Preliminaries

In this introductory section for PHC 6050 and PHC 6052, we will:

• Define statistics and biostatistics

• List the five steps in a typical research project and discuss the roles biostatistics can play in each

• Introduce the Big Picture of Statistics, which is the foundation of our course, and define and discuss its four components

• Introduce fundamental definitions related to data, datasets, and variables.

• Explain the different types/classifications of variables and introduce why this is important in biostatistics

Here are links to a few other online materials similar to 6060/6052 which you may find useful as secondary references

• Materials on which we based the 6050/6052 course: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/webui/guest/join.do?section=probstat (click ENTER COURSE or create an account and login)
• Very similar course through Penn State: https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat500/
• http://onlinestatbook.com/index.html
• http://www.seeingstatistics.com/
• http://www.jerrydallal.com/LHSP/LHSP.HTM
• https://www.openintro.org/stat/
• https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Statistical_Analysis
• https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-05-introduction-to-probability-and-statistics-spring-2014/index.htm

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