RHSCI 7140 - Research Methods II

The major goal of this course is to provide an introduction to clinical data, their appropriate use and statistical approaches for research. Specifically, characteristics of electronic medical records and claims data, minimizing selection bias and controlling confounding, ways to resolve bias, selecting covariates, how to deal with missing data, and Cox regression that is commonly used in research. In addition, the class will practice how to create analytics datasets for research. Examples will be drawn from numerous disciplines, with the primary emphasis placed on those dealing with topics directly related to health research. Students will be required to read, critically evaluate, and discuss research articles and conceptual papers. The course will use lectures, practices, and class discussions. This course will provide students the skills to successfully manage, build and analyze data for thesis or dissertation work. Students should have a basic understanding of statistics (variance, median, mean, etc.) and research designs (eg. cohort, case-control). Specific statistics will be discussed in this class.