Biostatistics
10 ECTS Module at ISPHA spring 2009
Tormod Brenn (module leader)
Introduction
Statistics have become an integral part of medical and health practice as well as research. To read and understand medical literature, some knowledge about logistic regression or Cox analysis is almost compulsory. With the growing amount of available data and more easily access to computer resources, the importance is constantly growing, also in Russia.
Aim
Students will learn about the basic theory and models behind the modern statistical methods utilized within medical, health and epidemiological research. Students will also run PC analysis with SPSS on example data.
Background
The students must beforehand have completed the module in basic statistics. What are p-values and confidence intervals will not be taught at this level, and how to use SPSS is also required.
Contents
Four separate topics are presented separately. The first gathering includes analysis of variance including repeated measurements and multiple regression, and the second gathering comprises logistic regression and survival analysis.
Workplan
The module covers a workload of 10 ECTS equalling 250 hours of work.Gathering 1 from February the 3rd to February the 7th(estimated 50 hours of workload)
Round 1 of home questions, deadline March the 16th (60 hours)
Class-room exam (1 hour)March the 23rd or 24th(with preparations 30 hours)
Gathering 2 from March the 23rd or 24thto the 27th or 28th (50 hours)
Round 2 of home questions, deadline May or June (60 hours)
Teaching methods
Each topic will first be taught in a traditional lecture and followed by running SPSS on example data. Students will run SPSS individually, in pairs or in groups. Finally, one student presents the result for the other students.
Textbook and module material
The first gathering is covered by Andy Field’s“Discovering Statistics Using SPSS”. The ANOVA part is found in Chapters 8-11 and 13.4.1-13.4.4, 14.1, 14.2 and the article Matthews JNS, et al “Analysis of serial measurements in medical research” (Br Med J 1990;300:230-5). Regression is found in Chapter 4 (except 4.4.2-4, 4.5.6 and 4.6.3) andChapter 5. At the second gathering also MJ Norusis’s book will be used (“SPSS 15.0 Advanced Statistical Procedures Companion”).
Both textbooks are available at ISPHA for each student, and before each gathering module information and lecture slides will be available electronically. SPSS gathering questions will be handed out during the gatherings.
Exams and grading
There will be three elements which will be evaluated, two rounds of home questions and a single class-room exam. Each round of home questions will consist of theoretical questions form the textbook, discussion of public health related articles and SPSS analyses of a provided data set. The class-room exam will be held at the beginning of the second gathering and will consist of answering approximately 40 multiple choice questions within one hour. Questions will be taken from the contents of the first gathering (lectures, textbook, SPSS and home questions), and nothing from topics covered at the second gathering.
The first round of home questions will be graded only passed or failed. To take the class-room exam, the home questions must be passed. The class-room exam and the second round of home questions will be graded using A, B, C and D with A as the best and D as not passed. Both elements have to be passed, and the final grading will be a combination of the two with the class-room exam weighted as two thirds and the second round of home exam as one third.
Preparation
The module material should be examined and printed out before the gathering. No study work is required before the first gathering. However, the regression topic will to some extent be a repetition of regression from the basic module last autumn. Thus it may be a good advice to consult the material from that module, and that applies also for the analysis of variance. Of course, it is also recommended to get known with Field’s book. It may also be helpful to bring to the first gathering the module material and notes from the Basic statistics module.
First round of home questions
The first round of questions to be answered will be made available to the students shortly after the first gathering. SPSS is required to answer home questions.
Time schedule and teachers first gathering
Most lectures in the ANOVA part will be given by Tormod Brennwhereas Andrej Grjibovski will be main lecturer in regression. Also trainees Tatiana Unguryanu and Elena Neporada will give lectures and be present at SPSS work.
L: Lecture, S:Students run questions on SPSS with supervision, Q: Students present question answers for the other students
Tuesday, February the 3rd
09:15-10:00 L1ANOVA: Introduction, one-way ANOVA
10:15-11:00 L2 ANOVA: One-way ANOVA cont.
11:15-12:00 L3 ANOVA: Analysis of covariance
13:15-16:00 S ANOVAquestions 1-5
16:15-17:00 Q Question answers
Wednesday, February the 4th:
09:15-10:00 L4 ANOVA: Two- and higher-way ANOVA
10:15-11:00 L5 ANOVA: Summary measures
11:15-12:00 L6 ANOVA: Repeated ANOVA
13:15-16:00 S ANOVAquestions 6-10
16:15-17:00 Q Question answers
Thursday, February the 5th:
09:15-10:00 L7ANOVA: Repeated ANOVA and MANOVA
10:15-12:00 SANOVAquestions 11-12
13:15-14:00 Q Question answers
14:15-15:00 L1Regression: Correlation
15:15-16:00 L2 Regression: Testing correlation, the simple regression model
16:15-17:00 L3 Regression: Simple regression
Friday, February the 6th:
09:15-12:00 L4 Regression: Simple regression cont.
10:15-12:00 S Regression questions 1-3
13:15-14:00 Q Question answers
14:15-15:00 L5 Regression: Multiple regression
15:15-16:00 L6 Regression: Multiple regression cont.
16:15-17:00 S Regression Questions 4-5
Saturday, February the 7th:
09:15-11:00 S Questions
11:15-12:00 Q Question answers
13:15-14:00 L7 Regression: Various correlation and regression topics
14:15-16:00 S Regression questions 6-7
16:15-17:00 Q Question answers
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