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Research Skills and Critical Thinking in Biostatistics
Study Course Description
Course Description Statuss:Approved
Course Description Version:3.00
Study Course Accepted:14.03.2024 08:19:30
| Study Course Information | |||||||||
| Course Code: | SL_130 | LQF level: | Level 7 | ||||||
| Credit Points: | 4.00 | ECTS: | 6.00 | ||||||
| Branch of Science: | Mathematics; Theory of Probability and Mathematical Statistics | Target Audience: | Life Science | ||||||
| Study Course Supervisor | |||||||||
| Course Supervisor: | Ieva Reine | ||||||||
| Study Course Implementer | |||||||||
| Structural Unit: | Statistics Unit | ||||||||
| The Head of Structural Unit: | |||||||||
| Contacts: | 23 Kapselu street, 2nd floor, Riga, statistika rsu[pnkts]lv, +371 67060897 | ||||||||
| Study Course Planning | |||||||||
| Full-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 11 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 22 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 13 | Class Length (academic hours) | 2 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 26 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 48 | ||||||||
| Part-Time - Semester No.1 | |||||||||
| Lectures (count) | 10 | Lecture Length (academic hours) | 1 | Total Contact Hours of Lectures | 10 | ||||
| Classes (count) | 8 | Class Length (academic hours) | 1 | Total Contact Hours of Classes | 8 | ||||
| Total Contact Hours | 18 | ||||||||
| Study course description | |||||||||
| Preliminary Knowledge: | Basic knowledge in statistics and basic concepts in medical science. | ||||||||
| Objective: | The course describes and explains the underlying concepts and methods of epidemiology with apt examples and statistical illustrations. All the essentials are included: the person-population dyad, variation, error, bias, confounding, causality, the spectrum of disease, the “iceberg” concept, risk and its relationship to disease frequency, study design, and, finally, some thoughts about the way the discipline of has evolved and is likely to continue to evolve in the lifetime of those now entering upon the careers in this field. The course aims to introduce biostatistics in medical science with an emphasis on theory, ideas, and epidemiological axioms. The course incorporates numerous challenging exercises, some of them requiring basic mathematical concepts and calculations. The course aims to provide practical applications of biostatistics in medical science. Examples drawn are from contemporary research and public health practice, including health-care policy and planning. The objective is that the student will acquire the depth of knowledge to use concepts and merely to be aware of them. The emphasis is on gaining on understanding, and not calculations, except where this is essential to understanding. | ||||||||
| Topic Layout (Full-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | The nature, scope, variables, principal measures, and designs of a biological, clinical social, and ecological science; examples, sample questions | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||||
| 2 | Variation in disease by time, place, and person, Reasons for analysing disease variations | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||||
| 3 | Error, bias and confounding in epidemiology | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | A practical application of the research chronology schema of bias and error | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Cause and effect, exercises | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | The unmeasured burden of disease: the metamorphs of the iceberg and the pyramid | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Screening: early diagnosis of disease or disease precursors, sample questions, exercises | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | The concept of risk and fundamental measures of disease frequency: incidence and prevalence | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 9 | Summarising, presenting an interpreting data, exercises | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 10 | Disability-adjusted life years and quality-adjusted life years | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Methods and techniques of biostatistics in medical sciences | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | Case series: clinical and population-based register and administrative system studies | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 13 | Cross-sectional, Case-control and Cohort studies | Classes | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 14 | Trials: population-based clinical and public health experiments | Lectures | 3.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 15 | Quasi-experimental designs, Ecological studies | Lectures | 2.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 16 | Data analysis and interpretations: underpinning questions, exercises | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Topic Layout (Part-Time) | |||||||||
| No. | Topic | Type of Implementation | Number | Venue | |||||
| 1 | The nature, scope, variables, principal measures, and designs of a biological, clinical social, and ecological science; examples, sample questions | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 2 | Variation in disease by time, place, and person, Reasons for analysing disease variations | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 3 | Error, bias and confounding in epidemiology | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 4 | A practical application of the research chronology schema of bias and error | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 5 | Cause and effect, exercises | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 6 | The unmeasured burden of disease: the metamorphs of the iceberg and the pyramid | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 7 | Screening: early diagnosis of disease or disease precursors, sample questions, exercises | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 8 | The concept of risk and fundamental measures of disease frequency: incidence and prevalence | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||||
| 9 | Summarising, presenting an interpreting data, exercises | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||||
| 10 | Disability-adjusted life years and quality-adjusted life years | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 11 | Methods and techniques of biostatistics in medical sciences | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 12 | Case series: clinical and population-based register and administrative system studies | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 13 | Cross-sectional, Case-control and Cohort studies | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 14 | Trials: population-based clinical and public health experiments | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 15 | Quasi-experimental designs, Ecological studies | Lectures | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| 16 | Data analysis and interpretations: underpinning questions, exercises | Classes | 1.00 | auditorium | |||||
| Assessment | |||||||||
| Unaided Work: | • Read and analyze the compulsory literature in preparation to weekly lectures and practical classes and to pass the final exam. | ||||||||
| Assessment Criteria: | For an approved grade on the course, the student shall: • Pass the final exam which includes theoretical knowledge test and calculation tasks (pass is at least 75% of the exam tasks). | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Full-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Final Examination (Part-Time): | Exam (Written) | ||||||||
| Learning Outcomes | |||||||||
| Knowledge: | Students will be able to search, select and read scientific publications in biostatistics in medical science, and critically assess contemporary research and public health practice, including health-care policy and planning. The course will provide knowledge to use concepts of epidemiology and merely to be aware of them, providing the basis for creative research, including work in different areas. | ||||||||
| Skills: | The students will be able to independently apply social science theories, concepts, and methods to public health practice and policy making as well as use relevant statistical methods. The student will also be able to use the biostatistics toolbox with a proper understanding of the purposes, theories, principles, and pitfalls of epidemiology. The obtained skills include use of statistical methods in cross-sectional, case-control and cohort studies, the choice of an appropriate theoretical and statistical model, and interpretation of the obtained results. | ||||||||
| Competencies: | The student will possess profound knowledge to understand the data and choose the best methods for statistical assessment and conduct studies of her/his own. The student will also be able to analyse and interpret results of different types of studies and including those of an experimental and quasi-experimental nature, frequently used in medical research, to take responsibility for the results and analysis of his/her work. | ||||||||
| Bibliography | |||||||||
| No. | Reference | ||||||||
| Required Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Clayton, David; Hills, Michael. Statistical models in epidemiology. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2013. | ||||||||
| 2 | Bhopal, R.S. Concepts of epidemiology: Integrating the ideas, theories, and methods of epidemiology. 2016, 3rd edition. | ||||||||
| 3 | Brauer, F. Mathematical epidemiology: Past, present, and future. 2017. | ||||||||
| Additional Reading | |||||||||
| 1 | Kirkwood BR. Essentials of Medical Statistics. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2003. | ||||||||
| 2 | Dawson B, Trapp R. Basic & Clinical Biostatistics. 4th edition. McGraw-Hill Medical, 2004. | ||||||||
| 3 | Woodward M. Epidemiology: Study Design and Data Analysis. 2nd edition. Chapman & Hall, 2004. | ||||||||
| 4 | Campbell, MJ, Machin, D. Medical statistics. A commonsense approach. 1993. | ||||||||
