PHPM 524 Introduction to Biostatistics

This course covers a broad range of basic statistical methods used in the health sciences. The course begins by covering methods of summarizing data through graphical displays and numerical measures. Basic probability concepts will be explored to establish the basis for statistical inference. Confidence intervals and hypothesis testing will be studied with emphasis on applying these methods to relevant situations. Both normal theory and nonparametric approaches will be studied including one- and two-sample tests of population means and tests of independence for two-way tables. Students will be introduced to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation, and simple linear regression. The course focuses on understanding when to use basic statistical methods, how to compute test statistics and how to interpret and communicate the results. Computer applications are included as part of the course to introduce students to basic data management, reading output from computer packages, interpreting and summarizing results.