can critically evaluate theoretical models encountered in the health economics literature.

The field of health services research draws upon theories, research designs and methods from a wide variety of disciplines including social and behavioural sciences, clinical sciences, management and administrative sciences, law, epidemiology, and biostatistics. The goal of this course is to provide a forum for doctoral students to explore theoretical/conceptual frameworks, study designs and research methods, and to apply them in the preparation of a health services research project.

Objectives: upon completion of the course, students should be able to: 1) Draw upon and integrate the research theories and methods used in a variety of disciplines to define a research question and plan a health services research project; 2) Develop a conceptual framework for a research study and use it as the basis for a study design; 3) Understand the application of quantitative and qualitative methods used in health services research; 4) Demonstrate the analytic skills required to critically read and evaluate the health services research literature; 5) Develop and defend a research question, conceptual framework and methodology that addresses an important health services research question.

This is a one-term course designed to assist students to prepare for the IHPME PhD Health Services Outcomes and Evaluation concentration comprehensive examination. Comprehensive exam preparation is cumulative through all required courses in the IHPME PhD program. This course is focused on synthesizing cumulative materials. In this course, students summarize and integrate readings in a number of focused topics with particular attention to important theoretical and analytical issues for health services evaluation and outcomes research. The course provides a particular emphasis on conceptual frameworks and research designs for health services research.

Objectives: To ensure familiarity and understanding of health care/health services research conceptual frameworks and methodologies. To be able to evaluate and critique a research conceptual framework and research methodology. To be able to select and apply an appropriate research conceptual framework and methodology to any health services research question.

This course is designed to fulfil the requirement for a comprehensive exam for graduate students in the health services organization and management stream of our doctoral program.

Objectives: 1) Undertake a comprehensive review of the key concepts and theories from the management and organizational sciences literature which have been applied, or have viable application potential, to management in the health services industry. 2) Identify and critically analyze the strengths and weakness of varying research traditions in health services management research. 3) Critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of varying methodologies used to study managerial and organizational issues in health services management and the general organizational literature. 4) Prepare the student to formulate and clearly articulate relevant, topical research questions and to develop viable research designs/plans by which to pursue them.

The health policy comprehensive course is the capstone course in the series of 3 health policy courses for PhD students in IHPME. The comprehensive course is primarily intended to capture the 'breadth' dimension of the field, and to complement the 'depth' expected in the thesis. This is not a 'taught' course. Students are expected to lead discussion of the readings with the course instructor serving as a resource for the class.

Objectives: the comprehensive examination provides the opportunity for students to demonstrate their competence in the field of health policy. Specifically, the student is expected to demonstrate: 1) A comprehensive understanding of a range of conceptual and theoretical issues relevant to health policy (including appropriate citations to the literature covered). 2) A comprehensive understanding of the structure and ongoing evolution of health systems in Canada. 3) A developed ability to apply relevant concepts and theories to topical issues in health policy. 4) An ability to present ideas clearly and cogently.

This course is designed to fulfil the requirement for a comprehensive exam for graduate students in the Health Informatics Research emphasis of the PhD Health Services Research program. The course will enable students to demonstrate and expand the cumulative knowledge and skills gained throughout their previous graduate courses.

Objectives: 1) To undertake an analysis of the topics and issues that promote and hinder the uptake of health informatics in our health care systems. 2) The objective is to gain an understanding of the complex personal, environmental, financial, political, and societal forces that influence the use of health informatics innovations and develop strategies for improving the uptake of evolving innovations. Specifically, this course will guide and evaluate the student's ability to: 3) Develop a research question relevant to health informatics. 4) Develop an appropriate research plan to explore/answer the research question. 5) Critically assess relevant theoretical frameworks. 6) Prepare an academic piece of work such as a manuscript of publishable quality (or equivalent piece of work). 7) Lead/facilitate an in-depth class discussion on a current health informatics issue/innovation. 8) Present their research proposal/findings to peers. 9) Provide constructive feedback on their peers' research.

This course is designed to assist students to prepare for the IHPME PhD Health Technology Assessment (HTA) comprehensive examination. The course focuses on synthesizing materials taught throughout the required courses in the PhD program. In addition, material that is integral to HTA and ensures depth in the area, but not taught extensively in courses is covered. Students summarize and integrate readings as well as volunteer to lead individual sessions and facilitate discussion with their peers.

Objectives: to prepare the student for the HTA comprehensive examination; to ensure competency in core concepts and methods in the HTA field.

See HAD6760H.

Multiple reading courses offered throughout the year (i.e., HAD7001H-F, HAD7001H-F1, HAD7001H-S, HAD7001H-S2).

This course is an introduction to modern causal inference theory and methods applicable to clinical and epidemiological research. The presentation is mathematically precise, but accessible to students of various disciplines of health sciences with some previous background in biostatistical and epidemiological methods as specified above. This course will introduce students to the potential outcome (counterfactual) model for causation, with brief forays into alternative conceptual models such as causal diagrams, structural equations and target trials. The statistical methods covered in the point treatment setting include propensity score estimation, direct standardization/g-computation, marginal structural models estimated using inverse probability of treatment weighting, doubly robust estimation, instrumental variables, and principal stratification. We will also cover extensions to causal inference from longitudinal data subject to time-dependent treatment-confounder feedback, mediation analysis, sensitivity analysis for unmeasured confounding, and use of machine learning methods in causal inference. R statistical environment is used for instruction.

This course explores special topics in the discipling of History according to the subtitle.

