Biostatistics 503: Introduction to Biostatistics, Fall 2010

Instructor: Susan Murray M4515 SPH2 skmurray@umich.edu 734 936 1013

Lecture: Monday and Wednesday 8:10 – 10:00 am in SPH II Auditorium. First class is
Wednesday, September 8.

Lab: Once per week on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Labs start on Wednesday,
September 8. You must register for a specific lab section and should only attend
during your scheduled time. Most labs sessions (including the first) will be held
in the SPH computer cluster in the basement of SPH 2.

Web Site: We will make use of a CTools website. Go to ctools.umich.edu and login; then
go to Biostatistics 503.

Required Texts:
• Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, 6th Edition. Moore, McCabe, and Craig.
• Computer Lab Manual and Help Card. Look for these on the CTools website.

Additional Texts:
• Principles of Biostatistics, Pagano & Gauvreau.
• Fundamentals of Biostatistics, Rosner.

Prerequisite: Familiarity with college algebra.

Calculator: You should have access to a calculator that can perform basic arithmetic, square
roots, logarithms, yx, and ex.

Software: You will be introduced to PASW (Predictive Analysis Software), which was formerly SPSS
(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), in the lectures and labs.

Grading: The course grade will be based on the following approximate weighting: 25% for
homework and labs, and 25% each for examinations 1, 2, and 3.

Examinations: Midterm examinations 1 and 2 will be given in class on October 20 and

November 17 from 8:10-10:00 am. Conflicts with the times of examinations 1 and 2 should be
reported to the instructor by next Wednesday, September 15, 2010. Examination 3 will be
Wednesday December 22 from 8:10-10:00 am. Final exam times are fixed by the University
registrar and cannot be altered, unless written permission from the Regents of the University of
Michigan is obtained. A 2-sided hand written review sheet, along with a summary tables passed
out with the exam is permitted. These summary tables are also available on CTools. A
calculator can be used, but no PDA’s, cell phones or other electronic devices are permitted.
Homework: Homework is collected Wednesdays at the start of class. Late work will not be
accepted except under extreme circumstances. Solutions for graded problems are posted on
CTools following Wednesday’s class. In calculating your final grade, your lowest homework score
will be dropped. Homework is an opportunity to practice skills and check your understanding of
the material. In addition to graded problems, I will suggest problems that will not be collected nor
graded but that you may find useful for studying. Odd numbered problems have (often very terse)
answers in the back of the textbook. You are permitted (even encouraged) to work together on
homework and laboratory exercises, but submitted assignments must be written independently.
Copying assignments from others or allowing your assignments to be copied is considered
cheating.

Special Homework Instructions: Multiple sheets should be stapled together. Identify your work by
placing the following information in the upper right corner of each page of each assignment:

• Your Name • BIOS 503

• Lab Section and GSI name (e.g. 002, ***) • Problem Set or Lab Number (e.g. PS 1)

Homework will be collected and distributed in class. There will be an envelope for each lab section.
Please turn in your assignments to the appropriate lab section. These steps help keep the process efficient
for the graders and for collection and return of papers.

Examination and Homework Grading and Regrading: Graded examinations and homework
assignments will be returned in class as soon as possible. Any requests for re-grades should be
submitted in writing within one week after the examination or homework is returned. Should
you wish to request a regrade, submit your graded material and a written description of the issues
to the instructor (examination) or head GSI (homework) using the mail boxes in M4024 SPH II.

Lab Exercises: There is a Computer Lab Manual that is posted under Resources on the Ctools site.
You may want to print out the entire manual for ease of reference. In the manual there are lab exercises to
be completed, printed out and submitted to the GSI instructing the lab. If there is insufficient time to
finish the exercises during the lab hour, you may turn them in at the following week's lab. Graded labs
will be returned during the subsequent lab.

