(Cross Listed with MS 707)
STATISTICAL METHODS IN HEALTH RESEARCH
This course focuses on the main statistical issues that might be useful in health research. It will introduce statistical techniques in such a way that students will grasp the fundamentals to enable them to gain the confidence to perform their own analysis. It also provides sufficient instruction in areas such as clinical trials and epidemiology to enable them to critically appraise journal articles.
Objectives
This course will cover all basic statistical concepts and tests and include relevant examples for nurses, including case studies and data sets. Specific topics of the course are descriptive statistics, probability distributions, z-test and t-test for comparing the mean values of two continuous variables, one-way and two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post-hoc tests, correlation and simple linear regression, analysis of the frequency tables, and some non-parametric tests. Depending on time and the students’ progress and interests, multiple linear regression and logistic regression will be covered. Statistical package of SPSS will be used as the course software for analysis.
Method of Presentation (3 hrs/Week)
The course is designed to be presented in a lecture based format with a problem-based discussion component. Each week there will be a data analysis assignment for discussion to help students better understand and apply the concepts.
Method of Evaluation
The course will be evaluated based on the student’s attendance and participation (15%), three hand in assignments (15% each), a final project (20%), and the presentation of the final project (20%). Each week there will be an assignment; three of them will be handed in by students and graded by the tutor. For each week there will be an assignment; three of them will be handed in by students and graded by the tutor. For each assignment students will be asked to use appropriate statistical techniques to analyse some data-set and interpret the results. For each assignment (the project) consists of two parts:
- a hand in report of at most 10-12 double spaced pages (plus the final computer output), and
- a class presentation of 10-15 minutes.
Students must apply most of the statistical methods discussed in class to the data set.
Textbooks
The main textbook for the course will be:
- Daniel, W. W. (2009). Biotstatistics: A foundation for analysis in the health sciences. (9th ed.) New Jersey: Wiley.
For further reading the following books are also suggested:
- Munro, B. H. (2004). Statistical methods for health care research. (5th ed.) Philadelphia:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
- Norman, G. R., & Streiner, D. L. (2008). Biostatistics: The bare essentials. (3rd ed.) Shelton, Connecticut: People’s Medical Publishing House.
- Polit, D. F. (2010). Data analysis & statistics for nursing research.(2nd ed.) New Jersey: Prentice Hall.