Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Intermediate statistical techniques for the health sciences. Review of introductory concepts in statistics and probability including hypothesis testing, estimation and confidence intervals for means and proportions. Contingency tables and the analysis of multiple 2x2 tables. Correlation and regression. Multiple regression and model selection. Logistic regression and odds ratios. Basic concepts in survival analysis. This course may not be used to satisfy the upper division requirements of the following programs: statistics major, statistics honours, actuarial science major, and actuarial science honours. Students who have taken STAT 350 first may not then take this course for further credit. Quantitative.

COURSE DETAILS:

STAT Workshop Coordinators: Marie Loughin

Course Outline:

This upper-division course provides an opportunity for the further development of analytic skills acquired in basic courses in statistics and the health sciences. It concentrates on a few, basic techniques that are commonly used in health research, but it also seeks to provide a conceptual basis for understanding other techniques. The course focuses on unifying principles and widely applicable methods as opposed to rote memorization of an array of unrelated, ad-hoc procedures. The material is presented descriptively, from the point of view of understanding and practical use. 

The emphasis of the course is on analysis (rather than design) of observational studies with one outcome variable of primary interest and where the outcomes observed on different individuals can be treated as independent. Important areas not covered are classical multivariate analysis (e.g., factor analysis, discriminant analysis, etc.), longitudinal data analysis, time series, random effects models, and experimental design.

Objectives:

By the end of the course, the participant should: 

1. Understand the concept of a statistical model and how such models correspond to specific hypotheses or questions,
2. Be able to interpret the results of an analysis in relation to the original questions or hypotheses that motivated the analysis,
3. Be familiar with basic data analysis methods commonly used in health sciences.

Topics:

1. Review of introductory statistics from the pre-requisite course: Hypothesis testing, estimation, and confidence intervals for means and proportions.
2. Review of basic concepts of probability, with applications including diagnostic testing, sensitivity and specificity, the relative risk, and the odds ratio.
3. Contingency tables: The Chi-square test, r x c tables, multiple 2x2 tables, Simpson's paradox, Mantel- Haenszel method.
4. Simple linear regression: Interpretation, estimation and testing of regression coefficients, evaluation of the fit of the model.
5. Multiple linear regression: Interpretation, estimation and testing of regression coefficients, confounding and interaction, indicator variables, model selection, prediction, model assumptions and checking.
6. Logistic regression: Interpretation, inference for regression coefficients, model assumptions, case-control studies.

Grading

Materials

RECOMMENDED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: