Vår 2017

HEL-8024 Quantitative Research Methods - 3 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for psykologi

Type of course

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

Course overlap

HEL-8012 Quantitative Research Methods 3 stp

Course contents

The aim of the course is to provide an introduction to basic concepts in statistics and the theoretical foundations for basic statistics that are relevant across most branches of the health sciences. The objective is to introduce the students to descriptive statistics e. g. central tendency and dispersion as well as to inferential statistics based on probability distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing and scientific study designs. Furthermore, the course teaches t-test, correlation analysis and basics for regression analyses.

Application deadline

External applicants: Application deadline is December 1st. Application code 9303 in Søknadsweb.

It granted admission to the course you have to register for class and exam in Studentweb by February 1st.

PhD students and students at the Medical Student Research Program at UiT - The Arctic University of Norway go driectly to Studentweb to register for class and exam.

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

It is recommended that you take this course early in your PhD study and after having taken HEL-8010.

Objective of the course

Knowledge

By the end of this course, the candidate has knowledge that enables him/her to:

organize the basic concepts in statistics, such as central tendency and variance and be able to discuss their theoretical foundations
be able to judge types of probability distributions
be able to organize different study designs
discuss the concept of a confidence interval
discuss the principle behind a significance test
discuss the concept of statistical power

skills and competence

By the end of this course, the candidate has skills that enables him/her to:

conduct a hypothesis test comparing two means (t-test)
carrying out a correlation/partial correlation analysis and reporting the results according to publication standards, and interpreting the results
perform simple regression analyses
report the results of a statistical analysis according to publication standards

Language of instruction

The instruction language will be in English given attendance from foreign students.

Teaching methods

The course consists of four full teaching days and combines introductory lectures with exercises/examples for group work or plenary discussions. A high degree of participant involvement and activity is expected.

The topics for the four days will be:

Day 1: Variables and research/study design

Day 2: Descriptive statistics, probability, sampling and distributions

Day 3: Correlations/partial correlations and regression

Day 4: Hypothesis testing and significance testing, t-test

Assessment

Assessment

Written exam graded as pass/fail. The exam will contain a mixture of multiple choice questions and open-ended questions. Length of exam: 2 hours.

No re-sit exam will be given as the course is given continuously.

Date for examination

One written exam 21.03.2017

The date for the exam can be changed. The final date will be announced at your faculty early in May and early in November.