Research Methods and Statistics
Code
21197
Academic unit
NOVA Medical School | Faculdade de Ciências Médicas
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
Professor Doutor Miguel Xavier
Teaching language
English
Objectives
Thematic Unit 1
a) To understand the basic epidemiological concepts
b) To describe the most important research designs
c) To describe how to appraise a RCT
d) To improve the analysis of epidemiological studies
Thematic Unit 2
a) To improve the use of statistical terminology
b) To describe the types of data and levels of measurement
c) To describe the concepts of populations and samples, introduce confidence intervals.
d) To understand the formulation of null and alternate hypotheses, the meaning of 'p-values',
Type I and Type II errors
e) To understand the process of selecting a statistical test
f) To introduce multivariate analysis.
Prerequisites
Subject matter
Thematic unit 1
- Introduction to basic epidemiological approaches: Cross-sectional, longitudinal (prospective/retrospective), case-control studies
- Randomised clinical trials (1) - History of controlled and randomised studies- Design of trials incl. research question, hypothesis testing, sample size and power, recruitment, randomisation, the intervention, masking, attrition and measurement of outcomes
- Randomised clinical trials (2) - Alternative trial designs - Analysis and reporting of trials - health economics - ethics of trials
- Complex interventions - complex vs. complicated; - active ingredients; - function versus componentes - Design and evaluation - application in randomised trials
- Introduction to critical appraisal (Randomised clinical trial Systematic review/meta-analysis)
- Primary care psychiatry - Filters to care, primary care populations, the role of practice staff, records data, problems in research in this environment
Thematic unit 2
- Introduction to statistical thinking
- Types of data and levels of measurement
- Descriptive statistics: samples, populations and confidence intervals.
- Formulating hypotheses
- Statistical errors
- Selecting a statistical test
- Introduce to multivariate analysis.
Bibliography
1. Practical Psychiatric Epidemiology. Martin Prince, Robert Stewart, Tamsin Ford, Matthew Hotopf, Oxford Medical Publications, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0198515510
2. Psychiatric Epidemiology: Searching for the Causes of Mental Disorders. Ezra Susser, Sharon Schwartz, Evelyn J. Bromet. Oxford Psychiatry Series, 2006. ISBN-10: 0195101812
3. Practical Statistics for Medical Research. Douglas G. Altman. Chapman & Hall, 1990 | ISBN-10: 0412276305.
Teaching method
Lectures, group working, e-learning.
Evaluation method
Thematic Unit 1 - Development of an RCT specific to the evaluation of a service, care or therapy relevant to mental health (a choice of three interventions will be given), including a trial flow diagram.
Thematic Unit 2 - Analysis of an SPSS database - exploratory data analysis and use of statistical tests.
Courses