Academic Integrity: It is expected that your conduct will be consistent with that of any public health
professional. Student academic misconduct refers to behavior that may include plagiarism, cheating,
intentional misuse of lab computers, and the aiding and abetting the perpetration of such acts. While
homework problem solving can be done jointly, the final preparation of homework and exam review
sheets must represent each student’s own effort. The use of assistance from other students, or aids of any
kind during a written examination (except review sheet) is a violation of the standard of academic
conduct. All incidences of academic misconduct will be referred to the Office of Academic Affairs.

Graduate Student Instructors:

Taylor Blachley tblachle@umich.edu 503
Charity Chen ccharity@umich.edu 553
Ember Clark embermc@umich.edu 503
Ritabrata Das ritob@umich.edu 553
Keng-Han Lin khlin@umich.edu 503 Head GSI
Caroline Marr cjmarr@umich.edu 553
Di Yang diyang@umich.edu 503
Hui-Yu Yang huiyu@umich.edu 553 Head GSI
Lindsay Zepel lzepel@umich.edu 503
Biostatistics 503/553 Lab Schedule (You must attend the lab you are registered for.)
Wed Thursday Friday
8 a.m. 503 (006) Ember
9 a.m. 503 (004) Lindsay 503 (007) Ember
10 a.m. 553 (004) Rito
11 a.m. 503 (002,009) Taylor & Di 553 (005) Rito
12 noon 503 (003,010) Taylor & Di 503 (005) Keng 503 (008) Lindsay
1 p.m. 553 (007) Hui
2 p.m.
3 p.m. 553 (002) Caroline
4 p.m. 553 (003) Charity & Caroline
5 p.m. 553 (006) Charity
Most laboratory sessions including the first will be in the computer cluster in the basement of
SPH2. Problem and review sessions will be held in classrooms (TBA). 503 labs are shaded.

GSI Office Hours: Faculty and GSIs will keep office hours during the term according to the
schedule below. Students from either course (503 or 553) and any lab section are welcome to
attend any of the office hours. Faculty office hours (*) will be held in their faculty offices
(Susan: M4515 SPH2 and Jack: M4148 SPH2). GSI office hours will be held in Crossroads
1629. Biostatistics 503 instructor and GSI office hours are shaded. Subject to change; see
syllabus on the 503 website for current version.
Mon. Tues Wed. (HW Due) Thurs. Fri.
8 a.m.

9 a.m.
10 a.m. M4515 M4148 Caroline Ember
Susan* Jack* Cr1629 Cr1629
11 a.m. Di Caroline Ember
Cr1629 Cr1629 Cr1629
12 noon Di ((GSI Meeting)) Taylor
Cr1629 Cr1629
1 p.m. M4515 M4148
Susan* Jack*
2 p.m. Keng Rito
Cr1629 Cr1629
3 p.m. Hui Charity
Cr1629 Cr1629
4 p.m. Lindsay Charity
Cr1629 Cr1629
5 p.m. Taylor Lindsay Rito
Cr1629 Cr1629 Cr1629**

** NOTE: on October 13, November 10 and December 01 only, Rito’s Wednesday at 5:00 office hour
will be in M1236

No Class:
• October 4th SPH School Symposium (all SPH courses cancelled for the event): "Health
and Human Rights: Reframing the Public Health Agenda". The Symposium will take
place in Rackham's main auditorium from 9-12 and reconvene for luncheon panels in the
SPH from 12-2.
• October 18th Fall Study Break
 Class Schedule & Readings – Biostatistics 503
This schedule is subject to change. This version was last modified on August 30, 2010.

Wk Dates Topic Readings

1* Sep 8 – 10 Looking at data, Distributions of one variable
Wed 9/8 Class introduction, graphical tools, numerical summaries 1.1, 1.2
HW 1 assigned: (See website)
Lab 1 Variable Types and Graphical Data Exploration
2 Sep 13 – 17 Normal distribution, Graphical tools for exploring
relationships between variables
Mon 9/13 Densities and the normal distribution 1.2, 1.3
Wed 9/15 Scatterplots, correlation 2.1,2. 2
HW 2 assigned: (See website)
Lab 2 Descriptive Statistics and Frequencies, Scatterplots and
Correlation
3 Sep 20 – 24 Regression, Correlation, Introduction to probability
Mon 9/20 Regression, causation and correlation 2.3, 2.4,
2.6
Wed 9/22 Introduction to probability 4.1, 4.2

