6050 & 6052

Prerequisites

This course requires no previous training in statistics or biostatistics.

Students with little or no background in statistics may find the course challenging and will likely need to devote a significant amount of time to this course.

Students with a background in statistics should find some portion of the material in this course to be a review and will likely be able to cover those topics more quickly.

Main Course Goal

The material presented in this course is designed to review content from a standard undergraduate course in one-variable and two-variable statistical methods.

Students will learn to conduct analyses in software with confidence while increasing understanding of the concepts, applications, and importance of biostatistics in the health sciences today.

When this course is completed, students will be able to analyze real-world data using the methods presented in this course and review the works of other researchers using these or similar methods.

Course Objectives

The following objectives will be addressed during this course. Each of the course objectives below is supported by one or more specific learning objectives to be assessed during the semester. Course objectives and specific learning objectives will be stated throughout the course.

Study Tip: During the course, contemplate the course and learning objectives and determine what you have learned that applies to each.

When working on a specific learning objective, be sure to keep in mind the broader course objective and focus on how the specific learning objective is important to being able to complete the related course objective. 

The numbering system for specific learning objectives will be based upon the course objective to which the specific learning objective most applies.

For example LO 2.3 would be the third learning objective presented in the course which applies to course objective CO-2 and LO 3.1 would be the first learning objective presented which applies to CO-3.

 

  • CO-1: Describe the roles biostatistics serves in the discipline of public health.
  • CO-2: Differentiate among different sampling methods and discuss their strengths and limitations.
  • CO-3: Describe the strengths and limitations of designed experiments and observational studies.
  • CO-4: Distinguish among different measurement scales, choose the appropriate descriptive and inferential statistical methods based on these distinctions, and interpret the results.
  • CO-5: Determine preferred methodological alternatives to commonly used statistical methods when assumptions are not met.
  • CO-6: Apply basic concepts of probability, random variation, and commonly used statistical probability distributions.
  • CO-7: Use statistical software to analyze public health data.
  • CO-8: Develop presentations based on statistical analyses for both public health professionals and educated lay audiences.

Software

IMPORTANT!!! Obtain, install, and test the required statistical software

(PHC 6050 = SPSS, PHC 6052 = SAS)

Information about how to obtain both of the above software packages at UF can be found at:

Test that the software functions properly using the introductory tutorials provided.

Checklist

  • Obtained
  • Installed
  • Tested