2nd semester

Learning Objectives

This course provides training in basic statistics and its applications in health promotion and health education. Students will be trained on statistical testing through practicing with datasets, critical review of manuscripts and interpretation of results. The course covers the formulation of research questions, sample size determination, descriptive statistics, introductory concepts of statistical tests, data analysis for quantitative and qualitative outcomes, and practical exercises using the SPSS statistical package.

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

• Understand where, when, and why statistics are used in public health research.
• Estimate parameters used in data analysis.
• Conduct hypothesis testing and construct confidence intervals for population parameters.
• Interpret statistical testing.
• Critically read scientific papers, understand the appropriate use of statistical tests, and interpret the results.

Course Content

The course includes the following topics and related assignments:

• Formulation of research questions.
• Introduction to Statistics - Introduction to SPSS.
• Descriptive statistics I (Frequency tables, graphs) / Application using SPSS.
• Descriptive statistics III (Measures of central tendency and dispersion) / Application using SPSS.
• Analysis of quantitative data (t-test, paired t-test) / Application using SPSS.
• Analysis of quantitative data - Non-parametric tests / Application using SPSS.
• Analysis of qualitative data (Chi-square test) / Application using SPSS.
• Study power and sample size estimation.
• Design and evaluation of questionnaires.
• Correlation - Regression / Application using SPSS.
• Multiple linear regression / Application using SPSS