This course provides an introduction to key theoretical works that animate historical research and practice, as well as connect historical scholarship with debates and problematics in other disciplines. We will read classic texts of social theory such as Foucault, Marx, Spivak, Chakrabarty, Butler, Braudel, Fanon, and Trouillot in conjunction with problems and methods explored by historians, past and present. Selected themes pertinent to the historian’s craft — temporality and archives, scale, translation — and to the philosophy of history — universalism and alterity, modernity and capitalism — will be taken up to prepare students to craft their research trajectory and projects.

This course examines and expands on Foucault’s concept of "biopolitics," which identified the historical emergence of methods for governing living-being. The course combines close readings of pivotal historical texts by such authors as Malthus, Marx, and Darwin with current interdisciplinary scholarship that re-evaluates biopolitics in relation to race, capital formations, colonialism, sex, technoscience, economy, and ecology.

This seminar examines the history of LGBQT2+ peoples in the U.S. and Canada, with an emphasis on the post-1945 era. We will examine the emergence of sexual and gender identity categories over time, emphasizing transnational and intersectional approaches to LGBQT2+ history. Topics will include histories of social movements; state regulation; dis/ability; queer and trans cultural production; Two Spirit activism; racial formation; transnational capital; and settler colonialism. While most of the course reading will focus on recently published works of historical scholarship, we will also read some theory that connects these works to larger themes in queer and trans studies. The class will include a visit to The ArQuives in Toronto, the world’s largest and oldest queer community archive. This will enable students to get a sense of the important primary sources in Black, Two-Spirit, and other histories that are available there, and encourage use of those materials. This seminar encourages traditional forms of engagement with course readings (papers, reading responses) as well as emerging and alternative modalities (public writing, digital storytelling). Authors may include Julian Gill-Peterson, Susan Stryker, Hil Malatino, Kevin Mumford, Marc Stein, El Chenier, Albert McLeod, Steven Maynard, Marvellous Grounds, Julio Capo, Emily Skidmore, Joseph Plaster, and others.

This course draws on theoretical, historical, and creative texts to explore an annual theme relevant to the study of technoscience. The theme this year is temporality and futures. The course examines questions of time, chronicity, pasts, remainders, futures, speculation, anticipation, cycles, forecasts, aftermaths, apocalypse, development, genealogy other figurations of time, particularly as they relate to histories of technoscience, life, ecology, colonialism, and capitalism. The course takes up these questions with an emphasis on the recent past and the contemporary and through readings from interdisciplinary and theoretical scholarship with an emphasis on feminist, postcolonial, critical-race, queer, political economic orientations.

This course is designed as a practicum — we quickly will move out of the seminar room and into the archives where students will apply a number of techniques and methods used by research historians writing about the nineteenth and twentieth century city. Although the spatial and temporal focus will be on Toronto in the "long" twentieth century, the methods taught will be applicable to other geographic and national contexts. The aim is to prepare students for the research that will underlie their master's papers or PhD dissertations. There will be a strong emphasis on the design of research projects and how they can be structured from start to finish in collaborative fashion using a range of digital humanities tools such as Slack, Zotero, Omeka, and Neatline.

The course will begin with readings that cover exemplary recent works in community history and then move on to a section on theory and method. Visits to the City of Toronto Archives, Metropolitan Reference Library, Ryerson Image Centre, and the Thomas Fisher Library will orient students to available source materials, finding aids, and staff support. They then will be divided in small teams that will model projects, conduct sample research, and develop digital presentation tools.

Each student will be assessed upon 1) a review of a monograph on local/community history; 2) a methodological essay that reflects on both the practice of local history and working collaboratively; and 3) a final digital research project. In addition there will be regular "hands on" assignment using archival and documentary materials that will be submitted but not formally assessed, but will be considered part of participation.

This course delves into techniques and technologies of modern governance, seen especially through the lens of British colonial liberalism, in two broad ways: first, as a central project in the global history of the present, and more particularly, as a key story in the genealogy of contemporary neoliberal mappings of society, subjects, and agency. The seminar will introduce students to foundational literature on the concept of governmentality, historicizing the term by reading it alongside key primary texts on political economy and sovereignty, and postcolonial approaches to political theory. In particular, it poses British India as a site through which to open investigations on the key features and contradictions of liberal governing more broadly, most especially, the relationship between economy as the dominant idiom of governance and the politicization of culture/identity politics.

Highlighting key themes and methodologies in what has been called "the new history of capitalism" emerging since the financial crisis of 2008, this course will grapple with foundational primary texts in the historical, theoretical, and interdisciplinary study of capital and capitalism, alongside recent historiography addressing processes of economization and financialization. Engaging global perspectives via colonial and contemporary formations, and posing the question of governing, the course distinguishes itself from traditional economic history as well as business history by focusing on a key feature of recent historiographies: the contextualizing of timeless and trans-historical categories of economists through attention to processes that make economic space, time, and subjects.

For decades, oral history has been a preferred methodology in documenting social movements and the life experiences of marginalized populations. Recently, LGBTQ history, intersectional feminist politics, and queer theory have given rise to new oral history projects, new identities, and new methods. This seminar will be a workshop in doing LGBTQ oral history, with a focus on queer and trans lives. Students will follow the full life-cycle of the interview and learn how to: develop a theoretically informed research plan; grapple with ethical considerations; write a questionnaire and consent form; find narrators; use audio and visual technology to record interviews; write up fieldnotes; transcribe interviews; analyze and write from the material; and contribute to a digital exhibition using Omeka. We will read work in oral history theory in practice, including work by Boyd; Portelli; Abrams; High; Ramirez; Murphy; and others. The course will undergo ethics review before the first class, but students will learn about IRB procedures as part of the course content.