ObjectivesOn completion of this course, graduates will: * Be able to demonstrate a broad understanding of the value and basic principles of biostatistical methods in health and medical research * Be able to demonstrate an understanding of the principles of epidemiology and its biostatistical underpinnings * Have acquired skills in data management and basic statistical analyses * Have developed the practical and technical skills to progress to further postgraduate studies in biostatistics
Academic titlePostgraduate Certificate in Biostatistics
Course descriptionThis course is available on a part-time basis only, and at a maximum rate of 2 subjects per semester (4 subjects in total) requires 1 year to complete (50 credit points).
CORE SUBJECTS
Students must complete the following CORE subject:
Subject Semester Credit Points
505-106 Epidemiology
Topics include: historical developments in epidemiology; sources of data on mortality and morbidity; disease rates and standardisation; prevalence and incidence; life expectancy; linking exposure and disease (e.g. relative risk, attributable risk); m... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
ELECTIVE SUBJECTS
Students must complete THREE subjects from the following list of electives:
Subject Semester Credit Points
505-938 Clinical Biostatistics
Clinical agreement (kappa statistics, Bland-Altman agreement method, intraclass correlation); diagnostic tests (sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, ROC curves, likelihood ratio); statistical process control (special and common causes of var... Semester 1 12.50
505-937 Health Indicators and Health Surveys
Topics include: routinely collected health-related data; quantitative methods in demography, including standardisation and life tables; health differentials; design and analysis of population health surveys, including the role of stratification, clus... Semester 1 12.50
505-943 Longitudinal and Correlated Data
Topics covered: Paired data; the effect of non-independence on comparisons within and between clusters of observations; methods for continuous outcomes: normal mixed effects (hierarchical or multilevel) models and generalised estimating equations (GE... Semester 1 12.50
505-942 Survival Analysis
Topics include: Kaplan-Meier life tables; logrank test to compare two or more groups; Cox's proportional hazards regression model; checking the proportional hazards assumption; time-dependent covariates; sample size calculations for survival stu... Semester 1 12.50
505-108 Data Management & Statistical Computing
Topics include data management concepts, introduction to Stata and SAS, data management using Stata and SAS. Data management principles and concepts are developed using relational database software (Microsoft Access). Data manipulation, descriptive a... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
505-105 Mathematics B'Ground for Biostatistics
Basic algebra and analysis; exponential functions; calculus; series, limits, approximations and expansions; matrices and numerical methods. Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
505-107 Principles of Statistical Inference
Review of the key concepts of estimation, and construction of Normal-theory confidence intervals; frequentist theory of estimation including hypothesis tests; methods of inference based on likelihood theory, including use of Fisher and observed infor... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
505-975 Probability and Distribution Theory
This subject begins with the study of probability, random variables, discrete and continuous distributions, and the use of calculus to obtain expressions for parameters of these distributions such as the mean and variance. Joint distributions for mul... Semester 1, Semester 2 12.50
505-964 Advanced Clinical Trials
Methods in RCTs for determining: stopping rules for interim analysis (O´Brien-Fleming, Peto), spending functions, stochastic curtailment; statistical principles encountered in relation to aspects of regulatory guidelines (ICH, FDA, EMEA)... Semester 2 12.50
505-944 Bioinformatics
Bioinformatics addresses problems related to the storage, retrieval and analysis of information about biological structure. This unit will provide a broad-ranging study of this application of quantitative methods in biology. Content will include: bio... Semester 2 12.50
505-941 Categorical Data & GLMs
Introduction to and revision of conventional methods for contingency tables especially in epidemiology: odds ratios and relative risks, chi-squared tests for independence, Mantel-Haenszel methods for stratified tables, and methods for paired data. T... Semester 2 12.50
505-939 Design of Randomised Controlled Trials
Topics include: principles and methods of randomisation in controlled trials; treatment allocation, blocking, stratification and allocation concealment; parallel, factorial and crossover designs including n-of-1 studies; practical issues in sample si... Semester 2 12.50
505-940 Linear Models
The method of least squares; regression models and related statistical inference; flexible nonparametric regression; analysis of covariance to adjust for confounding; multiple regression with matrix algebra; model construction and interpretation (use... Semester 2 12.50