Biostatistics in Society - USF Health

College of Public Health
University of South Florida
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Syllabus
Course Name:Biostatistics in Society
(Note: This syllabus may be changed or amended due to unforeseen circumstances)
Prefix & Number:PHC 4069
Sections:310 ref#Enter
Semester: Spring 2015
Course
Description:
This course exposes students to the role of biostatistics in advancing healthcare
and improving health through landmark studies and cases in a wide range of fields,
including clinical trials, epidemiology, environmental studies, and healthcare
evaluation
Credit hours:
3
Pre-Requisites:
None
Co-Requisites:
Working knowledge of computer and computer software such as Microsoft Excel
Location:
Online
Instructor
Information:
Instructor
Yangxin Huang, Ph.D.
Office Location: Room 2129, College of Public Health
Office Hours: Mondays 1:30 – 3:00 pm or by appointment
Phone: (813) 974-8209
Email: [email protected]
Email contact preferred
Questions replied within 48 hours from Sunday to Thursday, within 72 hours on
Friday or Saturday, except at times when we are away from the office.
NOTE:
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E-mails regarding help sessions, course contents, online „real-time‟ group
help sessions, assignments and syllabus quiz should directly be sent to the
Graduate Teaching Assistants:
Hanze Zhang ([email protected])
Ying Ma ([email protected])
TBD
E-mails regarding technical issues about Canvas and Blackboard
Collaborator should be forwarded to Instructional/Multimedia Developer Dr.
Jung Lim ([email protected])
E-mails regarding course administration, course contents, exams and
Virtual office issues should be sent to Instructor
Dr. Yangxin Huang ([email protected]).
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
Assessment Strategies:
Teaching
Assistant
Information:
TA 1
Hanze Zhang, PhD student
Office Location: CPH RM 2115
TA 2
TBA
Office Location: CPH RM 2124
1. Virtual office Hours: Thursday 2-3pm
and by appointment
2. Blackboard Collaborator Help
Sessions: Wednesdays 7:00-8:00 pm
Email: [email protected]
1. Virtual office Hours: Wed 9-10 am
and by appointment
2. Blackboard Collaborator Help
Sessions: Wednesdays 7:00-8:00 pm
Email:
Email contact preferred
Questions replied within 48 hours on
weekdays (Mon-Thurs) and 72 hours on
weekends (Fri-Sun)
TA 3
Ying Ma, MPH student
Email contact preferred
Questions replied within 48 hours on
weekdays (Mon-Thurs) and 72 hours on
weekends (Fri-Sun)
Office Location: CPH RM 2150G
1. Virtual office Hours: Tue. 2-3 pm and
by appointment
2. Assignments Help
Required
Materials:
Recommended
Materials:
Email: [email protected]
Email contact preferred
Questions replied within 48 hours on
weekdays (Mon-Thurs) and 72 hours on
weekends (Fri-Sun)
Text: David C. LeBlanc (2013). Statistics: Concepts and Applications for Science,
DLK Publishing.(Available from HSC Bookstore) ISBN: 978-0-9885144-1-6
HSC Bookstore http://usfhsc.bkstore.com.
Additional materials will be distributed in class
Learning Objectives:
Course objectives:
1. To gain exposure to the role of biostatistics in society and to be able to recognize specific
applications of biostatistics in our daily life;
2. To understand the fundamental principles of data/evidence gathering, and scientific reasoning;
3. To be able to organize data and conduct simple data analyses using computer software;
4. To be able to interpret data analysis results, including reading those published in health literature.
Course Format:
Online.
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
Students‟ performance will be evaluated on the basis of
1. Ten (10) homework assignments, each contributes 10 points to the total score. There is no time
limit for the assignments. However they must be completed by the due date. Once submitted
assignment answers cannot be changed.
2. Four exams: The best 3 grades will each contribute 100 points to the final grade.
3. The syllabus quiz will contribute 25 points.
Note: If a student misses one of the first three exams, he/she must take the final exam.
It is critical for students to understand the material to do well overall. The assignments and exams are all
in multiple choice format. Some questions will require calculations by hand or use of MS Excel.
Biostatistics may appear new and highly technical. Get help early on in the course if you are having
trouble. Our experience is that it will be too late to ask for help only after you have not done well in the
first half of the course.
