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Elementary Biostatistics


Course Description

Basic concepts of statistics, with applications in health and life sciences. Descriptive statistics, principles of statistical inference, uncertainty assessment, hypothesis testing, public health surveys, and biomedical experimental design are considered. Methods include t-tests, simple linear regression, and categorical data analysis.


Athena Title

Elementary Biostatistics


Equivalent Courses

Not open to students with credit in STAT 2000, STAT 2000E, STAT 2100H, BIOS 2010


Non-Traditional Format

This course will be taught 95% or more online.


Grading System

A - F (Traditional)


Course Objectives

This course is intended to provide an introductory course in biostatistics to meet the requirements for the B.S. in Health Promotion. All biostatistical concepts and procedures will be illustrated using public health and biomedical data. 1. produce graphical summaries of data, 2. identify the principles of statistical inference, including parameter estimation and uncertainty assessment, 3. describe the importance of randomization in public health surveys and biomedical experiments, 4. communicate the results of biostatistical analyses, draw substantive conclusions from the results of hypotheses tests, 5. distinguish between prospective and retrospective studies, 6. use statistical software, 7. apply Bayes Theorem to diagnostic tests, public health survey design, and analysis of contingency tables.


Topical Outline

1. Descriptive statistics 2. Basic probability concepts 3. Bayes Theorem and diagnostic procedures 4. Public health surveys 5. Principles of statistical inference 6. Biomedical experiments 7. One-sample and two-sample t-tests 8. Chi-square tests for contingency tables 9. Simple linear regression


General Education Core

CORE III: Quantitative Reasoning

Syllabus