Introduction to Basic Statistical Methods

Note: Underlined headings are active webpage links!

0. Course Preliminaries
Course Description
A Brief Overview of Statistics

1. Introduction
1.1 Motivation: Examples and Applications
1.2 The Classical Scientific Method and Statistical Inference
1.3 Definitions and Examples
1.4 Some Important Study Designs in Medical Research
1.5 Problems
2. Exploratory Data Analysis and Descriptive Statistics
2.1 Examples of Random Variables and Associated Data Types
2.2 Graphical Displays of Sample Data
Dotplots, Stemplots,
Histograms: Absolute Frequency, Relative Frequency, Density
2.3 Summary Statistics
Measures of Center: Mode, Median, Mean,... (+Shapes of Distributions)
Measures of Spread: Range, Quartiles, Variance, Standard Deviation
2.4 Summary: Parameters vs. Statistics, Expected Values, Bias, Chebyshevs Inequality
2.5 Problems
3. Theory of Probability
3.1 Basic Ideas, Definitions, and Properties
3.2 Conditional Probability and Independent Events (with Applications)
3.3 Bayes Formula
3.4 Applications
Diagnostic: Sensitivity, Specificity, Predictive Power, ROC curves
Epidemiological: Odds Ratios, Relative Risk
3.5 Problems
4. Classical Probability Distributions
4.1 Discrete Models: Binomial Distribution, Poisson Distribution,
4.2 Continuous Models: Normal Distribution,
4.3 Problems
5. Sampling Distributions and the Central Limit Theorem
5.1 Motivation
5.2 Formal Statement and Examples
5.3 Problems
6. Statistical Inference and Hypothesis Testing
6.1 One Sample
6.1.1 Mean (Z- and t-tests, Type I and II Error, Power & Sample Size)
6.1.2 Variance (Chi-squared Test)
6.1.3 Proportion (Z-test)
6.2 Two Samples
6.2.1 Means (Independent vs. Paired Samples, Nonparametric tests)
6.2.2 Variances (F-test, Levene Test)
6.2.3 Proportions (Z-test, Chi-squared Test, McNemar Test)
Applications: Case-Control Studies, Test of Association
and Test of Homogeneity of Odds Ratios, Mantel-Haenszel
Estimate of Summary Odds Ratio
6.3 Several Samples
6.3.1 Proportions (Chi-squared Test)
6.3.2 Variances (Bartletts Test, etc.)
6.3.3 Means (ANOVA, F-test, Multiple Comparisons)
6.4 Problems

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7. Correlation and Regression
7.1 Motivation
7.2 Linear Correlation and Regression (+Least Squares Approximation)
7.3 Extensions of Simple Linear Regression
Transformations (Power, Logarithmic,)
Multilinear Regression (ANOVA, Model Selection, Drug-Drug Interaction)
Logistic Regression (Dose-Response Curves)
7.4 Problems

8. Survival Analysis
8.1 Survival Functions and Hazard Functions
8.2 Estimation: Kaplan-Meier Product-Limit Formula
8.3 Statistical Inference: Log-Rank Test
8.4 Linear Regression: Cox Proportional Hazards Model
8.5 Problems

APPENDIX

A1. Basic Reviews
Logarithms
Perms & Combos

A2. Geometric Viewpoint
Mean and Variance
ANOVA
Least Squares Approximation

A3. Statistical Inference
Mean, One Sample
Means & Proportions, One & Two Samples
General Parameters & FORMULA TABLES





A4. Regression Models
Power Law Growth
Exponential Growth
Multilinear Regression
Logistic Regression
Example: Newtons Law of Cooling

A5. Statistical Tables
Z-distribution
t-distribution
Chi-squared distribution
F-distribution (in progress...)


Even genetically identical organisms, such as these inbred mice,
can exhibit a considerable amount of variation in physical and/or
behavioral characteristics, due to random epigenetic differences
in their development. But statistically, how large must such
differences be in order to reject random chance as their sole
cause, and accept that an alternative mechanism is responsible?
Source: Nature Genetics, November 2, 1999.