The instructor and TA are here to guide you and clarify issues, but will not give out answers.
Homework assignments and exams must be the independent work of each student. Plagiarism is not
allowed and will be investigated.
NOTE: This syllabus is subject to change.
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
This course supports the following Bachelor of Science competencies.
Learning
Objectives
Competency
Supports competencies 1a,b,c
1. Identify and articulate the core functions of public health.
Assessment
Strategies
All strategies
1
a. Explain the basic principles of epidemiology.
b. Assess social and behavioral interventions to improve health of
populations.
c. Identify the impact of the environment and communicable
diseases on health.
Meets competency 2a,b:
2. Exhibit critical thinking and analytical abilities, including the
capacities to engage in inductive and deductive thinking and
quantitative reason, and to construct sound arguments.
2,3
a. Identify topics pertaining to public health research.
b. Generate research questions, analyze and present data, and
interpret and discuss findings.
Supports competency 3a:
3 Communicate using effective oral skills.
a. Demonstrate an ability to contribute effectively to group
discussions and presentations
Supports competency 4a, 4b, and 4c
4. Develop effective written presentations.
4
4
a. Demonstrate the use of information literacy skills such as locating
and evaluating pertinent public health information.
b. Demonstrate the ability to use library resources and scientific
databases.
c. Exhibit proper referencing secondary materials in APA format.
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
Grading Scale and
Criteria:
Grading Scale
Assignments 100 points
Exams 300 points
Syllabus quiz 25 points
Total Points Possible - 425 points
Points
382-425
340-381
297-339
255-296
≤ 254
Percentage
90-100%
80-<90%
70-<80%
60-<70%
< 60%
Grade
A
B
C
D
F
Grading Criteria
On-line Exams: All examinations are to be solely the work of the student.
No assistance is allowed. Use of any assistance on completing the
examinations is considered disruption of the academic process and
violation of the policy regarding academic integrity and will be treated
accordingly. Assistance includes but is not limited to notes, books,
computer resources and persons.
Examination Procedures: All exams are “closed book.” No exam “retakes”
will be given. The four exams are designed for this course. Each of the first
three exams will focus on the material given in the modules in the
preceding segment of the course – see Course Calendar. However, the
concepts learned to date in the course will be needed to successfully take
all exams. There will be final (the 4th) exam covering the entire course. For
four exams, the best 3 grades will each contribute 100 points to the final
grade. However, you could skip the final exam 4 if you were happy with
your first three grades after exam 3.
Each of four exams will be available for students to work on anytime
between 9:00 am and 11:00 pm (Eastern Time) on the TWO days indicated
in the Course Calendar below. All students will receive different exam
questions selected from pools of questions with the same difficulty level.
Exams will generally consist of 25 multiple-choice questions. Students will
have two and a half hours from the time of access to complete the exam.
As soon as you begin (open the exam) the Canvas website will begin
timing you. Note that exams are designed to allow students to go back to
previous answers for review/correction in Canvas.
You are required to complete the exam and close it within two and a half
hours from the time it is opened. Please watch the time carefully. In
particular, please note that in Canvas, students will not be allowed to go
over the upper bound time limit (11:00 pm EST) of the exam. Otherwise,
students will be kicked out of the exam. For example, if a student enters the
Canvas website to start exam at 10.00pm, he/she will only have one hour
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
to work on the exam. In other words, students must submit the exam before
11.00pm which is ending-time designed by this course. So students have to
start their exam before 8:30pm or earlier.
Grading Policies:
Late submission of assignments and exams will not be accepted by the
online system. Missing an assignment or exam will result in a score of 0
for that assignment or exam. Permission for extension of assignment
deadline or make-up exam may be requested at least 48 hours IN
ADVANCE of the deadline with reasons that can be justified. Acceptable
reasons include sickness with doctor‟s proof or a family emergency such
as death. Such requests should be sent directly to the instructor with
confirmation of receipt. Decision on the request will be made within 48
hours upon receipt. Any request made after the deadline will be denied.
Make-up exams are only given due to extreme circumstances or
emergencies. Students are required to provide appropriate
documentation at least 48 hours in advance before the designed exam
days, which will be determined acceptable by the instructor, BEFORE
being allowed to take any make-up exam.
