Statistics and Research Methodology for Radiation Therapy MATH 6105

Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

• Analyse statistical data and summarise using standard measures such as mean, median, standard deviation and skew.
• Present data in a graphical form, such as histogram, to provide a summary of large data sets.
• Design and evaluate appropriate use of different types of clinical studies in the presentation of medical research.
• Interpret the results of a hypothesis test as it pertains to clinical studies in radiation therapy.
• Assess the p-value as a measure of clinical study validity and significance.
• Determine the risk of a false test result using basic probability theory and Bayes' Theorem.
• Apply the appropriate non-parametric tests to analyse discrete data resulting from subjective observations, or non-continuous data, as applied to patient evaluation and progress.
• Evaluate the dependence between patient characteristics and medical conditions using contingency tables and Chi-squared analysis.
• Interpret the results of a survival analysis from clinical studies with emphasis on Kaplan-Meier survival curves and the log-rank test to determine significance.
• Evaluate articles in clinical journals for statistical significance of the result and appropriateness of the statistical analysis being used.
• Apply linear regression and model fitting to multivariate data to test for dependence between variables.
• Understand the different research methodologies used in evidence based practice.

Effective as of Winter 2013