HW 3 assigned (See website)

Lab 3 Sampling and Probability Distributions
4 Sep 27 – Oct 1 Random variables, Probability tools
Mon 9/27 Random variables 4.3
Wed 9/29 General probability rules 4.5
HW 4 assigned (See website)
Lab 4 Probability Work Session
5* Oct 4 – Oct 8 Random variables, cont
Mon 10/4 No Class: SPH Symposium Day
Wed 10/6 Means and variances of random variables 4.4
HW 5 assigned (See website)
Lab Review session for midterm I
End of material for Midterm I

Wk Dates Topic Readings

6 Oct 11 – 15 Sampling distributions
Mon 10/11 Sampling distributions, binomial distribution for counts; 5.1. 5.2
normal approximation for binomial, p-hat.
 Wed 10/13 Sampling distribution for sample mean & central limit 5.2
theorem
HW 6 assigned (See website)
Lab 5 Sampling distribution of sample mean and CLT
7* Oct 18 – 22 Midterm I
Mon 10/18 Fall study break – no class
Wed 10/20 Midterm I – covers material to end of Chapter 4
No lab
8 Oct 25 – 29 Introduction to Inference
Mon 10/25 Confidence Intervals for population mean, Properties of 6.1, 6.2
CIs & Sample Size
Wed 10/27 Tests of significance, CIs and tests of significance 6.3, 6.4
Comments on testing and decision rules
HW 7 assigned (See website)
Lab 6 Illustrating Confidence Intervals for the Sample Mean
9 Nov 1 – 5 Inferences for distributions
Mon 11/1 Hypothesis tests for population mean; matched pairs and 7.1
estimating the difference in means
Wed 11/3 Inference for two sample problems 7.2
HW 8 assigned (See website)
Labs 7 & 8 Inference for Population Means I and II
(End of material for Exam 2)
10 Nov 8 – 12 Inferences about proportions
Mon 11/8 CIs and tests for a single proportion; sample size 8.1
estimates
Wed 11/10 CIs and tests to compare proportions in two samples 8.2
HW 9 assigned (See website)
Lab Review session for Midterm II
11 Nov 15 – 19 Inference for two way tables of counts, Midterm II
Mon 11/15 Analysis of contingency tables 9.1, 9.3
Wed 11/17 Midterm II – covers material to end of Chapter 7
Lab 9 & 10 Work Session for Inference on Proportions and Means,
Frequency Tables and By Group Analysis
Wk Dates Topic Readings
12* Nov 22 – 24 Inference for simple linear regression
Mon 11/22 Analysis of two-way tables, cont.; Reintroduction to 9.2, 10.1
simple linear regression
Wed 11/24 Simple Linear Regression 10.1

HW 10 (See website)
assigned
No Lab (Thanksgiving break)
13 Nov 29 – Dec 3 Linear regression & Multiple Linear Regression
Mon 11/29 Simple Linear regression continued – confidence 10.2
intervals and tests, analysis of variance
Wed 12/1 Models, confidence intervals and significance tests for 11.1
multiple regression
HW 11 (See website)
assigned
Lab 11 Simple and Multiple Linear Regression
13 Nov 29 – Dec 3 Multiple Linear Regression, Analysis of Variance
Mon 11/30 Case study for multiple regression 11.1,11.2
Wed 12/02 Introduction to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) 12.1
HW 12 (See website)
assigned
Lab Review session for Exam III
14 Dec 6 – Dec 10 Analysis of variance
Mon 12/6 One-way ANOVA; comparing means across groups 12.2

Wed 12/8 ANOVA 12.2

HW 13 (See website)
assigned
Lab 12 One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
15* Dec 13 Class review and review session for Exam III
16* Dec 22 Exam III - covers material to end of Chapter 12
* Short weeks