The purpose of this proseminar is to lay a foundation for the incoming student in the Doctoral Program in Health Services Research that all subsequent courses may build upon. This course emphasis is on the principles of measurement in epidemiologic and outcomes research, particularly the use of primary data collection. The purpose of this course is to explore how epidemiologic methods are applied to clinical research questions.
Clinical epidemiology evaluates factors that are related to variation in the outcomes of illness.
Some statistical measures related to clinical epidemiology will also be introduced and discussed, such as the interpretation of Kaplan Meier curves and proportional hazard ratios. This course is designed to introduce students to the concepts, strategies and methods associated with secondary analysis of data and how secondary analysis is related to health outcomes research. Particular attention will be paid to data base acquisition, manipulation and maintenance, meta-analysis and critical reviews, clinical, and population based surveys. Illustrative studies will accompany course topics. Hands on experience with research design and analytical techniques will provided.