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
I. Statistics
- Introduction to basic statistics concepts
- Types of data and levels of measurement
- Describing data: central tendency, spread, variance, confidence intervals
- Formulating hypothesis - Null and alternative hypothesis, p-values
- Statistical Errors: Type I and Type II errors
- Selecting a statistical test: parametric and non-parametric tests
- Introduction to the SPSS
II. Applied Epidemiology
- Basic epidemiological approaches: cross-sectional, longitudinal prospective/ retrospective), case-control studies
- Introduction to the theory and practice of randomised clinical trials: History of controlled and randomised studies
- Design of trials - Framing the research question, hypothesis testing, sample size and power
- Design of trials continued - recruitment, randomisation, the intervention, masking, attrition, measurement of outcomes and introduction to analysis
- Introduction to critical appraisal - Systematic review/meta-analysis of randomised clinical trials
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.