Proposal to Change PHST-500 Introduction to Biostatistics to V2013.11.30

Date:12/09/13

To:Robert Goldstein, Associate Provost

From:Peter L. Walton, Associate Dean

Subject:Proposal to change PHPH-500 “Introduction to Biostatistics”

The above-named course is proposed to be changed to version 2013.11.30, to be effective Spring 2014, including a change in title to ““Introduction to Biostatistics for Health Sciences I.”

The previous version has been split into two separate courses, both of which are required in the MPH program. The second course, PHST-501 “Introduction to Biostatistics for Health Sciences II” is being submitted simultaneously.

The proposed syllabus has been approved by the MPH Program, Curriculum Committee, Faculty Forum, and the dean’s office.

Attachments:

• Proposed CIF (signed hard copy to follow)
• Proposed syllabus
• Current Syllabus

Proposed CIF

Introduction to Biostatistics for Health Sciences IPHST-500

Course Data

Number:PHST-500

Title:Introduction to Biostatistics for Health Sciences I

Credit-hours:3

Department:Bioinformatics and Biostatistics

School/College:School of Public Health and Information Sciences

Type:Lecture

Catalog Description

Introduction to descriptive and inferential statistical methods including graphics, estimation, confidence intervals, 1- and 2-sample hypothesis testing, one-way analysis of variance, and use of statistical software. Taught at graduate level.

Course Objectives

Students successfully completing the course are able to:

• Apply principles of basic probability theory, including commonly-used probability distributions including binomial, Poisson, normal, t, F, and chi-square. [C3 (Bloom’s taxonomy,[1] cognitive domain, application level)]
• Interpret tables of descriptive statistics and statistical graphs using descriptive statistical methods. [C3]
• Develop tables of descriptive statistics and statistical graphs using descriptive statistical methods. [C5]
• Conduct basic inferential statistical procedures, including estimation with confidence intervals, 1- and 2-sample hypothesis tests, and one-way analysis of variance. [C3]
• Conduct inferential analyses using SPSS.[2] [C3]
• Manage data sets using SPSS. [C3]
• Create data sets using SPSS. [C5]

Prerequisites

Enrollment in the MPH program.

Students who don’t meet the criteria but believe they are qualified and wish to enroll in the course should contact Student Services at 502-852-3289 for information.

Course Instructor

The course instructor welcomes conversations with students outside of class. Students may correspond with instructors by email or set up appointments by contacting the course director. Students should also contact the course director with questions they might have regarding the mechanics or operation of the course.

Course Topics and Schedule

IMPORTANT NOTE: The schedule and topics may change as the course unfolds. Changes are posted on Blackboard.

Each odd-numbered class is on in biostatistical methods with reading from Daniel and Cross, and each even-numbered class on software methods with reading from George and Mallery.

Course Materials

Blackboard

The primary mechanism for communication in this course, other than class meetings, is UofL’s Blackboard system at http://ulink.louisville.edu/ or http://blackboard.louisville.edu/. Instructors use Blackboard to make assignments, provide materials, communicate changes or additions to the course materials or course schedule, and to communicate with students other aspects of the course. It is imperative that students familiarize themselves with Blackboard, check Blackboard frequently for possible announcements, and make sure that their e-mail account in Blackboard is correct, active, and checked frequently.

Required Texts

Daniel, Wayne W. and Cross, Chad L. Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences, Tenth Edition. (2013) New York: John Wiley & Sons.

George, Darren and Mallery, George. IBM SPSS Statistics 19 Step by Step: A Simple Guide and Reference (12th Edition). (2011) Pearson.

Required Software

IBM SPSS Statistics Software, version 20.0 or later.

Available for student purchase at iTech Express from UofL IT department or for use in campus computer labs.

Prepared Materials Used by Instructors

Materials used by instructors in class are available to students via Blackboard no later than 24 hours following the class. These may include outlines, citations, slide presentations, and other materials. There is no assurance that the materials include everything discussed in the class.

Course Policies

Student Responsibilities

A learner is expected to participate by attending every class possible and by taking responsibility for course material when attendance is impossible.

Participation includes being actively engaged in class discussions, assignments, and activities.

A student is required to have access to and use email, Blackboard, and the required commercial software package (IBM SPSS).

A student needs to check email and Blackboard regularly for homework assignments and other course-related communications.

Discussions a student has with other students on homework matters do not violate academic honesty provided the student works through and writes up assignments entirely on his or her own without looking at assignments of other students. If asked, the student must be able to fully explain and reproduce the answers.

