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Syllabus

Graduate Programs in Public Health

GPH 716 Biostatistics – Summer A 2016

Credits - 3

Description

This course serves as an introduction to procedures in the collection, summarization, analysis, and presentation of data. Topics include sampling, experimentation, measurement, descriptive statistics, correlation, probability, confidence intervals, testing hypotheses, 2-way tables, and simple linear regression. This course is deliberately broad and not intended to give students an in-depth understanding of statistical testing, analysis of categorical data or regression analysis. Rather, its intent is to provide an overview of some of the main areas of statistics and a working knowledge of basic summary statistics, graphs, and simple statistical tests for hypothesis testing. At the end of the course a student should be able to evaluate simple statistical usage in everyday life and their own discipline, especially in relevant research publications; and interact knowledgeably with statisticians in planning, conducting, analyzing, and reporting research projects.

Materials

  • Sullivan LM, Sullivan LM. Essentials Of Biostatistics in Public Health. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning; 2012.
  • Stata Data Analysis and Statistical Software, Small Stata (http://www.stata.com/order/) Must be purchased and downloaded before the third week of class.
    • Steps to purchase:
      1. Choose your country
      2. Click on Educational
      3. Click on Students
      4. You will need at least a 6 month license of Small Stata for this course.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

Program Competency 1:

Utilize quantitative and qualitative data to identify and analyze factors affecting the health of a community.

 

Course Outcome 1:

Utilize biostatistics to evaluate research questions and public health research strategies.

 

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Review datasets for use in a report and the development of research questions.
  • Develop research questions based upon a chosen dataset for the development of a report.
  • Utilize the basic steps of hypothesis testing to evaluate research questions involving a single sample .
  • Evaluate research questions through the completion of appropriate hypothesis testing involving two samples.

Course Outcome 2:

Display data appropriately so that its properties are clearly communicated.

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Determine the types of variables in a dataset for use in the development of a report.
  • Examine a research paper to determine if it is an observational study or an experiment.
  • Describe how a representative sample is taken from a population through the description of a study provided in a research paper.
  • Review a research paper to understand how the experiment or study was designed.
  • Discuss how the size of a sample affects conclusions through the examination of a study’s confidence intervals.

 

Program Competency 2:

Utilize evidence to support decision-making in the development and evaluation of public health initiatives.

Course Outcome 3:

Analyze published research to determine the data collection methods used and thus the conclusions that can reasonably be drawn from them.

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Utilize appropriate graphical techniques to display data.
  • Utilize appropriate numerical summaries to summarize data.

Course Outcome 4:

Derive appropriate statistical inferences from data to make an informed decision or draw an informed conclusion.

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Construct confidence intervals using Stata.
  • Interpret confidence intervals
  • Relate information provided by a hypothesis test to information provided by a confidence interval.
  • Perform a linear regression to interpret the slope and intercept of the regression line
  • Perform a one-way ANOVA using STATA to compare means across more than two groups.

Assignments

Discussion Board:

Each student is expected to post at least twice each week. One post should be an original contribution to the discussion. A second or sequential post should be in response to a classmate’s post. Initial discussion posts must be submitted by Sunday at 11:59 pm. For most weeks, that means you must have completed the reading by this time. At least one response post must be completed by Wednesday at 11:59 pm of the week the question is assigned.

If the initial post and response are not submitted within the discussion week you will be given a zero. Posts submitted after the discussion week will not be graded. 

Quiz:

In Week 4 you will complete a quiz. This quiz will cover information from Weeks 1 through 4. This quiz will be administered through the Blackboard quiz tool. You will have one chance to take this quiz. The quiz will be graded by the instructor. 

Written Assignments:

In Weeks 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 you will complete written assignments. For each assignment carefully read through the prompt in Blackboard and review the rubric. If you have any questions about these assignments, make sure to ask your instructor.

Final Project:

This course is meant to provide you with an introduction to the procedures in the collection, summarization, analysis, and presentation of data. The final project for this course will be a final report. This report will be similar to a research article that you would submit to a journal except you will not be using original research. You will base your final project off a pre-existing dataset that you will choose in Week 1. From this dataset you will develop research questions. In addition, you will create appropriate visual displays and run statistical tests for at least 3 types of 2-way associations:

  1. Categorical response and categorical explanatory variable
  2. Continuous response and categorical explanatory variable
  3. Continuous response and continuous explanatory variable

Please note that categorical variables can be dichotomous, ordinal, or nominal.  For association 2, make sure you use a categorical variable that is dichotomous.

You will interpret the results of these tests keeping in mind the limitations based on how the data was collected. This project will apply the items you learn throughout the course in a practical way. As a Public Health professional you will be creating many reports. You will have to derive appropriate statistical inferences from data to make an informed decision or draw an informed conclusion.

