Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2026 - HSCI 341 D100

Fundamental Epidemiological Concepts and Approaches (3)

Class Number: 2335

Delivery Method: Blended

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 9 – Dec 7, 2026: Wed, 2:30–5:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    HSCI 230, and STAT 201 or 203 or 205, all with a minimum grade of C-.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

As a follow-up to HSCI 230, this course aims to build further literacy of fundamental epidemiological concepts and approaches, and skills to apply basic quantitative measures to describe and evaluate public health issues as well as communicate the magnitude and potential determinants of those issues.

COURSE DETAILS:

Course description and place in the program

HSCI 341 is the quantitative epidemiological-methods course of the Health Sciences methods sequence. It follows the appraisal course and deepens students' command of measurement and design before they move on to the regression-based data-analysis course.

This course uses a flipped-classroom design. The teaching content lives in a set of interactive online lesson modules, one per week. Students work through the assigned module and its narrated walkthrough before class, so that class time is reserved for consolidation rather than first exposure. Each weekly three-hour session is built around active review of the week's key ideas, applied exercises that put those ideas to work, an open question-and-answer clinic for points students found difficult, and a supervised studio block for the term project.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

Course goals

This course is built around the following overarching goals:

  • Apply the core quantitative measures of disease frequency and of association, and communicate their magnitude.
  • Design and appraise the major observational and experimental study designs.
  • Reason causally using counterfactual concepts and the structured control of bias and confounding.
  • Plan a defensible study, including the surveillance, sampling, and measurement that support it.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Define epidemiology, scientific inference, and the counterfactual concept of cause.
  2. Calculate and interpret incidence, prevalence, mortality, standardized rates, and confidence intervals.
  3. Compute and interpret ratio and difference measures of association and population-level measures.
  4. Evaluate screening and diagnostic tests using sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, ROC curves, and likelihood ratios.
  5. Design surveillance, sampling, and questionnaire strategies appropriate to a stated study question.
  6. Compare cohort, case-control, hybrid, and controlled designs and select among them with justification.
  7. Detect and control selection bias, information bias, and confounding, including stratified and propensity-based approaches.

Grading

  • Term Project 40%
  • Midterm exam 20%
  • Final exam 20%
  • Participation 20%

NOTES:

The course instructor may make changes to the syllabus and grading strategies if necessary. Following the Faculty of Health Sciences grading policy for the undergraduate program, the median letter grade for students in the course will be a B or B+, and no more than 8% of students will receive an A+. Grade curving will be used to acheive this requirement, which may result in your final grade being scaled up or down.

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

Computer and Internet connections to access online modules and R + R Studio. Pens and paper for in-class participation.

REQUIRED READING:

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.