A student is expected to complete assignments by the due dates that are communicated in class and posted on Blackboard. Late assignments are accepted with a penalty of 5 points for each day or part of a day late.

A student should review materials from the previous class in track and the reading for the track.

A participant is expected to act with integrity, including students, guests, and instructors.

Classes start at the time scheduled, so a student needs to be on time to avoid class disruption. If the instructor is delayed past the start of class, he or she makes best effort to notify students of both the delay and estimated class start time. A student is expected to wait in class for at least 15 minutes after the instructor’s estimated start time or scheduled start if no notice is given.

Student Evaluation

The components of student evaluation are:

• Homework (40% of final grade)

Homework is assigned weekly and includes hand-calculated problems and software assignments. The 12 weekly homework assignments are each worth 50 points and their average score is used in the final grade. Homework is submitted in Blackboard and is due on the dates listed in the class schedule, above, and on Blackboard. Late submissions are penalized 10% for each day late.

Problems in homework assignments are multiple choice questions answered in Blackboard. No partial credit is incorrect answers is given.

• Midterm exam (25% of final grade)

The midterm exam consists of an in-class, open-book exam and a take-home software project. See Final exam, below, for details.

• Final exam (35% of final grade)

The final exam consists of an in-class, open-book exam and a take-home software project.

Problems on the final exam generally involve the selection and execution of an appropriate statistical method. For each question, each of the following is worth one-fourth of the total points available:

• selection of the appropriate statistical method
• proper set up of statistical formulas
• correct calculation of the desired quantity
• proper reporting of the results of said calculation

The take-home software project requires students to produce output from several procedures conducted in a statistical software package. Students receive full credit for each portion of statistical output requested by the instructor to be produced; partial credit within a portion is not given.

Grading

The components of student evaluation are weighted as follows:

1. Homework40%(12, averaged)
2. Mid-term exam25%(one)
3. Final exam35%(one)

Final grades are assigned on a letter scale basis (fractional scores are rounded to nearer integer):

Other Policies

Expected Student Effort Out of Class

Students are expected to spend an average at least 2-1/2 hours per week per credit hour on the course exclusive of class time. This time includes but is not limited to reading, research, preparations for class, team or group meetings (electronic or otherwise), and course deliverables.

Syllabus Revision

The course director reserves the right to modify any portion of this syllabus. A best effort is made to provide an opportunity for students to comment on a proposed change before the change takes place.

Instructional Modifications for Students with Disabilities:

Students with disabilities who need reasonable modifications to complete assignments successfully and otherwise satisfy course criteria are encouraged to contact the instructor as early in the course as possible to identify and plan specific accommodations. Students are asked to provide a letter from the Disability Resource Center and other documentation to assist in planning modifications.

Inclement Weather

This course adheres to the University’s policy and decisions regarding cancellation or delayed class schedules. Adjustments are made to the class schedule as necessary to take into account any delays or cancellations of this class. Local television and radio stations broadcast University delays or closings. The UofL web site (www.louisville.edu) and telephone information line (502-852-5555) also broadcast delays or closings.

Grievances

A student who has grievances regarding the course should seek to have the matter resolved through informal discussion and through administrative channels, such as the course director, chair of the course’s department, associate dean for student affairs, and university grievance officer. If the issue remains unresolved, the student may file a formal grievance. More information is located at Summary of SPHIS Student Academic Grievance Procedure in Student Academic Grievance Committee (https://sharepoint.louisville.edu/sites/sphis/cbg/sagc/).

Disabilities

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, students with bona fide disabilities are afforded reasonable accommodation. The Disability Resource Center certifies a disability and advises faculty members of reasonable accommodations. More information is located at http://louisville.edu/disability.

Academic Honesty

Students are required to comply with the academic honesty policies of the university and School of Public Health and Information Sciences. These policies prohibit plagiarism, cheating, and other violations of academic honesty. More information is located at https://sharepoint.louisville.edu/sites/sphis/policies.

Course instructors use a range of strategies (including plagiarism-prevention software provided by the university) to compare student works with private and public information resources in order to identify possible plagiarism and academic dishonesty. Comparisons of student works require students to submit electronic copies of their final works to the plagiarism-prevention service. The service delivers the works to instructors along with originality reports detailing the presence or lack of possible problems. The service retains copies of final works and may request students’ permission to share copies with other universities for the sole and limited purpose of plagiarism prevention and detection.

In addition instructors provide the opportunity for students to submit preliminary drafts of their works to the service to receive reports of possible problems. Such reports are available only to the submitting student. Copies of preliminary drafts are not retained by the service.

