Biostatistics: an experiment with self-learning in the health sciences

The importance of statistical approaches in health sciences is now well acknowledged. These fields deal with the study of communities or populations, where sampling and statistical inference are applicable. Even though the rules of probability regulate many areas of medical diagnosis and prediction, many medical and health sciences teachers and students have been reluctant to recognize the importance of knowing biostatistical approaches. Some remain suspicious about the validity and significance of biostatistical concepts in their professions, raising questions about the meaning, content, and character of biostatistics and the applicability of biostatistics education to health sciences disciplines. Experiments and surveys are both used to collect data for statistical investigations. The branch of statistics that deals with the design and analysis of experiments is known as experimental design. Experimental design methods are frequently utilized in agriculture, medicine, biology, marketing research, and industrial production.

Statistical quality control is the procedure of statistical approaches to the monitoring and maintenance of product and service quality. When a choice must be made to accept or reject a set of parts or items based on the quality observed in a sample, acceptance sampling is one method that can be employed. A second method, known as statistical process control, employs control charts to assess if a process should be continued or altered to attain the target quality. A rising amount of research examines self-instructional strategies to teach medical students biostatistics. The examined the notion that statistical learning material by self-instruction is similar to learning identical content by the lecture in controlled, randomized conditions. Students studying by self-instruction performed as well as or better than their peers undergoing lectures, according to an analysis of student performance based on grades acquired on two distinct assessments. A self-learning module based on interactive information technology could teach biostatistics in the community medicine curriculum.

Reference:

1. Harry Robinson Sc.D., Robert Burke M.S. & Sidney M. Stahl Ph.D; Self-instructional teaching of biostatistics for medical students, Journal of Community Health volume 1, pages249–255.
2. H. Sahai, Some Comments on Teaching Biostatistics in Medical and Health Sciences; Methods Inf Med; 29(01): 41-43.