MABIO4600 Statistics, Quality Control and Quality Assurance Course description

The master's thesis is an independent and systematic piece of scientific work. The master's thesis should have a clinical and/or organisational focus on mental health, mental disorders and mental health care. The student(s) can be affiliated with internal and external research environments and development projects in the field of mental health.

Passed course MAPSD4300/MAPSD4310 (where the project description is prepared). All the exams in the compulsory and elective courses must be passed in order for a student to submit his/her master's thesis for assessment.

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

Knowledge

The student

• can justify the choice of systems and procedures for quality monitoring and quality assurance of analysis processes
• can describe systems and processes relating to the accreditation and certification of medical laboratories
• can statistically assess and establish a reference area
• can determine and assess the specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of analytical methods
• can explain the concepts predictive value, odds ratio and ROC curves
• can explain the laws and regulations that regulate medical laboratory activities
• can explain how durability tests of sample material are carried out

Skills

The student

• can apply statistical methods and tools, such as table analysis, variance analysis, correlation, and simple and multiple linear and logistic regression
• can carry out and explain hypothesis testing, parametric and non-parametric methods, as well as correlation and regression analysis
• can use one and two-way variance analysis for repeated measurements
• can assess and discuss the significance of pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical sources of error for the result/quality of the analysis
• can choose and apply statistical methods used to quality assure medical laboratories
• can plan and carry out comparisons of analytical methods and assess measures
• can apply advanced knowledge of analytical variation in terms of repeatability and reproducibility

General competence

The student

• can describe key methods for statistical analysis and make justified choices of statistical methods for use in research and method validation
• can discuss and analyse relevant issues and actively contribute to the execution of advanced work tasks relating to quality control and quality assurance in laboratories

The following must have been completed and approved in order for a student to be permitted to submit the master's thesis:

Supervision

• Five hours of supervision, three of which must be given by the main supervisor
• The supervisor's overview of the supervision the student has received in connection with his/her work on the master's thesis serves as documentation of completed supervision.

Written master's thesis with adjusting oral exam

• individual or in groups of two students, and an individual oral exam based on the master’s thesis (approx. one hour)
• only students who have passed the written master's thesis are permitted to take the oral exam
• the thesis must be written in accordance with the applicable guidelines for the master’s thesis in Mental Health Care

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

The master's thesis is given a preliminary letter grades from A to F. Both students will be awarded the same grade for a group assignment.

The grade for the written thesis is announced at least 48 hours before the oral exam is held. A preliminary grade can be adjusted up or down by up to two grades when the final grade is set, on the basis of the examiners' evaluation of the student's performance at the oral exam.

The grade for the written thesis can be appealed. There is an individual right to appeal a grade, i.e. an appeal concerning a grade only has consequences for the candidate who submits the appeal. If the grade changes as a result of a new assessment, the student must also take another oral exam. The grade after the oral exam cannot be appealed. Students who are given the grade F after the oral exam can submit a new or reworked version of the master's thesis for new assessment once.

The master's thesis is assessed by a commission consisting of one internal examiner and at least one external examiner. The supervisor cannot be an internal examiner.

All answers are assessed by one examiner. An external examiner is used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. When selecting answers for external evaluation, a minimum of 10 percent of the answers shall be included, with no fewer than 5 answers. The external examiner’s assessment of the selected answers shall benefit all students.

None.