Continuity of Instruction Plan

A plan for continuity of instruction for this course has been developed and published. All plans are available at https://sharepoint.louisville.edu/sites/sphis/do/aa/coip. Continuity of instruction plans provide guidance for how instruction may be modified to lessen disruption by events that affect transportation, communication, or personal interaction. Such events may be weather-related (e.g., floods, blizzards, tornados), health-related (e.g., epidemics), or other widespread occurrences or threats.

Additional Policy Information

Additional policy information is available in the following:

SPHIS Catalog (https://sharepoint.louisville.edu/sites/sphis/do/aa)

SPHIS Policies and Procedures (https://sharepoint.louisville.edu/sites/sphis/policies)

UofL Graduate Catalog (http://louisville.edu/graduatecatalog)

v2013.11.30

Current Version and Course History

• Initial version

• Changed to PHST-500
• Changed prerequisites to include Bachelor-MPH
• Changed description to include taught at graduate level

• Changed title for availability to other units

• Extensively revised to be first course in two-course series

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Introduction to BiostatisticsPHST-500

Course Data

Number:PHST-500

Title:Introduction to Biostatistics

Credit-hours:3

Department:Bioinformatics and Biostatistics

School/College:School of Public Health and Information Sciences

Type:Lecture

Catalog Description

Introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics including descriptive methods and graphing, binomial and Gaussian probability theory, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression. Taught at graduate level.

Course Description

An introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics including descriptive methods and graphing, binomial and Gaussian probability theory, estimation, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, correlation, and regression. One-, two- and multi-group parametric and nonparametric methods will be introduced. Sampling distributions covered include the Z, t, F, and Chi-squared distributions. Multivariate methods are introduced.

Purpose of the Course

Health workers need to read and interpret health literature to keep abreast of the latest methods. This course provides an understanding of statistical theory and practice that allows the student to evaluate health and research articles. In addition, the course provides a foundation of basic statistical methods upon which the student can build.

Course Objectives

With the successful completion of this course, students are able to:

• Use descriptive statistics and graphical methods to describe sample data.
• Understand Gaussian and binomial distributions and the use of probability tables.
• Estimate population parameters using point and interval estimation.
• Perform hypothesis tests about one, two, and more than two population means or proportions.
• Use regression and correlation techniques to examine linear relationships in data.
• Understand and interpret multivariate models.

Prerequisites

Student in SPHIS program, Bachelor-MPH program, or Graduate Nursing program.

Course Instructors

The course instructor welcomes conversations with students outside of class. Students may correspond with instructors by email or set up appointments by contacting Paula Bossmeyer at 852-3003 or .

Students should also contact Paula Bossmeyer with questions they might have regarding the mechanics or operation of the course.

Course Schedule

IMPORTANT NOTE: The schedule and topics may change as the course unfolds. Changes will be posted on Blackboard.

Course materials

Blackboard

The primary mechanism for communication in this course, other than class meetings, is UofL’s Blackboard system at http://ulink.louisville.edu/ or http://blackboard.louisville.edu/. Instructors use Blackboard to make assignments, provide materials, communicate changes or additions to the course materials or course schedule, and to communicate with students other aspects of the course. It is imperative that students familiarize themselves with Blackboard, check Blackboard frequently for possible announcements, and make sure that their e-mail account in Blackboard is correct, active, and checked frequently.

Required Text

Daniel, Wayne W. (1999). BIOSTATISTICS: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences, Seventh Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Prepared Materials Used by Instructors

Materials used by instructors in class are available to students via Blackboard no later than 24 hours following the class. These may include outlines, citations, slide presentations, and other materials. There is no assurance that the materials include everything discussed in the class.

Course Policies

Course Requirements

• Appropriate on-line instructional technologies shall be used for the presentation of this course. Blackboard will provide the basic web-based technology.
• Participants should be able to navigate the world-wide web to access the course on Blackboard and to find and use the demonstrations available at linked web sites.
• Participants must be able to use e-mail to contact instructor and to mail in assignments and completed exams.
• Participants must read from the required textbook and on-line documents in a timely manner as assigned during the course of instruction.
• Participants must complete “practice” assignments (answers in the back of the book) in a timely fashion.
• Participants must complete “for credit” homework assignments and e-mail them to the instructor by the deadline date. These assignments must be solely the work of the individual student and not a team project.
• Students must complete the mid-term and final exams by the deadlines posted. Exams must be completed without help.
• Participants are expected to act with integrity and accord each other and the instructor respect and courtesy.

Grading