Course Description
Introduction to empirical methods used in health services research. Topics include models for skewed positive outcomes and binary or categorical outcomes, models to identify causal effects including difference-in-differences, matching, instrumental variables, regression discontinuity, and hands-on programming exercises to implement the methods learned using data and statistical software.
Athena Title
Research Methods II
Prerequisite
BIOS 8010
Corequisite
HPAM 8300 or HPAM 8300E
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Students will be able to describe various quantitative methods commonly used in health services research.
- Students will be able to implement methods using statistical software.
- Students will be able to compare analytic approaches used in peer-reviewed articles.
- Students will be able to develop a proposal based on research interests.
- Students will be able to identify relevant datasets and assess the structure and quality of the data.
- Students will be able to apply appropriate quantitative methods in the final research project.
- Students will be able to interpret results for diverse audiences in both written and oral formats.
Topical Outline
- 1. Introduction to quantitative analysis and statistical software
- 2. Review of regression analysis
- 3. Extension of linear regression models:
a. Generalized linear models
b. Heterogenous effects and quantile regression models
- 4. Models for limited dependent variables:
a. Logit, probit for binary outcomes
b. Multinomial probit, ordered logit for categorical outcomes
c. Poisson, negative binomial regression models for count data
d. Log transformation, two-part models for cost data
- 5. Methods for causal inference:
a. Difference-in-differences
b. Matching
c. Instrumental variables
d. Regression discontinuity
