Faculty of Health

To provide healthcare professionals with a comprehensive understanding of basic epidemiological thinking and methods, and to develop practical skills in statistical data handling, analysis and interpretation. Then to be able to transfer these skills into independently critically evaluating research papers, and conducting simple research studies.

The module is open to health and social care professionals with a first degree or equivalent.

Epidemiology

• Epidemiological study design including cross-sectional, cohort and case-control studies
• Bias and confounding
• Measures of disease occurrence and association including incidence, prevalence, relative and attributable risks, and odds ratios
• Clinical epidemiology including diagnostic accuracy studies

Statistics

• Descriptive analysis including recognising types of data and summarising data
• Probability
• Estimation including confidence intervals
• Statistical hypothesis testing including selection of appropriate analysis and interpretation of results
• Understanding of confounding and how to adjust for it (including use of linear and logistic regression)

The days are split into Epidemiology teaching in the morning and Statistics teaching in the afternoon and involve a variety of learning styles.

The sessions are split into formal teaching to introduce concepts and terms, individual-based exercises to reinforce topics covered in the teaching, group work to allow wider applications of the ideas (for example, to design simple studies) and computer practicals to allow familiarisation with statistical software and allow students to put the principles of the teaching sessions into practice by analysing real data. The final half day is a practical-based session where students are formed into groups and asked to analyse data from different types of studies, interpret analyses and then present findings to the whole group.

The course assessment is by means of two written assignments, one to be completed between the two taught blocks (25% of total marks) and one to be handed-in 8-weeks after the second taught  block (75% of total marks).  Higher marks are likely to be earned by students who show evidence of integrating additional reading (outside the class materials) appropriately in their responses.

Module session dates:

3, 4, 5 June 2014 and 1, 2 July 2014