The What, How, and Why of Software for Teaching Statistics in the Health Sciences

• Activity Number: 223
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Monday, August 10, 2015 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences
• Author(s): Eileen C. King*
• Companies: Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
• Keywords: health science statistics ; teaching in health sciences ; software for teaching ; health care research ; software for health care research ; effective teaching

Abstract

Health Science research requires an understanding of a wide variety of statistical analysis approaches, in addition to a familiarity with basic probability principles. To be efficient in our teaching, it is important to fully leverage statistical software for demonstrating statistical concepts, including assumption evaluation. The effective educator must also consider "life after the course" and provide students with the knowledge and tools they need so that they can explore data from their own research and recognize when they need to collaborate with a statistician. I will describe features of statistical software that I have found to be very effective in this educational mission and will discuss how these features have been leveraged to facilitate and enhance the learning process for students conducting research in the Health Sciences.