Description

This textbook is a collection of written materials that were created to teach Epidemiology and Biostatistics to second year medical students. These materials included handouts, practice problems, guides to reading research articles, quizzes, notes from student help sessions. The primary goal of these written materials, and now this book, is the perspective of learning Epidemiology and Biostatistics for the first time. With critical editing assistance from Epidemiology faculty, graduate students in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, and the students themselves. The textbook is designed to provide students with the tools necessary to form their own informed conclusions from the clinical research literature. More than ever, a clear understanding of the fundamental aspects of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is needed to successfully navigate the increasingly complex methods utilized by modern clinical research studies. This book could not have been created without the dedicated help of the editors, the teaching assistants, and the students, who asked the important questions. The book is written for readers with no prior knowledge of epidemiology, and includes basic math resources, real-world problems, and for better, faster comprehension. This is the first textbook to present classical biostatistical analysis for epidemiology and related public health sciences to students. Based on the assumption that readers have minimal familiarity with statistical concepts, the author uses a step-by-step approach to building skills.