Introduction to Biostatistics

University of Iowa
BIOS:4120 Spring 2022
Credit: 3 s.h.

Lecture: 9:30a – 10:50a Instructor: Prof. Patrick Breheny

Tuesday & Thursday Office: N336 CPHB
CPHB N110 Phone: 384-1584
e-mail: [email protected]
Office hours: Mon. 1:00p – 2:30p
Wed. 2:00p – 3:30p

Section A01: 11:00a – 11:50a TA: Stephanie Lewis

Tuesday e-mail: [email protected]
CPHB C201 Office hours: Mon. 12:00p – 1:20p
Wed. 4:30p – 5:30p
Fri. 12:00p – 1:40p

Section A02: 11:00a – 11:50a TA: Andy Peterson

Tuesday e-mail: [email protected]
CPHB C401 Office hours: Mon. 3:00p – 4:30p
Wed. 11:30a – 1:00p
Thu. 2:30p – 3:30p

Section A03: 3:30p – 4:20p TA: Andy Peterson

Tuesday e-mail: [email protected]
CPHB C401 Office hours: See above

Section A04: 3:30p – 4:20p TA: Stephanie Lewis

Wednesday e-mail: [email protected]
CPHB C401 Office hours: See above

All TA Office hours will be held in CPHB S251. If you are unable to make it to office hours,
feel free to contact one of us to set up an appointment.

Course description: This is an introductory course that covers the primary statistics
concepts and methods used in medicine, public health, and the biological sciences. The
objectives for this course are for you to be able to:

• Think statistically – to understand the importance of collecting data and using appro-
priate statistical methods in order to test hypotheses, estimate unknown quantities,
and conduct research

• Analyze data using basic statistical methods

• Recognize the strengths and limitations of those methods

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 • Better comprehend journal articles containing statistical analyses

• Have the necessary background to enroll in Regression & ANOVA in Health Sciences
(BIOS 5120)
Suggested text: No text is required in this course; the notes are self-sufficient. However,
some students like to purchase a textbook for (a) additional problems/exercises/examples
or (b) another perspective or explanation of a topic. I suggest the following two texts:
• Daniel, W. (2013): Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences
(Tenth Edition). Wiley.

• Motulsky, H. (2017): Intuitive Biostatistics (Fourth Edition). Oxford University Press.

The book by Daniel provides hundreds of additional examples and problems. In my opinion,
it is a very good book for purpose (a) above. The book by Motulsky attempts to get across
the ideas of statistics using verbal explanations and examples rather than equations, and
is a very good book for purpose (b) above. The book does not, however, have problems,
solutions, and exercises.

Prerequisite: College algebra.

Course website: The schedule of topics for the course, as well as notes, assignments, labs,
data sets, and other relevant materials is available on the course web site:
http://myweb.uiowa.edu/pbreheny/4120/s22
Assignment scores, solutions, and recorded lectures will be made available via ICON:
https://icon.uiowa.edu

Homework: There will be one homework assignment per week, due the following week at
the beginning of class on Tuesday. Graded assignments will be returned in lab. Solutions
will be posted to ICON on Tuesday afternoons. Clearly, no homework can be accepted after
that (see the section on grading for ramifications).
You are encouraged to work in groups of two or three, and turn in one copy of the homework
per group. I have found this to work very well in the past, as group discussions are valuable
for retention and understanding of the material, and working well in a group is a vital part of
being a professional. If you would like help in finding a group, please send your TA an e-mail.

Computing: Homework for this course will occasionally involve the use of a computer for
data analysis. You may use any statistical software you would like for this analysis, although
the software that we will cover in lecture/lab is R. R is free, open-source software and runs
on all operating systems (Windows/Mac/Linux).

Exams: There will be four quizzes and a final exam in this class. Quizzes will replace the
last half-hour of lecture on the following dates:

Quiz 1 February 10
Quiz 2 March 3
Quiz 3 April 7
Quiz 4 April 28

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The final, which will be comprehensive, will take place during finals week, although the
University has yet to determine the time and date.

