Analytics and Evidence Based Public Health
| Module title | Analytics and Evidence Based Public Health |
|---|---|
| Module code | HPDM119 |
| Academic year | 2021/2 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Dr Gary Abel (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 10 | 10 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 38 |
|---|
Module description
During this module you should expect to become acquainted with the essential and advanced numeracy needed to be an effective public health decision-maker. You will then integrate treatment of statistics alongside population health intelligence and data sources. You will also study the principles of study design and critical appraisal before transitioning to evaluation design (including process, outcome and economic evaluations) to develop the foundational literacy in evidence necessary for effective public health decision-making. The assessment will include a take-home exam, a critical appraisal exercise and a study design plan. While predominantly delivered online, you should expect to take advantage of a series of scheduled teaching days and drop-in clinics, as well as opportunities for formative assessment.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module aims to equip you with an understanding on statistical and methodology tools that are used by public health professional to conduction data collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of information. The focus of the module will be on understanding and interpretation, with an introduction to carrying out analysis of data yourself. We will cover a wide range of measures used in public health, understand their limitations, and review the information technology used in calculations. Evidence-based concepts and theories from social and behavioural disciplines and key social and demographic factors that affect population health will also be covered to allow you to bring your knowledge together ready to apply it to real world problems.
This module will cover ASPPH Core 2. Concepts, methods, and tools of public health data collection, analysis and interpretation, and the evidence-based reasoning and informatics approaches that are essential to public health practice.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Understand fundamental principles of statistical inference
- 2. Know how to interpret results of analyses for public health, policy or practice
- 3. Use a statistical package to analyse data
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 4. Select quantitative and qualitative methods for public health data collection and analysis to evaluate public health programs
- 5. Calculate mortality, morbidity and health risk factor rates
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Synthesize information from multiple sources
- 7. Explore and critically appraise a range of evidence
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, an example of an overall structure is as follows:
- Understanding the need for statistics
- Fundamentals of statistical inference, role of chance, p-values and confidence intervals
- Descriptive statistics, data visualisation and population statistics
- Measures of effect size and relation to study designs
- Understanding and dealing with confounding – study design, regression, other methods
- Clustered data in studies and geographic variation, and approaches to deal with it + ecological fallacy
- Introduction to statistical software (Stata)
- Critical appraisal
- Public health data sources – observatories, healthcare, registries, studies
- Process evaluation and qualitative data collection
- Health economics applied to public health
- Evaluation of public health interventions – RCTs, non-randomised trials, screening
- Systematic reviews
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 270 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 24 | Lectures, seminars, master-classes to enhance learning through introduction to key topics, specialist areas and role models and diversity of contexts and outcomes |
| Scheduled learning and teaching activities | 6 | Group discussions, practical exercises, simulated case-studies and engagement with real-world scenarios to foster experiential learning with opportunities for peer and tutor feedback. |
| Guided Independent Study | 182 | Web-based learning, resource gathering, and in-depth reading during the period of module delivery. |
| Guided Independent Study | 88 | Preparation and writing of assignment |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workshop sessions | Small-group paper writing exercise | 1,2,5,7 | Oral |
| Online journal club | Late in term 1 and throughout term 2 | 1,2,5,7 | Oral |
| Small-group paper writing exercise | Term 1 through term 2, with scheduled drop dates for different portions of the paper to be written | 1-7 | Oral |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Take-home, open-book examination | 40 | 90 min | 1-7 | Written |
| Critical appraisal | 30 | 1500 words | 1-7 | Written |
| Study design | 30 | 1500 words | 1-7 | Written |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Take-home, open-book examination (40%) | Take-home, open-book examination (90 min) | 1-7 | In the term following failure |
| Critical appraisal (30%) | Critical appraisal (1500 words) | 1-7 | In the term following failure |
| Study design (30%) | Study design (1500 words) | 1-7 | In the term following failure |
Re-assessment notes
reassessment is by specific item, with the same task repeated
Please refer to the TQA section on Referral/Deferral: http://as.exeter.ac.uk/academic-policy-standards/tqa-manual/aph/consequenceoffailure/
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
The Art of Statistics – David Spiegelhalter
Essential Medical Statistics - Betty Kirkwood & Jonathan Sterne
How to Read a Paper – Trish Greenhalgh
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 01/02/2020 |
| Last revision date | 11/03/2020 |