Please review the Final Project Document for a full description of the assignment requirements and expectations. This assignment will be submitted in Week 7. Throughout the course you will work on pieces of your final project. 

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be determined by the following criteria:

Grade Breakdown

Discussion6 Discussions + 3 points each=18 points
Week 2 Written Assignment8 points
Week 3 Written Assignment10 points
Module 4 Quiz10 points
Week 5 Written Assignment8 points
Week 6 Written Assignment8 points
Final Project: Written Report30 points
Week 8 Written Assignment8 points

Grade Scale

Grade Points Grade Point Average (GPA)
A 94 – 100% 4.00
A- 90 – 93% 3.75
B+ 87 – 89% 3.50
B 84 – 86% 3.00
B- 80 – 83% 2.75
C+ 77 – 79% 2.50
C 74 – 76% 2.00
C- 70 – 73% 1.75
D 64 – 69% 1.00
F 00 – 63% 0.00

Schedule

Course Weeks

  • Week 1: May 3 – May 10
  • Week 2: May 10 – May 17
  • Week 3: May 17 – May 24
  • Week 4: May 24 – May 31
  • Week 5: May 31 – June 7
  • Week 6: June 7 – June 14
  • Week 7: June 14 – June 21
  • Week 8: June 21 – 25 (Sunday)

Course Schedule

Week 1: Fundamentals of Biostatistics in Public Health Research

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Review datasets for use in a report and the development of research questions.
  • Determine the types of variables in a dataset for use in the development of a report.

Readings:

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapter 1
  • Review the follow websites about types of data: Laerd Statistics

Videos:

Assignments:

  • Discussion: Begin by introducing yourself to the class. What is your background in Biostatistics? What are you most excited about? In what ways will this course come in handy for your Public Health Career? [Ungraded]
  • Discussion: For your Final Project you will be creating a report based upon a preexisting dataset. This week you start by choosing a dataset that interests you. 

Week 2: Studies and Experiments

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Examine a research paper to determine if it is an observational study or an experiment.
  • Describe how a representative sample is taken from a population through the description of a study provided in a research paper.
  • Review a research paper to understand how the experiment of study was designed.
  • Develop research questions based upon a chosen dataset for the development of a report. 

Readings:

Videos:

Assignments:

  • Discussion: Now that you have chose your dataset it is time to focus on potential research questions for your Final Project. Using the dataset chosen last week develop three related research questions that you can answer (although you may not be interested in each of these).
  • Written Assignment: In this assignment you will review the “Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Youth in Juvenile Detention” paper. Then answer provided questions. 

Week 3: Summarizing Data

Weekly Outcomes:

  • Utilize appropriate graphical techniques to display data.
  • Utilize appropriate numerical summaries to summarize data.

Readings:

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapter 4

Videos: 

 

Assignments: 

  • Written Assignment: This week you will utilize the software Stata to construct graphs/tables. Stata is a data analysis and statistical software. Make sure to review the lecture and the Stata tutorial videos before completing this assignment. 

Week 4: Confidence Intervals

Weekly Outcomes: 

  • Construct confidence intervals using Stata.
  • Interpret confidence intervals.

Readings: 

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapters 6.1 through 6.6.1 (not 6.6.2 or 6.6.3)

Videos: 

Assignments:

  • Discussion: The focus this week is on confidence intervals. Utilize the provided information and answer the required questions. 

Week 5: Hypothesis Testing

Weekly Outcomes: 

  • Utilize the basic steps of hypothesis testing to evaluate research questions involving a single sample .
  • Relate information provided by a hypothesis test to information provided by a confidence interval.

Readings: 

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapters 7.1 through 7.3 and 7.6 (skip 7.4 and 7.5)

Videos:

Assignments: 

  • Discussion: P-values and confidence intervals. 
  • Written Assignment: Choose one of your research questions you have developed for your project and perform a hypothesis test to evaluate it. 

Week 6: Hypothesis Testing Part 2

Weekly Objectives: 

  • Discuss how the size of  a sample affects conclusions through the examination of a study’s confidence intervals.
  • Evaluate research questions through the completion of appropriate hypothesis testing involving two samples.

Readings: 

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapters 7.5, 7.7, and 7.9
  • Paolo Boffetta, Paolo et al. Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Overall Cancer Risk in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst (2010) 102 (8): 529-537 doi:10.1093/jnci/djq072 first published online April 6, 2010 http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/102/8/529.full

Videos: 

Assignments: 

  • Discussion: Read the Boffetta et al (2010) article. Examine the confidence intervals reported in the abstract and comment on their sizes. 
  • Written Assignment: Now that you have performed a hypothesis test on your primary research question (Week 5), it is time to perform the appropriate hypothesis tests for your remaining two research questions. 
  • Reminder: Next week your Final Project is due. 