Attendance:
COURSE POLICIES
Not applicable
See Institutional Policies section for Emergency Preparedness for
Academic Continuity.
Permission to Use
Lectures:
All materials are exclusively for class use. Any unauthorized use of
materials including the lecture notes and recordings is prohibited.
Redistribution of the materials is prohibited.
Instructor Expectations:
This course is not an “easy” course. Substantial effort will be required in
order to do well.
- Students should read the text book and any additional materials,
listen to the recorded lectures, and complete all assignments on
time.
- MS Excel will be used during the course. Students that do not have
basic knowledge of Excel are encouraged to watch the online
tutorials the first week of class.
- It is strongly encouraged that students work out the assignment
questions each week and understand the course concepts.
- The instructor and TAs will not hand out answers. They are here to
guide you through the course.
- Grading is not done using a curve.
Failure to meet class requirement does not automatically warrant an
incomplete grade. See COPH policy:
http://publichealth.usf.edu/academicaffairs/academic_procedures.html
NA
Students are expected to complete the assignments on time each week.
Incomplete Policy:
Field Trip Policy:
Class Participation:
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
Course Calendar
Module 0 : Introduction to the role of biostatistics in real life [Posted 01/6/2014]
Mandatory Syllabus Quiz Due 1/8/2014, 11:59 PM
Module 1: What are data and where do they come from? [Posted 01/06/2014]
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Definition of variables
Population and sample
Study designs
Module 1 Assignment: Due 01/23/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 1
Module 2: How to display data in tables and graphs [Posted 01/06/2014]
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Frequency tables
Histograms and bar charts
Scatter plots, boxplots, stem-leaf plots
Module 2 Assignment: Due 01/30/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 2
Module 3: How to summarize data [Posted 01/06/2014]
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Measures of central tendency
Measures of variability
Module 3 Assignment: Due 02/06/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 2
Exam 1: 02/12--13/2014(TWO days): 2.5 hours during 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM [Covers
Modules 1-3]
Module 4: Probability and applications: How to deal with randomness[Posted 02/14/2014]
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Probability
Rules of probability
Conditional probability
Module 4 Assignment: Due 02/20/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 3
Module 5: Random variables and probability distributions[Posted 02/14/2014]
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Definition of random variables
Discrete Binomial random variables
Binomial probability distribution
Continuous random variable and normal distribution
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
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Probability distributions in graphics
Module 5 Assignment: Due 02/27/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapters 4 & 5
Module 6: Sampling distributions for sample statistics[Posted 02/14/2014]
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Sampling distributions of sample proportion and mean
Normal approximation
Central limit theory
Module 6 Assignment: Due 03/06/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 6
Exam 2: 03/19--20/2014 (TWO days): 2.5 hours during 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM [Covers
Modules 4 – 6]
Module7: Hypothesis testing and Confidence Intervals[Posted 03/21/2014]
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Definition of hypothesis testing
Procedures of hypothesis testing
Calculation of confidence intervals
Module 7 Assignment: Due 03/27/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 7
Module 8: Testing Hypothesis for Proportions [Posted 03/21/2014]
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One-sample test for proportion
Two-sample test for proportions
Chi-square tests
Module 8 Assignment: Due 04/03/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 8
Module 9: Testing Hypothesis for Means [Posted 03/21/2014]
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One-sample test for mean
Two-sample test for means
Module 9Assignment : Due 04/10/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 9
Exam 3: 04/16--17/2014 (TWO days): 2.5 hours during 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM [Covers
Modules 7 – 9]
Module 10: Correlation and Linear Regression [Posted 04/18/2014]
Module 10 Assignment: Due 04/24/2014, 11:59 PM
Reading: LeBlanc Chapter 13
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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College of Public Health
University of South Florida
Review: What Have We Learned? A Summary [Posted 04/26/2014]
No assignment due.
Final Exam: 04/30—05/01/2014 (TWO days): 2.5 Hours between 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM
[Covers Modules 1-10]
INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES & STUDENT RESOURCES
Go to: Institutional Policies information & Student Resources or http://tinyurl.com/usfpolicies
Syllabus (Updated Aug. 2013)
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