Statistics Class?

[PublicHealth33]

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Hi all,

I'm planning on starting my MPH (community health/health promotion) this fall but have taken no statistics classes to date.

I am hoping to take a summer stats class just to give me some basic foundation in the area. Would you recommend taking an elementary stats class or a behavioral science stats class?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[kurly212]

Hi all,

I'm planning on starting my MPH (community health/health promotion) this fall but have taken no statistics classes to date.

I am hoping to take a summer stats class just to give me some basic foundation in the area. Would you recommend taking an elementary stats class or a behavioral science stats class?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

I'm currently taking an introductory (more like intro-intermediate!) stats class (my final is tonight!). My program is Epi, so I will have to take a lot of biostats, and I think this course has set a good foundation. The homework problems were a good mix of medical, anthropological, psych, and economics. With your focus being community health/health promotion, I could see how a behavioral stats class might be a good choice. How do the course descriptions compare?

 

[Stories]

You will be fine. I'd never taken a statistics class prior to taking Biostatistics for my MPH and I did well. I also did great in SAS Programming, as well.

 

[Music333]

Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread, but does it matter what kind of stats we take (particularly for biostats)? I have to take psych stats since I'm a psych major, so is that good enough? Or should I take the math department's?

 

[PublicHealth33]

Here are the course descriptions:

Elementary stats: This course covers descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive portion analyzes data through graphs, measures of central tendency and spread. Other statistical practices utilize basic probability, binomial and normal distributions, estimation of population parameters, hypothesis testing, linear regression and correlation. Analytical reading and problem solving are required for success in this course.

Behavioral science stats: This course is an introductory study of statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. Emphasis is placed on acquainting students with the concepts underlying statistical methods and research approaches, basic statistical analyses and principles.


I'm thinking behavioral science stats might be best for me. I know it's probably not necessary, but I'm thinking I might as well, so I don't go in completely blind.

Thanks for your responses!

 

[nimesis]

I had a similar question except in my case I'm wondering whether we are allowed to take even the basic core environmental studies and biostatistics classes without having any significant prior experience in biology and chemistry. I'm going to be working in Community Health Sciences and I'm just wondering if I need to take a bio or chem class before starting the MPH program.

 

[kurly212]

I had a similar question except in my case I'm wondering whether we are allowed to take even the basic core environmental studies and biostatistics classes without having any significant prior experience in biology and chemistry. I'm going to be working in Community Health Sciences and I'm just wondering if I need to take a bio or chem class before starting the MPH program.

You definitely don't need bio or chem for biostats, but I'm not sure about environmental studies. If you were accepted to the program and weren't advised to take any prereqs, you're probably okay.

 

[kurly212]

Here are the course descriptions:

Elementary stats: This course covers descriptive and inferential statistics. The descriptive portion analyzes data through graphs, measures of central tendency and spread. Other statistical practices utilize basic probability, binomial and normal distributions, estimation of population parameters, hypothesis testing, linear regression and correlation. Analytical reading and problem solving are required for success in this course.

Behavioral science stats: This course is an introductory study of statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. Emphasis is placed on acquainting students with the concepts underlying statistical methods and research approaches, basic statistical analyses and principles.


I'm thinking behavioral science stats might be best for me. I know it's probably not necessary, but I'm thinking I might as well, so I don't go in completely blind.

Thanks for your responses!

I agree, I think with your program focus, the behavioral stats should be fine. For someone going into epi or biostats, I think the general stats course might be a better choice.

 

[kurly212]

Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread, but does it matter what kind of stats we take (particularly for biostats)? I have to take psych stats since I'm a psych major, so is that good enough? Or should I take the math department's?

I think the psych stats course will probably teach you enough that you shouldn't worry about taking general stats in addition. 🙂