Many allied health science graduate majors require some biostatistics course or sequence, and most allow you to substitute a higher-numbered biostatistics course for a required course. Or perhaps biostatistics is not required, but you are interested in learning some! The Biostatistics division in the School of Public Health (SPH) offers a one-semester and a two-semester option for you to consider:

PubH 6414 Biostatistical Literacy OR
PubH 6450/6451 Biostatistics I and Biostatistics II

Trying to understand which option is right for you?

The two options above cover, in large part, the same body of statistical ideas: study design, basic distributions, descriptive statistics and graphing, hypothesis testing and confidence intervals for means and proportions, linear regression, analysis of variance, power and sample size, logistic regression, Poisson regression and Kaplan-Meier curves and time-to-event models.

The Biostatistical Literacy course (6414) has the primary goal of developing student ability to read and interpret statistical results in the primary literature of their specific scientific field of interest. This course will involve minimal calculation and offer no formal training in any statistical programming software. The focus will be when to use a given method and how to interpret the results, not the actual computation or computer programming to obtain results from raw data.

The Biostatistics I and II course sequence (6450/6451) expands the focus beyond reading and interpreting statistical results in the literature to include analyzing data using statistical programming software and communicating the results. It offers formal training in both R and SAS statistical software.

Here are specifics on how the three options differ.

We also offer several classes on statistical programming:

For SAS programming we offer PubH 6420, “Introduction to SAS Programming”, 1 credit, online, covering SAS programs for reading and processing data, and descriptive and basic statistical analysis; there are no pre-requisites. Very little time is spent on explaining statistical methods; students are expected to have had exposure to them ahead of time.

For R programming we offer PubH 7461, “Exploring and Visualizing Data in R”, 2 credits, in-person, and PubH 7462, “Advanced Programming and Data Analysis in R”, 2 credits, in-person.

You can link to each of our courses from the Biostatistics Courses page.

How do you decide which to take?

SPH and other degree program admitted students: It is important that you check with your Director of Graduate Studies, Program Director, Advising Team, or Academic Advisor to determine what is required vs. recommended, and what substitutions may be accepted. If you expect to do most or all of the statistical analyses for your MPH, MS, or other degree thesis/project, you will need two semesters of biostatistics in order to be sufficiently prepared.

Some students in the past have found it helpful to take the Biostatistical Literacy course (6414) first, to solidify their understanding of the statistical concepts, and then continue on to take Biostatistics I (6450), so they can give full attention to learning the statistical coding and data analysis.

SPH Core Concepts Certificate students: Check with your Public Health Practice advisor to find out what the required biostatistics sequence is for your ultimate degree of interest, for example if you are interested in applying to a Master of Public Health Major/Program in the future.

Non-degree seeking students potentially interested in an SPH degree program: Feel free to check our website at www.sph.umn.edu, click on the major or program you are interested in, and review the curriculum to help determine which biostatistics courses to take.