Application deadline

Application deadline is December 1st. Application code 9304 in Studentweb.

PhD students and students at the Medical Student Research Program at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway apply for admission by registering for class in Studentweb by January 10th

Those who get admitted to the course must remeber to register for exam in Studentweb by February 1st.

Type of course

PhD course. This course is available as a singular course.

The course is organized by the Department of Pharmacy and the National PhD School of Pharmacy (NFIF).

Admission requirements

PhD students, masters students at a Medical Student Research Program, or holders of a Norwegian master´s degree of five years or 3+ 2 years (or equivalent) may be admitted. Valid documentation is a statement from your institution that you are a registered PhD student, or master student at a Medical Student Research Program or a Master´s Diploma with Diploma Supplement / English translation of the diploma. PhD students are exempt from semester fee.

For more information regarding PhD courses at the Faculty of Health Sciences go to: http://uit.no/helsefak/forskning/phd/emner

Applicants, who are affiliated with the national network "National PhD School of Pharmacy" (NFIF), will be prioritized for admission if the number of applicants exceeds the course capacity of 25 students.

Mandatory prerequisites: Course attendants are expected to be familiar with descriptive statistics (figures and summary tables) and basic inferential statistics (estimation and confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and P-values). Attendants should also have some experience handling databases (in e.g. Excel) and using statistical software. During the course we will use the software R, exposure to this program helps but is not required to participate.

Course content

The course will offer training opportunity in applied, advanced statistics, combining statistical modelling and multivariate analyses. With its balance between statistical theory and application, the course focus on analysis of real multidimensional data obtained from complex designs, and stress on effective communication of quantitative results in reports, publications and oral presentations, and will provide a thorough introduction to advanced statistical applications for young researchers in the health sciences.

After a brief review of study design and data analysis in biomedical and pharmaceutical research, the course will cover statistical modelling (Maximum Likelihood models), classification and ordination methods. The multivariate methods covered will include cluster analysis, discriminant analysis, multidimensional scaling (MDS), Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Correspondence Analysis (CA), and Constrained Correspondence Analysis (CCA). Graphical presentation and interpretation will play a prominent role to ensure exposure to effective communication of quantitative results.

Objectives of the course

The course aims to achieve the following learning goals. By the end of the course, attendants should

Knowledge

• know how to design and perform complex quantitative studies
• know how to clearly and effectively communicate the results of the analyses of complex studies with the help of graphical representations
• know how to interpret statistical modelling and multivariate analysis results and draw correct inferences from these

Skills

• be able to choose appropriate statistical methods based on problem and character of the data
• be able to implement correctly the chosen statistical methods (with the help of suitable software, e.g. R)
• be able to report results of complex quantitative studies

Competence

• understand the relevant methodological literature, including new advancements
• be able to critically evaluate complex quantitative studies
• be able to plan, perform and report complex quantitative studies

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

Assessment

Work requirements:

• Mandatory lectures and pc-lab.
• The course attendants will have to prepare a short presentation of their research outlining i) research question(s), ii) aims, iii) approach (emphasis on quantitative aspect, i.e. study design and planned statistical analyses), preliminary results and interpretation of findings.

Examination and assessment: Written home examination (semesteroppgave), max. 10 pages. Evaluation, graded pass or fail (bestått/ikke bestått). The submission deadline for the written report will be 6 weeks after the last lecture. 

Examination language: English/Norwegian.

In the event that an exam is evaluated as not passed, there will be an opportunity to submit a revised exam paper at the beginning of the next semester. Application deadline for the continuation exam is August 15th.

Recommended reading/syllabus

Book chapters and methodological papers

Books: Greenacre M. and Primicerio R (2013). Multivariate analysis of ecological data. BBVA Foundation, Madrid.