Social and Behavioral Sciences in Public Health

Course number

UA 8300:604

CSU MPH 604

KSU PH 60104

YSU MPH 904

Course directors	Office hours	Phone	Fax	E-mail
Andy Chang, PhD, (YSU)	By appointment or e-mail anytime	(330) 742-1818	(330) 742-3170	chang@math.ysu.edu

	Meeting dates	Special dates
Class meeting times	8/25/01, 9/8/01, 9/15/01, 9/22/01, 9/29/01, 10/13/01, 10/20/01, 10/27/01, 11/3/01, 11/10/01, 11/17/01, 12/1/01, 12/8/01, 12/15/01	9/1/01—Labor Day holiday 11/24/01—Thanksgiving holiday 9/29/01—All day at YSU computer lab 10/6/01—No biostatistics class; all day with Public Health Concepts 11/10/01—Half day biostatistics lab (central location TBA) 12/8/01—At NEOUCOM

Course Overview

This course will cover principles of biostatistics in the context of multiple public health applications. Statistical package SPSS and Excel will be used.

Course Objectives:

At the end of this course, students should be able to do the following:

Explain the basic concepts of descriptive and inferential biostatistics.
Select appropriate study designs and statistical methods for public health problems.
Use statistical software to analyze public health data.
Interpret results of biostatistical analysis.
Apply biostatistical methods to quantify and propose solutions to public health problems.
Identify and retrieve current relevant scientific evidence.

Required text book

Pagano M and Gauyreau K, Principles of Biostatistics (2000). Duxbury Press.

Optional materials

SPSS Student Version 10.0 for Windows, Prentice Hall. To see more detailed description of the software, check the webpage http://www.spss.com/education/student.htm.

Additional readings to be available on e-reserves.

Evaluation

Item Percentage Date Due Scale

Exam I (take home)
Covers week 1-5
25 Posted 9/29/01 by noon; due 10/6/01 by 3 p.m. A 90-100

B 80-89

Exam II (take home)
Covers week 6-10
25 Posted 11/10/01 by noon; due 11/17/01 by 3 p.m. C 70-79

D 60-69

Final (take home)
80% from week 11-14
20% from other topics
25 Posted 12/8/01 by noon; due 12/15/01 by 3 p.m. F below 60

Project, homework and lab 25 To be arranged

Total 100

Submission of exams/assignments: Midterms and final exams are to be e-mailed, faxed or mailed to Dr. Andy Chang (see contact information on the last page of the syllabus).
Lab assignments: Assignments will be given during lab sessions and will be collected during the lab day or the following week.
Attendance: Attendance at all class sessions and participation is expected. Attendance will be taken and participation will be noted for each class session. However, this data will only be used in cases where the student is on the border of a grade. The assumption is made that if a student attended each class and participated fully, then they learned more than their assignments may have indicated. On the other hand, if a student is absent and/or fails to participate, the assumption is that their assignment grades adequately reflect their mastery of the material. If a student is going to be absent for sickness or professional reasons, please let the instructor for the day of class the student is going to be missing know ahead of time.

Participation: During class sessions, activities may be given for each site or individuals to work on. The instructor may ask different students to report back to the full class. Professional comportment is also a part of participation: students are expected to arrive on time, stay until the end of class, and be respectful of other students.
Incompletes: A student must receive permission of the course director in order to receive an "Incomplete" grade. If such permission has not been received, the grade that stands on December 17 at 9:00 a.m. will be given.
Calculator: An inexpensive hand held scientific calculator (less than $20) that has a summation key and be able to calculate mean and standard deviation would be very helpful for the course.

Course Schedule

Date	Subject	Reading assignment	Instructor	Minimum Competencies
8/25/01 Week 1	Introduction & Overview	Chapter 1, 2 & 3	Andy Chang (YSU)
9/1/01	NO CLASS - LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
9/8/01 Week 2	Data Presentation – Data type, tables and graphs Numerical Summary Measures Rates and Standardization & Sampling Theory	Chapter 2, 3, 4 & 22	Andy Chang (YSU)
9/15/01 Week 3	Theoretical Probability Distributions Sampling Distribution of the Mean Confidence Intervals	Chapter 6.1, 7, 8 & 9	Andy Chang (YSU)
9/22/01 Week 4	Hypothesis Testing Comparison of Two Means	Chapter 10 & 11	Andy Chang (YSU)
9/29/01 Week 5	BIOSTATISTICS LAB - ALL DAY AT YSU		Andy Chang (YSU)
10/6/01 Week 6	ALL DAY WITH PUBLIC HEALTH CONCEPTS		Andy Chang (YSU)
10/13/01 Week 7	Analysis of Variance Inference on Proportions	Chapter 12 & 14	Andy Chang (YSU)
10/20/01 Week 8	Contingency Tables Multiple 2x2 Tables Correlation	Chapter 15, 16 & 17	Andy Chang (YSU)
10/27/01 Week 9	Simple Linear Regression Multiple Regression	Chapter 18 & 19	Andy Chang (YSU)
11/3/01 Week 10	Bayes’ Theorem, Screening tests and applications	Chapter 6	Nate Ritchey (YSU)
11/10/01 Week 11	BIOSTATISTICS LAB At central location (location TBA)		Andy Chang (YSU)
11/17/01 Week 12	Logistic regression	Chapter 20	John Holcomb (CSU)
11/24/01	THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
12/1/01 Week 13	Survival analysis and applications	Chapter 5 & 21	Richard Steiner (UA)
12/8/01 Week 14	Using vital statistics in public health At NEOUCOM	Assigned materials	Neil Casey (Akron Health Department) Andy Chang (YSU)
12/15/01 Week 15	Review and discussion		Andy Chang (YSU)

Course faculty

Director: Andy Chang, PhD, Associate Professor
Work: (330) 742-1818; Fax: (330) 742-3170; E-mail: chang@math.ysu.edu
Address: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Youngstown State University, Youngstown, OH 44555

Neil Casey, BA, MS, Health Data Management Manager
Work: 330-375-2988 x 4784; Fax: (330) 375-2523; E-mail: caseyne@ci.akron.oh.us
Address: Akron Health Department, 177 South Broadway, Akron, OH 44308

John P. Holcomb, Jr., PhD, Assistant Professor
Work: (216)v523-7157; Fax: (216) 523-7340; E-mail: j.p.holcomb@csuohio.edu
Address: Department of Mathematics, Cleveland State University, 1860 East 22nd St. RT 1515, Cleveland, OH 44114-4435

Nathan Ritchey, PhD, Professor and Chair of Mathematics and Statistics Department
Work: (330) 742-3302; Fax (330) 742-3170; E-mail; nate@math.ysu.edu
Address: Youngstown State University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Youngstown, OH 44555Richard Steiner,

PhD, MPH, Associate Professor
Work: (330) 972-8010; Fax: (330) 972-2028; E-mail: rps@uakron.edu
Address: The University of Akron, Department of Statistics, Akron, OH 44325-1913

Item	Percentage	Date Due	Scale
Exam I (take home) Covers week 1-5	25	Posted 9/29/01 by noon; due 10/6/01 by 3 p.m.	A 90-100
			B 80-89
Exam II (take home) Covers week 6-10	25	Posted 11/10/01 by noon; due 11/17/01 by 3 p.m.	C 70-79
			D 60-69
Final (take home) 80% from week 11-14 20% from other topics	25	Posted 12/8/01 by noon; due 12/15/01 by 3 p.m.	F below 60


Project, homework and lab	25	To be arranged
Total	100