Health statistics are used to understand risk factors for communities, track and monitor diseases, see the impact of policy changes, and assess the quality and safety of health care. This course introduces data analysis for public health, including the essential tools: descriptive statistics, statistical inference and the probability concepts on which these tools are based. Through online instruction, applied learning activities and assigned readings, you’ll learn how to identify appropriate statistical analyses to answer basic public health questions, analyze realistic datasets and provide a written interpretation of the results considering the original public health question. 

This course is ideal for anyone interested in working in the public health field, and it can be taken as part of the Public Health Certificate Program or as a standalone course.  

Learning Outcomes 

• Explain the role of evidence for public health research, policy or practice. 
• Select quantitative and qualitative data collection methods appropriate for a given public health context 
• Analyze quantitative data using biostatistics and statistics software 
• Interpret results of data analysis for public health research, policy or practice 

Skills You'll Gain 

• Basic statistics software skills, including how to create common data visualizations.  
• Data organization and analysis skills 
• Research queries about groups