Ateneo - UPO

Statistics: basic statistical knowledge, including random variables, descriptive statistics, probability, distributions and statistical inference. Working with data: use of the R software for statistical analysis and graphics. Epidemiology: epidemiological methods in public health; epidemiological study designs (clinical trials, cohort studies, case control, transversal and descriptive studies); sources of uncertainty (role of chance, bias and confounding). Systematic reviews and meta-analysis: protocol writing, meta-analysis and risk of bias assessment.

OpenIntro Statistics https://www.openintro.org/book/os/

The course aims to provide basic concepts in statistics and data analysis.

Basic mathematics

Lectures, R computer labs.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilities
Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

An online examination accounting for the 75% of the total grade to be carried out on the exam day and will be delivered through DIR.
This in turn will be subdivided in:
– a set of multiple-choice/answer questions (2/3 of the points) in the theoretical contents of the course.
– a set of exercises involving statistical analyses/procedures (1/3 of the points).

A written essay to be done at home assigned by the lecturer of the module entitled “Systematic review and meta-analysis” (25% of the final mark). Each student will be asked to write the protocol of a systematic review, followed by a meta-analysis, on a topic of his/her choice. The essay must be delivered approximately 15 days before the exam day (the exact deadline for submitting the essay will be communicated during the course).

Statistics: Basic elements of descriptive statistics. Single variable summary statistics (mean, and other statistical indicators) and graphics (histograms and boxplots).
Double variable and regression models.
Probability and discrete random variables
Continuous random variables. The gaussian. Area under the normal distribution. Standardization. Confidence intervals. The Student t-distribution Statistical hypothesis testing. The t-test. 2 sample t-test.The p-value.
One sided and two sided alternative hypothesis. Chi square test ANOVA
Introduction to R. Import data from excel to R. Plots in base R and using the R package ggplot2. Data simulation. Statistics with R.

Epidemiology: Definition of epidemiology. Measures of occurrence and association. Main Epidemiological studies: clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, descriptive studies. Sources of uncertainty in epidemiology: the role of chance, bias and confounding.
Systematic review and meta-analysis: refine research question, protocol writing and registration, meta-synthesis of qualitative data, meta-analysis techniques, the risk of bias assessment. In addition to the theoretical knowledge, students will gain practical experience by designing a systematic review and meta-analysis, including writing a protocol on a pre-assigned topic.

The students will be able to:
–        determine the appropriate statistical procedures for specified data sets and independently perform statistical analysis of biological data;
–        understand and interpret epidemiological studies;
–        critically interpret and design a systematic reviews and meta-analysis.