BIO2300 Statistics Course description

Quality assurance of methods, analysis and analysis results in laboratory medicine are based on practical and theoretical knowledge and experience. Knowledge of statistics and using statistical methods and concepts is a main aspect of this work. Medical laboratory technicians hold day-to-day responsibility for this quality assurance and must plan and conduct testing, comparison, evaluation, validation and verification of analysis methods. For this they require knowledge of statistics and statistical tools.

The course consists of the following subject areas, specified below as the number of credits:

• Statistics 7
• Method comparison 3
• Total 10

Passed the first year of the programme.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student is capable of

• explaining and using key statistical concepts
• describing various statistical tests and their application
• describing what epidemiology is
• describing statistical concepts relating to biological variation
• describing statistical concepts relating to the methods and quality of analysis

Skills

The student is capable of

• planning, conducting and presenting simple laboratory investigations using statistical calculations
• using statistical tools, such as calculators, spreadsheets and statistics programs
• making statistical calculations and interpreting their outcome
• using statistical calculations in quality assurance and quality assessment work

General competence

The student is capable of 

• using statistics in project work
• assessing laboratory results using statistics

The teaching consists of lectures and pertaining seminars. Student work includes practical laboratory work involving planning and performing method comparisons, and individual work related to writing assignments and using spreadsheets and statistics programs.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• a minimum of 90% attendance in laboratory work
• a minimum of 80% attendance in scheduled group work
• an individual assignment in statistics and using a spreadsheet, 1,000-1,500 words
• a group assignment on method comparison in groups of 3-5 students, 1,000-1,500 words

Exam content: The learning outcomes

Exam form: Individual written exam, 3 hours

Calculator

Grade scale A-F

One external and one internal examiner will assess at least 20 % of the exam papers. Two internal examiners will assess the remaining papers. The external examiner's assessment shall benefit all the students.