Objectives

Following successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
  1. Frame answerable research questions for specific health related research
  2. Identify an appropriate epidemiological study design for the research
  3. Develop a plan of data analysis
  4. Conduct simple data analyses
  5. Write a short research proposal
  6. Argue on the strength and weaknesses of different health related study designs

Date and Time

The dates and times vary each year. The class locations also change from year to year. For the most current and updated information, please consult UC timetable (this link is valid for 2018). 
For the year 2019, these are the dates and times (9 AM - 3 PM); all classes are held in Wheki 105
Block I
    Day I: 27th February, Wednesday
   Day 2: 28th February, Thursday
Block II
    Day 1: 27th March, Wednesday
    Day 2: 28th March, Thursday
Block III
    Day 1: 8th May, Wednesday
    Day 2: 9th May, Thursday
The official course page is at http://learn.canterbury.ac.nz/course/view.php?id=2908. Selected course materials are available at the course's Github repository. These are maintained at the following site: https://arinbasu.github.io/health460/
 

Description of the course

The teaching for this course is organised in three blocks of two days per block. In the first block, you will learn how to critically read health literature. At the end of this block you will write a research proposal following the guidelines and the lessons you will learn in the first two days.  In the second block, you will learn about data analysis. You will learn where to look for data, how to read data into R.   Then in the third block, you will learn how to write a research paper or a report. Here we will cover details of how to write a paper. 
In this course, our emphasis will be on identifying research and reports related to environmental health but you can use any health topic for your study.  The focus is on critical interpretation of research, learn about data analysis, and writing. Hence, we will introduce some statistics, mostly on statistical thinking, not statistical theory or mathematics. Ideally, if you are planning to put together a thesis for your Master degree or PhD, you should be able to write a workable first draft of your thesis proposal after taking this course. 

Assessment Summary Table