Introduction to statistics

Tutors

Dr Laura Howe (course organiser), Prof Kate Tilling, Dr Alan Montgomery and others.

How to book on this course

Duration

Five days

Dates

06 - 10 February 2012

Course fee

£1000

Course aims and objectives

The aim of the course is to introduce the basic statistical concepts and methods commonly used in medical and public health research.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

appreciate the role of statistical methods in epidemiology and public health
develop skills in presenting quantitative data using appropriate displays, tabulations and summaries
appreciate the nature of sampling variation and the role of statistical methods in quantifying variation, setting confidence limits, and testing hypotheses
select and use appropriate statistical methods in the analysis of simple datasets
understand and interpret output from statistical analyses
present findings based on statistical analysis in a clear, concise and understandable manner.

Who the course is intended for

This course is intended for students who require a basic knowledge of the common statistical methods used in medical research. Previous computing experience is not required. Computer practical sessions will use Stata, so a basic knowledge, as provided by the Introduction to Stata course, would be advantageous but is not necessary .

Course outline

Topics to be covered include:

Defining and displaying data
Sampling variation and confidence intervals
Comparison of two means
Comparison of two proportions
Linear regression and correlation
Sample size calculation

Teaching time

Teaching time is thirty hours. This will include interactive lectures and problem based paper practicals. There will also be a few computer-based sessions, which will use Stata.

School of Social and Community Medicine

Research

Teaching

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