ONLINE - Basic methods and reasoning in Biostatistics 2022-II

The LUMC course ‘Basic Methods and Reasoning in Biostatistics’ covers the fundamental toolbox of biostatistical methods plus a solid methodological basis to properly interpret statistical results. The course is a mandatory part of the LUMC Graduate School Program and a prerequisite for any of the advanced biostatistical courses offered by the LUMC. This is a basic course, targeted at a wide audience. The course is given during a single week - from 12 - 16 September 2022 (plus 2 to 3 days preparation in the two weeks before), followed by a final examination on the next Tuesday.

In the e-learning part of the course, we will cover the basic methods of data description and statistical inference (t-test, one-way ANOVA and their non-parametric counterparts, chi-square test, correlation and simple linear regression, logistic regression, introduction to survival analysis and introduction to repeated measurements). For students who are new to data analysis, the e-learning offers step-by-step guidance on how to perform these procedures in SPSS. Students who are used to working with R, can do the exercises in R instead of SPSS. Students who have already studied the e-learning topics in previous courses can use the e-learning as a refresher, work through the modules more quickly and skip exercises if wanted.

The lectures cover the 'Reasoning' part of the course. Three lectures are mandatory: Study design, Good statistical practice and Multiple testing. Moreover, we offer two elective lectures: for participants interested on this topic, we offer an advanced elective lecture on modern prediction techniques. Also, since many of the examples during the course stem from clinical research, one elective lecture dedicated to pre-clinical research is offered.

In the short videos (about 10 minutes each), several experts discuss further on the 'reasoning' topics. Some of the topics of the short videos overlap with the topics covered in the morning lectures (study design, p-hacking and good statistical practice) and some topics such as different forms of bias, sample size calculation, pros and cons of p-values are only covered by the short videos.

• The introduction lecture on Monday September 12th starts at 9:00hrs. From Tuesday to Friday lectures start at 9:30hrs. Daily question sessions are scheduled after the lectures from 10:30 – 11:15hrs (Monday, Wednesday and Friday online, and Tuesday and Thursday on campus in the LUMC)
• Every afternoon students work individually in the electronic learning environment and watch the short videos on their own PCs/laptops.
• An online forum is available within the e-learning for posing questions during the course week and the preceding two weeks of preparation.
• Please note that your attendance to the mandatory lectures and passing the exam is required for completing the course.

Prerequisites
Secondary school mathematics. No prior knowledge of biostatistics required.

Preparation
Students will receive access to an e-learning which consists of 10 modules. By the beginning of the course on Monday September 12th, you are expected to master the topics of the first 5 modules. The modules 6-10 will be covered during the week of the actual course. The materials of the course will be available at least two weeks prior to the start of the course, in the Boerhaave Learning Environment. We recommend you to allocate 10-15 hours in the two weeks preceding the course for preparing yourself for the course. In case of no experience in analysing statistics, please take into account that the preparation will take you longer. You can test your knowledge about the e-learning topics by taking a pre-course self-assessment which will be made available in the online learning environment. This self-assessment will help you decide how much time you need to invest for studying each of the e-learning modules. 

Make sure you have either SPSS or R (according to your preference) installed on your computer to work through the exercises. You can find an SPSS trial version at https://www.ibm.com/analytics/spss-trials. R is a free software environment and can be downloaded from the R project website. Contact the ICT department if you need help with the installation.

Online learning environment
Lectures and e-learning including practical sessions with SPSS or R.

Certificate of attendance
In order to obtain a certificate of attendance, participation in the lectures on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday is mandatory. In addition, passing the post-course exam is a requirement. The lectures on Thursday and Friday are elective. If you meet the above criteria, you will receive a certificate of attendance within two weeks, after passing the exam. 

Recommended book

• Aviva Petrie & Caroline Sabin (for reference purposes only; not used during course)
  Medical Statistics at a Glance.
  ISBN 0-632-05075-6

Exam

• The exam assesses your knowledge of the topics discussed in the course (mostly e-learning but also questions about the mandatory short videos and mandatory lectures).
• The exam will take place on Tuesday 20 September 2022 online from 09:00 – 11:15hrs

For more information
Please see this introductory video about the course: video.

Course Committee

• Dr. ir. N. van Geloven
• Dr. M.D.M. Rodríguez-Girondo

* Limited places available. In order to validate your student registration, you must register with your student e-mail address and submit your student number on the registration form. In addition, a scan of your student pass will have to be submitted to boerhaavenascholing@lumc.nl. Please note that a € 45,- cancellation fee will be charged to students who do not attend the course (no show), or cancel their registration.