This module is an introduction
to statistics, particularly as applied in oncology and palliative care.
The overall aim is to explain why statistics is important in these fields and
to explain some of the basic concepts of statistics. At the end of the
module you should be familiar with many of the statistical terms and techniques
you will encounter when reading the literature. You should also be able
to analyse some of your own data. The course makes extensive use of the
statistical package Minitab, and through the course you will acquire the skills
necessary to start using this program.
Mode of Study
The first week of study invites you to read a research paper and to try to decide where the statistical issues arise. In the second week you will install Minitab on your PC. Thereafter each week has a similar format.
In each week there will be one, or occasionally two study documents for you to read. After reading each document there will be a set of exercises to do. These will involve the use of Minitab. These are not formally assessed, they are simply there to help you to consolidate your knowledge. Learning statistics is not straightforward and you will often find that you will have to go over the study document several times in order to complete the exercises successfully. You can check your answers in the Solutions Sheet which accompanies each set of exercises. However, you are encouraged to make a thorough attempt before looking at the solutions!
There are three sets of true/false questions, after week 5, after week 7 and after week 11. These contribute to your mark for the module.
There are two weeks in which no formal work is set.
In the last week of the course there is a test on all the material in the course. You will also be given a report of a study and asked to write a commentary of up to 1500 words on the statistical aspects of the study.
Other sources
The course is intended to be self-contained, in that the study documents cover all the material you need. However, it is often the case that being able to read another authors view of a subject can help to elucidate points of difficulty, or can simply consolidate your understanding.
To this end, in the study documents, and at other points in the course, references are given to relevant chapters, sections and pages of the book by Martin Bland, 'An Introduction to Medical Statistics' (3rd edition), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000 (ISBN 0 19 263269 8). This book has the extra advantage that it contains many multiple choice questions, with fully explained solutions. Doing these can add to your understanding of the subject.
Another useful book is that by MJ Campbell
and D Machin, 'Medical Statistics: a Commonsense
Approach' (3rd edition), Wiley, Chichester, 2000 (ISBN 0 47 198721 2)
A rather different style of book, comprising worked examples, which is a useful
Complement to Bland is:
Bland, Martin and Peacock, Janet, ‘Statistical questions in
evidence-based medicine’, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000 (ISBN
0 19 262992 1).
Week 1: Why do you need
statistics in medical research?
Week 2: Introduction to
Minitab
Week 3: Basic descriptive
statistics
Week 4: The idea of a
population and its parameters
Week 5: Properties of the
Normal distribution
Week 6: Samples, estimation
and standard errors
Week 7: Confidence intervals:
what they are & how to find them
Week 8: No formal work this
week
Week 9: The idea of a
hypothesis test
Week 10: Tests to compare two groups: t-tests
Week 11: Binary data and the c2 test
Week 12: Principle of sample size
calculations
Week 13: No formal work this week
Week 14: Survival analysis
Week 15: Test