Top Ten Essential Statistical Concepts for Students in the Health Sciences

• Activity Number: 516
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences
• Author(s): Ron Brookmeyer*+
• Companies: UCLA
• Keywords: biostatistics ; education

Abstract

A challenging aspect to the teaching of biostatistics to students in the health sciences is helping students maintain their focus on the big statistical ideas. Students are often so preoccupied with learning the technical details of how "to do" statistical analyses that they risk losing sight of key conceptual ideas. Students may become overwhelmed with the details surrounding statistical formulas and the mechanics of implementing statistical software that they miss the big picture and the unifying statistical concepts. Anchoring a course around a handful of key concepts provides a framework for learning. The concepts can be returned to repeatedly throughout a course and illustrated with different applications and contexts. In this talk, the author proposes 10 essential statistical concepts to help anchor introductory biostatistics courses for students in the health sciences. The author finds that development of a short list of essential concepts helps guide curriculum development. A "top ten" list of essential statistical concepts helps students see the big picture.