Application deadline

Type of course

Admission requirements

To take PhD courses you need at a minimum a masters degree or equivalent, or admission to a Medical Student Research Program.

For information about how to apply for admission, go to:http://uit.no/helsefak/forskning/phd/emner

Recommended prior reading is the compendium "Grunnleggende statistikk" by Dariush Arai (available at Akademisk kvarter, norwegian only). Basic statistical knowledge from prior courses and/or self-study is also sufficient. I also recommend to go through the instructive and fun tutorials at http://tryr.codeschool.com/ which teaches the basics of the R statistical software.

Course content

The course will be applied (relatively non-mathematical), data-analytical and will contain:

• Single, multiple and multi-level regression
• Assumptions of the general linear model
• Interactions
• Outliers and influential points
• Missing data
• Diagostics and reasons for model misfits; discussion of population homogeneity as a basic assumption of statistics

Objectives of the course

After completion of the course the students will:

• have a broad and relatively deep understanding of regression analysis.
• be able to determine when and under what circumstances regression analysis can usefully be applied and when other techniques may be more beneficial (e.g., analysis of variance, ANOVA)
• be able to critically assess the way research results have been analyzed in scientific publications and to judge whether errors have been made in the application of regression techniques.
• be able to use your knowledge of regression analysis in most statistical areas.
• be able to use regression analysis in most applied settings in the field of psychology.
• be able to run regression analysis in one of the most commonly used statistical software packages (R).

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Assessment

Exam
The exam will be a 6 hours exam taken in front of a PC. Evaluation will be on a pass/fail basis.

Continuation exam
A continuation examination may be arranged in the subsequent term. Application deadline for continuation exam is August 15th.

Recommended reading/syllabus

Gelman & Hill (2007). Data Analysis Using Regression and Multilvel/Hierarchical Models. Cambridge University Press.

Chapters: 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,11,12

Field, Miles & Field (2014). Discovering Statistics Using R. Sage Publications Ltd.

Chapters: 3,4,7,8,19