1997 Swinburne Higher Education Handbook

SM752 Advanced Statistical Computing
12.5 credit points 4 hours per week Hawthorn
Prerequisites: 94750, 94751 Assessmat: practical assignments
and tests
A second year subject in the Graduate Diploma of Applied
Science (Social Statistics)
Objectives
Expand the work done in Basic Statistical Computing by
including further aspects of the packages already met
and by introducing the students to other relevant
statistical packages.
Recommended Reading
To be advised.
SM753 Survey Methods
12.5 credit points 4 hours per week Hawthorn Prerequisites:
94751 and SM75O Assessment: assignmts and a test
A first year subject in the Graduate Certificate and Graduate
Diploma of Applied Science (Health Statistics).
Objectives
To describe and understand some of the methodologies
used in survey research carried out in the health
sciences.
Content
The subject will include an introduction to:
Different purposes of surveys in health;
How surveysfit into different research designs;
Practical questionnaire design in a health context.
Analysis of survey data and reporting;
Basic concepts of sample design.
Recommended reading
Abramson, J.H. Survey Methods in Community Medicine. 4th edn,
Eginburgh, Churchill Livingtsone, 1990
Daly, J., McDonald, I. and Willis, E., Researching Health Care,
London, Routledge, 1992
Bowling, A., Measing Health: A review of quality of life
measurement scales, Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1993.
SM754 Introduction to Health Statistics
12.5 credit points 4 hours per week Hawthorn
Prerequisites: SM75l and SM750 Assessmat: class
presentations, practical and theoretical tests
A first year subject in the Graduate Certificate and Graduate
Diploma of Applied Science (Health Statistics)
Objectives
To introduce students to statistical measures and
techniques which are specifically relevant to the health
sciences and to enable them to make reasoned
conclusions from the measures.
Content
Topics will be chosen from:
demographic disease measures including birth and death
rates, fertility rates, infant mortality rates;
rates and risks including prevalence versus incidence,
point and period prevalene, cumulative incidence,
person-time rates, age-standardised rates and standardised
mortality rates;
measures of association including risk differences, risk
ratios, rate differences and rate ratios, odds ratios,
attributable risks, population attributable risks;
an introduction to epidemiological methods.
Recommended reading
To be advised.
Computer Packages
Excel Version 5
SPSS for Windows
SM756 Elementary Statistical Modelling
12.5 credit points 4 hours per week Prerequisitex SM75l and
524750 Asseurnat: assignmat p h practical and h a l tests
A second year subject in the Graduate Diploma of Applied
Science (Health Statistics).
0 biectives
This subject aims to extend the work done in
Introduction to Data Analysis by further developing the
concepts of statistical estimation and testing.
Content
Topics will be chosen from:
Analysis of variance and simple linear regression. Introduction
to multiple regression. Introduction to experimental design and
non-parametric methods. Determination of sample size.
Analysis of categorical data and measures of association.
Recommended reading
To be advised.
Statistical packages
To be advised.
SM757 Epidemiological Methods
12.5 credit points 4 hours per wek Hawthorn Prerequisites:
SM7SS and 524756 Assessment: assignmts and a test
A second year subject in the Graduate Diploma of Applied
Science (Health Statistics)
Objectives
To develop critical skills in the evaluation of the health
and medical literature involving epidemiology with an
emphasis on statistical and methodological analysis.
Content
Topics will be chosen from:
Epidemiological study designs: descriptive and analytical
studies, observational versus experimental designs, crosssectional
surveys, cohort and case-control studies,
clinical trials and intervention studies. Determination of
sample size.
Confounding: identifying potential confounding:
stratification and adjusted estimates, regression and
multivariate adjustment, matching.
Diagnostic tests: repeatability and validity of tests for
disease, sensitivity and specificity of tests, predictive
value and prevalence. Bayes' theorem.
Screening for disease: reasons for screening, requirements
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