Semester: I

Course Code & Title: ---------------& Basic Biostatistics

Core Course
Credits - 4
Course description:
Basic biostatistics is a foundational course in the MPH programme. The course introduces the students to basic concepts of statistics and tools
essential in healthcare research. The course makes use of case studies and simulation exercises to discuss the problems and applications of
biostatistics. The course employs lectures and practical hands-on analysis of nationally representative data sets to develop competencies to
undertake statistical analysis and generate inferences.

Course objectives: The objectives of this course are: -

● To provide an introduction to the common concepts of Biostatistics applied in public health.

● To introduce the MPH students to univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical procedures

● To provide hands-on experience to MPH students in cleaning, preparing and analysing statistical data

● To develop the competencies among the students to make statistical inferences

● To build awareness about software packages (such as R, SPSS, STATA etc.,) available for statistical data analysis.

Course outcomes: On successful completion of the course, students will be able to

1) Understand the numerical statistical data and develop a detailed data analysis plan.
2) Understand the application of Univariate, Bivariate and Multivariate statistical procedures and apply them.
3) Draw inferences from the statistical results and discuss their generalizability.

Skills to be attained:
●Technical skills such as data analysis skills, data management skills, problem-solving skills and skills in developing statistical models.
 ●Soft skills including data interpretation, presentation, and communication.

Prerequisites: The students should have a basic understanding of high school mathematics.

Pedagogy:

Flipped classroom [ X] Blended learning [X] Student-led/student-centric learning [x]

Tutorial [ ] Chalk and talk [ X] Experiential/participatory learning and Problem-based learning [X]

Lesson Plan:

Week Contact Units and Topics Readings

hrs.
Unit -1: Introduction to biostatistics and its application in public health

1 4 1.1 Scope and application of biostatistics in Ahlbom, A. (1993). Biostatistics for epidemiologists. CRC Press.
public health
1.2 Variable, variable types and its prominence
in statistical analysis.
2 4 1.3 Probability theory Greasley, P. (2007). Quantitative data analysis using SPSS: an
1.4 Commonly used distributions in biostatistics introduction for health & social science. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
- normal distribution
- binomial distribution
- passion distribution

Unit-2: Statistical inference and hypothesis testing

3 4 2.1 Statistical inference Ahlbom, A. (1993). Biostatistics for epidemiologists. CRC Press.
 2.2 p-value & statistical significance
2.3. Confidence interval and confidence level Du Prel, J. B., Hommel, G., Röhrig, B., & Blettner, M. (2009).
2.4 Hypothesis testing Confidence interval or p-value? Part 4 of a series on evaluation of
scientific publications. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 106(19), 335.
Continuous Assessment 1
Unit-3: Univariate statistics
3 4 3.1 Measures of central tendency Gertsman, B. B. (2015). Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for public health
3.1 Measures of dispersion practice. Burlington, MA.
3.3 Prevalence and incidence measures
4 4 3.4 Non-parametric tests for single sample Glasser, G. J. (1962). Variance formulas for the mean difference and
coefficient of concentration. Journal of the American Statistical
Association, 57(299), 648-654.

Ahlbom, A. (1993). Biostatistics for epidemiologists. CRC Press.

Unit -4: Bivariate statistics

5 4 4.1 Measures and methods commonly used in Kim, T. K. (2015). T test as a parametric statistic. Korean journal of
bivariate analysis anesthesiology, 68(6), 540.
4.3 t- test Greasley, P. (2007). Quantitative data analysis using SPSS: an
6 4 4.4 Correlation analysis introduction for health & social science. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
4.5 Chi-squared tests and Fischer’s exact test Gertsman, B. B. (2015). Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for public health
4.6 Non-parametric tests for two sample practice. Burlington, MA.
Continuous Assessment-2
Unit-5: Multivariate statistics
7 4 5.1 Introduction to multivariate statistical Gertsman, B. B. (2015). Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for public health
approaches practice. Burlington, MA.

8 4 5.2 Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Schneider, A., Hommel, G., & Blettner, M. (2010). Linear regression
5.3 Linear regression analysis analysis: part 14 of a series on evaluation of scientific publications.
9 4 5.4 Logistic regression Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 107(44), 776.
Gertsman, B. B. (2015). Basic Biostatistics: Statistics for public health
10 4 5.5 Non-parametric tests for three/more sample practice. Burlington, MA
Unit-6: Sample size estimation
11 4 6.1 Basic principles of sample size calculation Devane, D., Begley, C. M., & Clarke, M. (2004). How many do I need?
6.2 Sample size estimation in public health Basic principles of sample size estimation. Journal of Advanced Nursing,
research 47(3), 297-302.
Charan, J., & Biswas, T. (2013). How to calculate sample size for
different study designs in medical research? Indian journal of
psychological medicine, 35(2), 121.

Röhrig, B., du Prel, J. B., Wachtlin, D., Kwiecien, R., & Blettner, M.
(2010). Sample size calculation in clinical trials: part 13 of a series on
evaluation of scientific publications. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International,
107(31-32).

Hajian-Tilaki, Karimollah. "Sample size estimation in epidemiologic

studies." Caspian journal of internal medicine 2, no. 4 (2011): 289.
Continuous Assessment 3
Unit-7: Data preparation, data cleaning and data presentation
12 4 7.1 Data preparation and data cleaning Spriestersbach, A., Röhrig, B., Du Prel, J. B., Gerhold-Ay, A., & Blettner,
M. (2009). Descriptive statistics: The specification of statistical measures
13 -14 8 7.2 Presenting statistical data using tables and and their presentation in tables and graphs. Part 7 of a series on evaluation
figures of scientific publications. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 106(36),
578.

Course Evaluation:
A. Continuous Assessment (CA)
● Internal Exam-MCQ type (20 Marks)

● Assignment (20 Marks)

● Presentation (20 Marks)

 B. End Semester Assessment (ESA): Examination for 40 marks

Additional Readings
1) Landau, S. (2004). A handbook of statistical analyses using SPSS. CRC.
2) Blanca, M. J., Alarcón, R., Arnau, J., Bono, R., & Bendayan, R. (2017). Non-normal data: Is ANOVA still a valid option? Psicothema,
29(4), 552-557.
3) Barton, B., & Peat, J. (2014). Medical statistics: A guide to SPSS, data analysis and critical appraisal. John Wiley & Sons.
4) Starkweather, J., & Moske, A. K. (2011). Multinomial logistic regression. Consulted page at September 10th: http://www. unt.
edu/rss/class/Jon/Benchmarks/MLR_JDS_Aug2011. pdf, 29, 2825-2830.
5) Glasser, M. (1964). Linear regression analysis with missing observations among the independent variables. Journal of the American
Statistical Association, 59(307), 834-844.
6) Chao, Y. C. E., Zhao, Y., Kupper, L. L., & Nylander-French, L. A. (2008). Quantifying the relative importance of predictors in multiple
linear regression analyses for public health studies. Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene, 5(8), 519-529.
7) Victor, A., Elsäßer, A., Hommel, G., & Blettner, M. (2010). Judging a plethora of p-values: how to contend with the problem of multiple
testing-part 10 of a series on evaluation of scientific publications. Deutsches Arzteblatt International, 107(4).