All examinations (quizzes and final) are open-book, open-note. However, you may not use
a laptop, cellphone, or any device capable of communication or internet access. Also, you
will be asked to perform calculations on these quizzes, so bring a calculator with you (again,
your phone is not an acceptable substitute for a calculator during an exam).

Grading: Your grade will be based on a weighted average of homework (26%), quizzes
(37%), and the final exam (37%). Each homework assignment is worth 2% of your grade. If
you fail to turn in a homework assignment, that 2% of weight is added to the quizzes and
final exam (each getting 1%). For example, suppose you only turn in 11 of the 13 homework
assignments; in that case, homework would be worth 22% of your final grade, and quizzes
and the final exam each worth 39%. In the event that a grade on a homework assignment
is lower than your quiz/final average, that homework will be automatically dropped – i.e.,
turning in homework cannot hurt your final grade in this course. The grading scale for the
course is as follows:
90-100 A 70-75 B-
85-90 A- 55-70 C
80-85 B+ < 55 F
75-80 B
Attendance: Regular attendance in this course is expected. No direct penalty will be ap-
plied for missing lectures. However, assignments, quizzes, and the final will be based entirely
on lecture material, so skipping lecture is likely to hurt your grade (and, of course, your
understanding of the material).

Corrections: Despite my best efforts, my notes occasionally have mistakes. If you spot
a mistake, I very much want you to let me know about it so that I can correct it. I will
award two bonus points (to be added to your homework total) for pointing out a typograph-
ical error and five bonus points for an error in content. Corrections will be made to the
online version of the notes and (for meaningful errors) described on the course home page.
Once an error has been corrected online, no more bonus points for that mistake are available.

Electronic communication: I will occasionally send notices to the class through e-mail
(to your uiowa.edu account), so please check that account regularly.

Academic misconduct: You are allowed (encouraged!) to work together on homework

assignments. In addition, quizzes and the final exam are open-book, open-note. How-
ever, you are not allowed to copy off another student during exams, or use a cell phone
or any device capable of messaging, texting, or accessing the internet. Any of these ac-
tions will be considered cheating. The University of Iowa takes cheating on examinations
very seriously. You can read more about the consequences of academic misconduct at
http://dos.uiowa.edu/policies/academic-misconduct.

I look forward to getting to know you, and I hope that we have a great semester together.

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Public Health Competencies: Successful students in this course will learn to do the
following:
1. Describe the role of biostatistics in the Public Health discipline

2. Describe basic concepts of probability, random variation and commonly used statistical
probability distributions.

3. Describe preferred methodological alternatives to commonly used statistical methods

when assumptions are not met.

4. Distinguish among the different measurement scales and the implications for selection
of statistical methods to be used based on these distinctions.

5. Apply descriptive techniques commonly used to summarize public health data.

6. Apply common statistical methods for inference.

7. Apply descriptive and inferential methodologies according to the type of study design
for answering a particular research question.

8. Apply basic informatics techniques with vital statistics and public health records in the
description of public health characteristics and in public health research and evaluation.

9. Interpret results of statistical analyses found in public health studies.

Concerns: Students with suggestions or complaints should see me first, and if we cannot
come to an agreement, I will direct you to the Departmental DEO, Prof. Joseph Cavanaugh,
N332 CPHB, [email protected]. Students may also contact the Undergraduate
Program Director (if appropriate) or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College
of Public Health. Another resource for students is the Office of the University Ombudsper-
son. If a complaint cannot be resolved at the departmental and/or collegiate level, students
may file a formal complaint utilizing the procedure specified in Section II, Chapter 29.7 of
the Operations Manual: http://opsmanual.uiowa.edu.

Accommodations for students with disabilities: The University of Iowa is committed

to providing an educational experience that is accessible to all students. If you have a diag-
nosed disability or any other condition that would impair your ability to complete the course
requirements as stated above, please inform me as early in the semester as possible, prefer-
ably at least two weeks prior to the scheduled activity. Students needing accommodations
must register with Student Disability Services, (SDS): https://sds.studentlife.uiowa.
edu/students/apply to obtain a Letter of Accommodation (LOA). The office is located at
3015 Burge Hall (319.335.1462). Students with complaints about disability accommodation
should notify Student Disability Services and may be counseled to file a complaint with
the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Read more about Disability Resources at
https://diversity.uiowa.edu/disability-resources.

