This course aims at introducing the basics of biostatistics, form an applied bio-medical perspective. Starting from some data sets collected to answer specific research questions, the objectives of statistical inference will be illustrated. These examples will also serve as key examples throughout the course.
Further, concepts such as population, random sample, randomization, and causality will be briefly discussed. Next, descriptive tools such as tables, graphs and summary statistics will be introduced. A lot of emphasis will be put on the relation between the population and the sample, and on how observed effects in the sample can be generalized to the total population.
After having discussed the concept of sampling distributions, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing will be introduced from an intuitive perspective. Afterwards, some frequently used testing procedures (unpaired and paired t-tests, chi-squared and Fisher exact tests, McNemar test) will be presented.
Specific topics will be discussed, including power and sample size analysis, equivalence testing, multiple testing, one-sided versus two-sided tests, significance versus relevance, measures for association (correlation, relative risk, odds ratio) , and aspects of non-parametric statistics.
Finally, the analysis of survival data will be discussed, including the complication of censoring, Kaplan-Meier estimation, and logrank and wilcoxon tests. All topics covered in the course will be illustrated using real data, and a lot of attention will be given to the use and misuse of statistics in the bio-medical literature. Emphasis is on correct interpretation of statistical results, rather than on mathematical detail.
Objectives
- Getting familiar with basic statistical concepts (population versus sample, causality, p-values, confidence intervals)
- Getting familiar with the most frequently encountered statistical techniques (descriptive statistics, tests, measures of association)
- Being able to correctly interpret statistics results reported in the bio-medical literature