A Biostatistical Literacy Course: Teaching Medical and Public Health Professionals to Read and Interpret Statistics in the Published Literature

Abstract

AbstractWe present a unique and innovative course, Biostatistical Literacy, developed at the University of Minnesota. The course is aimed at public health graduate students and health sciences professionals. Its goal is to develop students’ ability to read and interpret statistical results in the medical and public health literature. The content spans the typical first-semester introductory material, including data summaries, hypothesis tests and interval estimation, and simple linear regression, as well as material typically presented in a second introductory course, including multiple linear regression, logistic regression, and time-to-event methods. The focus is on when to use a method and how to interpret the results; no statistical software computing is taught. A flipped classroom approach is used, where students are first exposed to the material outside of class, and class time is devoted to actively exploring and applying the concepts in greater depth. The course structure, the class activities, and feedback from students will be shared. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Keywords

• Active learning
• Flipped classroom
• Introductory biostatistics
• Statistical literacy