PU5402: ECONOMIC EVALUATION: PRINCIPLES AND FRAMEWORKS (2026-2027)

Last modified: 29 May 2026 14:46

Course Overview

This course covers issues involved in identifying, measuring and valuing costs and benefits. Consideration will be given to the importance of health outcomes, non-health outcomes and process attributes when valuing the benefits of health care interventions. The student will be introduced to Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and the use of standard gamble and time-trade off to estimate quality weights within the QALY framework. Consideration will be given here to the creation and use of generic QALY measures such as EuroQol; as well as specific QALY measures.

Course Details

Study Type	Postgraduate	Level	5
Term	First Term	Credit Points	0 credits (0 ECTS credits)
Campus	Aberdeen	Sustained Study	No
Co-ordinators	Ms Mary Kilonzo

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

Any Postgraduate Programme

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

PU5401 Economic Evaluation - Principles and Frameworks (Online) (Passed)

Are there a limited number of places available?

Course Description

This course covers issues involved in identifying, measuring and valuing costs and benefits. Consideration will be given to the importance of health outcomes, non-health outcomes and process attributes when valuing the benefits of health care interventions. The student will be introduced to Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALYs) and the use of standard gamble and time-trade-off to estimate quality weights within the QALY framework. Consideration will be given here to the creation and use of generic QALY measures such as EuroQol; as well as specific QALY measures.

The above techniques will be introduced and explained, using examples from health care. It should be noted that whilst these techniques were introduced to go beyond health outcomes, they can also be used to value such outcomes. It will be shown how costs and benefits can be brought together within the framework of an economic evaluation (e.g. cost-effectiveness analysis, cost-utility analysis and cost-benefit analysis).

The QALY measure is concerned with valuing health outcomes. Contingent valuation and discrete choice experiments have been developed in health economics to go beyond the health outcomes paradigm, and consider the value of non-health outcomes and process attributes.

Course Aims:

The aim of this course is to

Be aware of the costs and benefits to be considered in an economic evaluation, as well as how to value these costs and benefits
Be familiar with the main approaches to economic evaluation (cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), cost-utility analysis (CUA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA)) and know when to use these different approaches
Appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches to economic evaluation
Understand the key notions of opportunity cost, marginal analysis, discounting and sensitivity analysis within the framework of an economic evaluation

Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 31 August 2025 for 1st Term courses and 19 December 2025 for 2nd Term courses.

Summative Assessments

MCQ Test

Assessment Type	Summative	Weighting	100
Assessment Weeks		Feedback Weeks		Look up Week Numbers
Feedback	Self-assessed MCQ including calculation tests with unlimited attempts. Correct answers will be provided at the end of the submission with a brief description of the justification. Once opened, the test will be open throughout the delivery of the course. Feedback on the test will be automatic after each submission of the test. In addition, a discussion board will be set up for the course, be open throughout the course, and monitored regularly by a staff member. Students will be encouraged to engage in the discussion board for further clarification of any of the concepts from the formative test and any concepts of the course. This test is formatively assessed; students will receive only acheived or not acheived for this course.

Learning Outcomes

Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator
Knowledge Level	Thinking Skill	Outcome

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge Level	Thinking Skill	Outcome
Conceptual	Analyse	Describe the practical issues when identifying, measuring and valuing costs and benefits in an economic evaluation.
Conceptual	Analyse	Discuss the relevance and importance of opportunity costs, marginal analysis, sensitivity analysis and discounting when valuing costs and benefits within the framework of an economic evaluation.
Conceptual	Analyse	Distinguish between the different techniques of cost-minimisation analysis (CMA); cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA); cost-utility analysis (CUA) and cost-benefit analysis (CBA).
Conceptual	Apply	Explain the importance of defining the economic evaluation question (whether technical or allocative efficiency).
Procedural	Evaluate	Demonstrate critical appraisal of published economic evaluations with help of checklists for assessing the quality of studies.
Procedural	Analyse	Identify the strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques of economic evaluation, and understand when to use, and how to use these different approaches.