Q&A

Class attendance and enrolment questions

How is this course taught: in-person or online?

Foundations of Biostatistics is taught using both in-person and online modes. Lectures are delivered in-person, and are also live-streamed and recorded. We have both in-person and online tutorials, and the online tutorials are recorded.

Are there any attendance requirements?

There are no attendance requirements. Many students don’t come to campus, and the course is designed to be accessible by all students regardless of where they live.

I can only study one course this term. Should I study Foundations of Biostatistics or Foundations of Epidemiology?

There is no right answer to this question - completing either course first would be fine.

Many students put off studying Foundations of Biostatistics in the (mistaken) belief that it will be too difficult - and then report that they wish they had studied the course earlier. Foundations of Biostatistics is designed to be accessible for all students, regardless of your maths background.

Your future course choices and your timetable might help you answer this. For example, if you know you want to complete Regression Methods in Biostatistics, then completing Foundations of Biostatistics first would be sensible.

You will get a lot out of either course, whatever you decide to complete first.

Expected background knowledge

Are there any prerequisites or expected background knowledge for this course? For example, does the course require university-level mathematics?

There are no prerequisite maths skills - you certainly don’t need to have studied mathematics or statistics at university. I will touch on some high-school maths, but very infrequently. It’s been a long time since I’ve studies maths, and I’m feeling nervous. Are there any preparatory courses I should study?

If it has been a while since you have studied maths, the resources from Unit 1 of the Algebra Basics from the Khan Academy might be useful.

Don’t worry that it’s got “algebra” in its title, it’s just some basic maths skills that you might not remember so well. And don’t feel like you need to formally enrol, or study every section: just watch some of the videos and read some of the notes for the topics that you might not remember - and maybe take some of the quizzes. I would recommend the section on “Order of Operations”, but you can definitely skip “Area of triangles” and “Circumference and area of circles”.

Workload and assessment

What is the workload for the course?

Foundations of Biostatistics is a 6 unit of credit course. UNSW suggests a workload of 150 hours over the term for a 6 UOC course.

Foundations of Biostatistics comprises four hours of formal teaching per week: lectures (two hours) and tutorials (two hours).

What assessment tasks are required for the course?

There are four quizzes (each worth 5%) to help students keep up with the material as it is presented through the course. There are also two assignments, each worth 40% of the course. The dates for these assessments will be released when the course outline is published.

Statistical software and other resources

What software is taught in the course?

Students can choose to learn either Stata or R, and plenty of instructions are provided. More information about statistical software is provided here.

Do I need to buy a textbook?

No, you do not need to buy a textbook.

All the content you need for this course is provided in the course notes. If you want to supplement the content we provide, suggested readings are provided for each module. You can access these readings through the UNSW library, and links are provided in the course notes.

Do you have a question that is not answered here? Please email me, and I can provide an answer.