Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

At the end of this course, students should be able to: 1. state the role of statistics in human biology and medicine; 2. describe collection and organisation of data and scales of measurement; 3. enumerate measures of central tendency and location; 4. enumerate measures of variability (dispersion) and standard deviation standard error; 5. define probability theory and binomial distribution; 6. explain the statistical significance of a difference; 7. define estimating population values; 8. illustrate planning of health survey; and 9. explain design and interpretation of clinical trials.

Introduction into the role of statistics in human biology and medicine. Collection and organisation of data, and scales of measurement. Presentation of data. Measures of central tendency and location (mean, median, mode, normal curve, skewed curve). Measures of variability (dispersion) and standard deviation (SD) standard error (SE). Probability theory and binomial distribution. Introduction of students to t-test, z-test, chi-square test. The statistical significance of a difference. Association, correlation and linear regression. Estimating population values. Planning of health survey. Design and interpretation of clinical trials.