The Medical Statistics Team at the University of Aberdeen will be running 5 courses in March/April 2016.

 

1. Introduction to SPSS: Wednesday 31st March 2016 (9am-1pm)

2. Introductory Medical Statistics: Thursday 15th March 2016 (9am-5pm)

3-5. Intermediate Medical Statistics 4th-6th April 2016 (can be booked as a 3-day package or as individual days)

3. Modelling continuous outcomes – linear regression: Monday 4th April 2016 (9am-5pm)

4. Modelling binary outcomes – logistic regression: Tuesday 5th April 2016 (9am-5pm)

5. Modelling time to event outcomes - survival analysis: Wednesday 6th April 2016 (9am-5pm)

 

Bookings should be made directly via the on-line store (http://www.store.abdn.ac.uk/ ) – payment is by credit/debit card. Courses will be held in Polwarth Building, Medical School, Foresterhill, Aberdeen. If you would like to book, but have concerns about accessibility please contact Dr Gordon Prescott ([log in to unmask], Tel 01224 437109).

For course content please see below. For further details on content contact Dr Gordon Prescott ([log in to unmask], Tel 01224 437109).

 

 

1. Introduction to SPSS: Wednesday 31st March 2016 between 9 am and 1pm (£90)

The course is aimed at clinical and non-clinical researchers and other health care professionals who would like a basic introduction to using the SPSS statistical software package.  Please note that this is not a course on statistics. This course offers a practical guide to using SPSS for Windows (version 23). No previous knowledge is assumed.

Topics covered by this course include:

* Data entry

* Exploring and summarising data

* Manipulating data

* Data transformations

* Data checking

 

Format of the course: There will be short demonstrations followed by opportunities to work your way through the course handbook at your own pace and the opportunity to ask questions.

 

2. Introductory Medical Statistics: Tuesday 15th March 2016 between 9am and 5pm (£170)

The course is aimed at individuals who are required to interpret and/or conduct basic statistical analyses. The course would be relevant to clinical and non-clinical researchers and other health care professionals.  No previous knowledge is assumed.

The course will cover the following topics:

* Issues of study design

* Types of data

* Descriptive statistics

* Probability and distributions

* P-values and hypothesis testing

* Confidence intervals

* Univariate techniques (t-tests, correlation, chi-square tests)

 

Format of the course: A series of lectures aimed at practical application.

 

3-5. Intermediate Medical Statistics (all three days as a package £450 or individual days £170): 4th-6th April 2016 between 9am and 5pm.

 

The format of these courses: a mix of lectures and computer practicals using SPSS (version 23). This will enable participants to gain experience of the theory and practical application of the statistical techniques, as well as interpretation of the accompanying SPSS output. A basic knowledge of statistics including p-values, hypothesis testing and simple statistical concepts is assumed for all of the following courses. Prior experience of a statistics package or spreadsheet is desirable, but not essential. The courses would be relevant to clinical and non-clinical researchers and other health care professionals.

 

3. Modelling continuous outcomes – linear regression: Monday 4th April 2016 between 9am and 5pm (£170)

The aim of this course is to introduce participants to more advanced statistical techniques for measured (continuous/discrete) health outcomes. This will enable participants to gain experience of the theory and practical application of the statistical techniques, as well as interpretation of the accompanying SPSS output.

The course will cover the following topics:

* Analysis of variance

* Linear regression

 

4. Modelling binary outcomes – logistic regression: Tuesday 5th April 2016 between 9am and 5pm (£170)

The aim of this course is to introduce participants to more advanced statistical techniques for binary and categorical health outcomes. This will enable participants to gain experience of the theory and practical application of the statistical techniques, as well as interpretation of the accompanying SPSS output.

The course will cover the following topics:

* Relative risks, odds ratios, and numbers needed to treat

* Logistic regression

 

5. Modelling time to event outcomes - survival analysis: Wednesday 6th April 2016 between 9am and 5pm (£170)

Survival analysis (or time-to-event analysis) allows the examination of a relationship between patient information recorded at some origin (e.g. referral to secondary care, disease diagnosis) and a binary outcome that may or may not occur at some later point (e.g. death, recovery, hospital discharge).  Some underlying theory will be explained, but only enough to facilitate interpretation of the analysis.  Those with no knowledge of multivariable statistical modelling are strongly encouraged to attend the previous two Intermediate Medical Statistics courses (3 and 4) before attending this course.

The course will cover the following topics:

*Censoring and the hazard function

*Estimating the survivor function using the Kaplan-Meier method

*Comparing groups using the log-rank test

*The Cox proportional hazards model

*Model checking procedures