Epidemiology & Analytic Methods 1

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject provides an introduction to epidemiological and biostatistical concepts and methods, and their application in the assessment and management of health issues in a range of clinical and population-based settings. Methods are taught in an applied context to enhance core skills and develop an awareness of current issues in epidemiological research and practice. Subject content includes an introduction to disease causation and measures of population health, including disease burden and the distribution of disease determinants. This subject also introduces basic demography, including population structure and sampling methods, and introduces students to epidemiological research study designs. Key skills covered include how to set up datasets, tabulate, graph and explore health data and carry out basic descriptive analyses using the Stata statistical software package.

• Understand the principles of epidemiology
• Be familiar with the major study designs used in Epidemiology
• Understand the measures of frequency and association used in epidemiology
• Critically appraise measures of exposure and disease occurrence
• Be familiar with the concepts of bias and confounding
• Apply descriptive statistical methods
• Understand the concept of sampling variability and how it underpins statistical inference in the form of estimation (using confidence intervals)
• Competently interpret and report measures of disease distribution
• Be familiar with spreadsheets and basic methods for statistical summary and description of epidemiological data computed by hand and using Stata
• Summarise and interpret measures of disease distribution, effect and association
• Compute and interpret confidence intervals for means and proportions

One 1-hour computer-based assessment task (5%) in week 5, one take home 1500 word assessment task (25%) due week 5. and one assignment of up to 2500 words (70%) due a few weeks after the end of coursework

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Develop basic descriptive analytical skills
• Begin to develop the epidemiological frameworks to recognise and describe research methods
• Become familiar with the language and terminology used in epidemiology
• Develop skills in writing reports on health data
• Develop the ability to plan and prioritise reading and assessment tasks

This subject, taken in conjunction with 505-970 Epidemiology and Analytic Methods II, replaces 505-101 and 505-102 as a core subject for the MPH Epidemiology and Biostatistics stream.