| Course Description: Discussion of role of probability & statistics in scientific research to help the researcher see the wider context of their research strategy; covering basic probability, logic of statistical inference, use of statistical models.
This is the first course of the programme, Statistics for Researchers, and we recommend attendance (or reading the course booklet) for this course before attending the other courses. It not a cook-book course but it will cover some basic probability and statistical methods, mainly through examples of their use and mis-use in scientific research with explanations, terminology and notation.
The sessions will cover
- The nature of measurements, inferences and predictions in the context of scientific method; examples of statistical reasoning.
- Probability: concepts and rules; reasoning about uncertain data; the uses of probability in statistical analysis.
- Different types of study: experiments, sample surveys, observational studies, case studies, meta-analysis.
- The nature and role of statistical models and theory; classical and Bayesian inference.
- Precision and accuracy.
- The logic and use of significance tests, confidence intervals, standard errors and relative standard errors.
- Examples of tests, estimates, linear and logistic regression models.
- Issues such as publication bias, negative results and causality.
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