Week 7: Linear Regression

Weekly Outcomes: 

  • Perform a linear regression to interpret the slope and intercept of the regression line
  • Utilize a dataset to complete a professional report. 

Readings:

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapter 9.3

Videos: 

Assignments:

  • Discussion: Up until this point you have assessed two continuous variables using a correlation. This week you will run a simple linear regression to address your research question relating your two continuous variables together. Note that this regression does not need to be included in your Final Project.
  • Final Project Submission

Week 8: Analysis of Variance

Weekly Outcomes: 

  • Perform a one-way ANOVA using STATA to compare means across more than two groups.

Readings: 

  • Sullivan Textbook: Chapter 7.8

Videos: 

Assignments:

  • Written Assignment: Using the provided dataset, determine whether the mean birthweight for infants differs significantly according to mothers’ smoking status by using a oneway ANOVA in Stata. 

Student Resources

Online Student Support

Your Student Support Specialist is a resource for you. Please don't hesitate to contact them for assistance, including, but not limited to course planning, current problems or issues in a course, technology concerns, or personal emergencies.

Questions? Visit the Student Support Public Health page

UNE Libraries:

UNE Student Academic Success Center

UNE's Student Academic Success Center (SASC) offers a range of free online services to support your academic achievement. Writing support, ESOL support, study strategy and learning style consultations, as well as downloadable resources, are available to all matriculating students. The SASC also offers tutoring for GPH 712 Epidemiology, GPH 716 Biostatistics, GPH 717 Applied Epidemiology, GPH 718 Biostatistics II, and GPH 719 Research Methods. To make an appointment for any of these services, go to une.tutortrac.com. For more information and to view and download writing and studying resources, please visit:

Information Technology Services (ITS)

  • ITS Contact: Toll Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673

Accommodations

Any student who would like to request, or ask any questions regarding, academic adjustments or accommodations must contact the Student Access Center at (207) 221-4438 or pcstudentaccess@une.edu. Student Access Center staff will evaluate the student's documentation and determine eligibility of accommodation(s) through the Student Access Center registration procedure.

Online Peer Support

Togetherall is a 24/7 communication and emotional support platform monitored by trained clinicians. It’s a safe place online to get things off your chest, have conversations, express yourself creatively, and learn how to manage your mental health. If sharing isn’t your thing, Togetherall has other tools and courses to help you look after yourself with plenty of resources to explore. Whether you’re struggling to cope, feeling low, or just need a place to talk, Togetherall can help you explore your feelings in a safe supportive environment. You can join Togetherall using your UNE email address.

Information Technology Services (ITS)

Students should notify their Student Support Specialist and instructor in the event of a problem relating to a course. This notification should occur promptly and proactively to support timely resolution.

ITS Contact: Toll-Free Help Desk 24 hours/7 days per week at 1-877-518-4673.

Career Ready Program

The College of Professional Studies supports its online students and alumni in their career journey!

The Career Ready Program provides tools and resources to help students explore and hone in on their career goals, search for jobs, create and improve professional documents, build professional network, learn interview skills, grow as a professional, and more. Come back often, at any time, as you move through your journey from career readiness as a student to career growth, satisfaction, and success as alumni.

Policies

AMA Writing Style Statement

The American Medical Association Manual (AMA) of Style, 11th edition is the required writing format for this course. Additional support for academic writing and AMA format is provided throughout the coursework as well as at the UNE Portal for Online Students.

Online resources: AMA Style Guide

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in APA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the guide on how to navigate your Similarity Report.

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Course Evaluation Policy

Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.

Late Policy

Students are responsible for submitting work by the date indicated in Brightspace.

Quizzes and Tests: Quizzes and tests must be completed by the due date. They will not be accepted after the due date.

Assignments: Unless otherwise specified, assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Graduate and Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit https://www.une.edu/studentlife/plagiarism.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

  1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
  2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
  3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
  4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
  5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations.  Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final.  Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.

Attendance Policy

8 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Sunday at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.

16 week: Students taking online graduate courses through the College of Professional Studies will be administratively dropped for non-participation if a graded assignment/discussion post is not submitted before Friday at 11:59 pm ET of the second week of the term. Reinstatement is at the purview of the Dean's Office.

Student Handbook Online - Policies and Procedures

The policies contained within this document apply to all students in the College of Professional Studies. It is each student's responsibility to know the contents of this handbook.

UNE Online Student Handbook

UNE Course Withdrawal

Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

Academic Integrity

The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

  1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
  2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
  3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
  4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
  5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations. Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final. Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.