BB839: Planning and evaluation of biological studies
Comment
Entry requirements
Academic preconditions
Students taking the course are expected to:
- Have basic knowledge of statistics and mathematics
- Have a Bachelor’s degree in a field with some level or focus of quantitative methods
Course introduction
The course builds on the knowledge acquired in the courses Mathematics for Biology, Statistics, and gives an academic basis for studying the topics of statistical analysis and designing studies, that are part of the degree.
In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:
- Give the competence to understand quantitative analysis of future projects and their underlying theories
- Give the competence to enter into academic collaborations and structure personal learning.
- Give skills to use statistical software, program R, for analysis of a variety of models
- Provide knowledge and understanding of scientific theories, experimental methods.
Expected learning outcome
- formulate scientific questions in biological disciplines, e.g. ecology, physiology, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology, in order to test those questions
- design relevant laboratory or field studies in order to test expectations
- handle, analyse, and interpret data from experimental and field studies, including statistical analyses of linear models, ANOVA, ANCOVA, GLM, mixed effect models, and model selection (Information theoretic approaches).
- Select appropriate models for the different types of data and designed studies
- Present quantitatively the results from biological studies, including graphical representation
Content
- Deriving questions and hypotheses
- Designing experiments
- Basics of probabilities and distributions
- Linear models and ANOVA
- Model selection and multi model inference
- GLM
- Mixed effect models
Literature
Hector: The New Statistics with R.
See Blackboard for syllabus lists and additional literature references.
Examination regulations
Prerequisites for participating in the exam a)
Timing
Tests
Mandatory assignments
EKA
Assessment
Grading
Identification
Language
Examination aids
ECTS value
Additional information
- Prerequisite submission of 80% of the non-graded problem sets using the statistical software of the course
- Prerequisite submission of an annotated scientific publication with respect to structure and statistics.
The prerequisite examination is a prerequisite for participation in exam element a)
Exam element a)
Timing
Prerequisites
Type | Prerequisite name | Prerequisite course |
---|---|---|
Examination part | Prerequisites for participating in the exam a) | N110015101, BB839: Planning and evaluation of biological studies |
Tests
Written project
EKA
Assessment
Grading
Identification
Language
Examination aids
ECTS value
Additional information
The mode of exam at the re-examination may differ from the mode of exam at the ordinary exam.
Indicative number of lessons
Teaching Method
- Exercises (repetition)
- Literature (preparation)
- Annotating literature
- Making a movie on a statistical topic (deeper learning)
Diverse option of teaching methods is offered to match the different demands of students, including lectures, in class exercises, literature, movies, e-learning, research oriented learning, online media.