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, in which you need to provide more extended answers. This counts to you final assessment.
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).
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