CAPHIA WORKSHOPPerth Friday 19 September 2014

Ensuring competency in epidemiology and biostatistics among Master of Public Health graduates: teaching and

learning approaches, dilemmas and needs

The core introductory biostatistics unit in the UWA MPH degree – what’s in the unit and what are

the challenges and issues

Prof Matthew KnuimanAPPLIED DATA

FACULTY OF MEDICINE, DENTISTRY AND HEALTH SCIENCES SCHOOL OF POPULATION HEALTH

The University of Western Australia

UWA PUBH4401 (Biostatistics I)

This is a core (or mandatory) unit in the

MPH by coursework

(with or without a research project or dissertation)

Other UWA postgraduate degrees

(eg Master of Aboriginal Health, Master of Clinical Research, Master of Surgery,

Doctor of Clinical Dentistry, Doctor of Clinical Podiatry, Doctor of Podiatric Medicine)

and is also taken (with or without coercion) by many

Masters by Research and PhD candidates.

The unit is available in face-to-face mode (lectures, tutorials, comprehensive materials) and in on-line mode (recorded lectures, online discussion boards, comprehensive materials)

The University of Western Australia

What are the learning objectives/aims?

Appreciate the role of statistics in health and medical practice and research.

Understand the statistical content of articles in general health and medical literature.

Know how to summarise and present data. Understand statistical inference (sample to population) through

confidence intervals and hypothesis testing. Be able to apply statistical methods for comparison of means,

proportions, incidence rates and survival curves, and know when to apply specific methods.

Understand and apply correlation coefficients and linear regression. Be able to sensibly use the SPSS Statistics package.

Assessment by home assignments, on-line MCQ tests, final written exam

The University of Western Australia

What is the assumed prior knowledge and experience?

Basic (Year 10 high school) algebra to understand equations and formulae.

Familiarity with hand-held calculators.You must have your own calculator and know how to use it.

Familiarity with computing in a Windows environment.

No prior experience with SPSS is assumed.

The University of Western Australia

What is the content?Summarising and presenting data

Descriptive statistics, tables, charts

Basics of statistical inference Sampling distribution, 95% confidence interval estimate, hypothesis test and p-value

Estimation and 95% confidence interval

For a mean, proportion (prevalence, risk), rate, survival curve

Comparing two groups(test and confidence interval)

Comparing two means (t-test), proportions (chi-square test, odds ratio), rates (rate ratio), survival curves (logrank test)

Correlation and linear regression

Correlation coefficient, simple linear regression

Sample size for estimation Formula to get required confidence interval width

Sample size for testing Power calculations via free online program

Review of published article 2 articles reviewed in class (focus on statistical methods and results)

Most calculations are done via SPSS (using pull down menus) but some also by hand-calculation. All data sets and examples are real.

The University of Western Australia

Challenges and issues

Some have math phobia – not confident with math notation and year 10 high school algebra eg ln x, ex and how to calculate (0.4 – 0.2)/[0.03/√100] .

Some think not relevant to intended career (but statistical literacy is very important even if will not analyse their own data in future). Many enjoy the face-to-face discussions on review of published articles.

Some rely on SPSS to ‘think’ for them instead of just doing their calculations (and trust all computer output is sensible!).

The assessment requires ‘explanation and interpretation’ as well as correct formula and calculation/output, some have difficulty with constructing sensible sentences and don’t like losing marks because of this.

Harder to answer questions and help students in online (discussion board) environment than in face-to-face situation.

Cheating and collusion on home assignments is prevalent.