Course syllabus
Welcome to the course MPH221 Epidemiology and biostatistics!
The course is held from January 15th until March 23rd 2024. You may register via Ladok during the period January 8th - January 23rd 2024.
Overview
The MPH221 Epidemiology and Biostatistics course is a mandatory part of the Master in Public Health program, which is also available as a stand-alone course.
This biostatistics and epidemiology course provides the skills needed to gather and analyze data, and interpret results for different activities within medical research and public health studies. Essentially, this course provides a fundamental understanding and practices of biostatistics and epidemiology through a series of lectures and other sessions, such as computer exercises and seminars, on theories and problem-solving while also introducing and applying statistical tools (Stata software). During the course period, participants will discuss, through lectures and exercises, fundamental theories and practices of biostatistics and epidemiology and apply the gained knowledge through organized individual and group exercises. Also, ethical rules and applications for epidemiological designs and scientific data handling will be taught before students are invited for summary and Q&A sessions in preparation for their examinations.
Outcome Measures
Computer exercises: Most of these sessions are mandatory and course participants are required to attend all computer exercises and perform statistical analyses using different exercises and data sets. For each session, all students will be required to produce an individual report of their work outlining the analysis outputs, interpretations, and motivations.
Seminars: During this course, there will be a few occasions of mandatory seminars. Participants will be divided into smaller groups to review selected papers on a broad range of topics and discuss them in moderated sessions.
Computer-based Exam (part A): During week 7, all students will be examined for (mainly) biostatistics learning objectives via an individual computer-based exam.
Individual Written Exam (part B): During week 12, all students will have an integrated epidemiology and biostatistics exam for their learning objectives via an individual written exam.
Class participation and discussion significantly contribute to the written notes that are provided. Students are encouraged to attend and participate in all classes
Additional information
Additional information on course contents, objectives, and assessments is outlined in the Course Syllabus.
- Course Syllabus
- Course Schedule (note, this schedule is preliminary and changes may occur)
- Course Literature
Comment: The fourth edition of the book Medical statistics is no longer possible to buy as a printed book. A fifth edition of the book is instead available. However, through the GU library, you will have access to e-books for both editions. We will use parts from both editions during the course, please remember to keep track of which edition we are referring to in the recommended readings for each session.
Download and install Stata
To install Stata on your computer:
- The software Stata/SE can be downloaded through the GU student portal, link: https://download.gu.se/index_eng.php
- Choose Stata/SE 18 (ver 17 is also fine if that is your only possibility). When you are asked to give license information, the box with "Organisation" should be left blank. The information for the other boxes can be found via the link "Licence code" next to the downloading links.
- Please, finish the installation, and check that you can open and run Stata, before the session "Introduction to Stata".
During computer exercise sessions, we will be in computer rooms where Stata is installed on the stationary computers. You can choose between bringing your own computer or using the stationary computers. Note however that during the part A exam, you must use the computers in the computer room.
Contact information
Course coordinators: Anna Rehammar anna.rehammar@gu.se and
Ashish Kc ashish.kc@gu.se
Course administrator: Mahira Mukhtarova publichealth@medicin.gu.se
General student information