Administrative home: This course is given by the College of Public Health. This means
that class policies on matters such as requirements, grading, and sanctions for academic
dishonesty are governed by the College of Public Health. Students wishing to add or drop
this course after the official deadline must receive the approval of the Associate Dean for

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Academic Affairs in the College of Public Health. Details of the University policy of cross
enrollments may be found at: https://www.provost.uiowa.edu/sites/provost.uiowa.
edu/files/crossenroll.pdf.

Severe weather: In severe weather, class members should seek appropriate shelter im-
mediately, leaving the classroom if necessary. The class will continue if possible when the
event is over. For more information on Hawk Alert and the siren warning system, visit
http://hawkalert.uiowa.edu.

Sexual harassment/misconduct: The University of Iowa prohibits sexual misconduct,

dating/domestic violence, and stalking in any form, including sexual assault or sexual ha-
rassment, and any form of nonconsensual sexual conduct. Students should be able to live,
study, and work in an environment free from all forms of sexual misconduct, dating/domestic
violence, and stalking. Incidents of sexual misconduct can be reported to the Office of Sexual
Misconduct Response Coordinator (OSMRC) or to the Department of Public Safety (DPS).
If you are uncertain if what you have experienced from a student is sexual misconduct, see
Section IV, Chapter 2 of the operations manual. If you are uncertain if what you experienced
from a faculty or staff member is sexual harassment, see Section II, Chapter 4 of the oper-
ations manual. Students impacted by a Title IX issue (sexual misconduct, dating/domestic
violence, or stalking) may be eligible to request an academic accommodation. Contact the
OSMRC for assistance, definitions, and the full University of Iowa policy. If you or someone
you know experiences sexual assault, sexual harassment, dating/domestic violence, stalking,
or any other behaviors prohibited under this policy, you are strongly encouraged to seek
assistance and support. See below for link to confidential resources.

• https://osmrc.uiowa.edu

• https://police.uiowa.edu

• https://opsmanual.uiowa.edu

• https://osmrc.uiowa.edu/victim-resources/confidential-support

Mental health: Students are encouraged to be mindful of their mental health and seek
help if they are feeling overwhelmed and/or incapable of meeting course expectations. For
assistance with the class, students are encouraged to talk to me. For additional support and
counseling, students are encouraged to contact The University Counseling Service (UCS) in
1950 University Capital Centre Suite or 3223 Westlawn South. Call 319.335.7294 to sched-
ule appointments. Find out more about the UCS at http://counseling.uiowa.edu. After
hours, call the Johnson County Crisis Line at 319.351.0140 or 911 if you are having a mental
health emergency.

Nondiscrimination in the Classroom and the College: The University of Iowa pro-
hibits discrimination in employment, educational programs, and activities on the basis of
race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic infor-
mation, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gen-
der identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the per-
son of consideration as an individual. The university also affirms its commitment to pro-

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viding equal opportunities and equal access to university facilities. For additional infor-
mation on nondiscrimination policies, contact the Director, Office of Institutional Equity,
the University of Iowa, 202 Jessup Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242-1316, 319-335-0705, https:
//diversity.uiowa.edu/division/oie, mailto:[email protected]. Students may share
their pronouns and chosen/preferred names in MyUI, which is accessible to instructors and
advisors.

Free Expression: The University of Iowa supports and upholds the First Amendment
protection of freedom of speech and the principle of academic freedom in order to foster a
learning environment where open inquiry and the vigorous debate of a diversity of ideas are
encouraged. Students will not be penalized for the content or viewpoints of their speech as
long as student expression in a class context is germane to the subject matter of the class
and conveyed in an appropriate manner.

Absences for Religious Holy Days: The University is prepared to make reasonable
accommodations for students whose religious holy days coincide with their classroom assign-
ments, test schedules, and classroom attendance expectations. Students must notify their
instructors in writing of any such Religious Holy Day conflicts or absences within the first
few days of the semester or session, and no later than the third week of the semester. If the
conflict or absence will occur within the first three weeks of the semester, the student should
notify the instructor as soon as possible.