MS Data Analysis Project Info
Overview
Second year students in the MS in Biostatistics program perform a substantial MS Data Analysis project as a culminating experience under the supervision of a Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics faculty member.
Students are encouraged to pursue projects based in outside sponsoring organizations, including healthcare facilities, government agencies, non-profit organizations, health insurance companies, consulting firms, pharmaceutical companies, and other academic departments.
Projects based in outside organizations should have a doctorally-prepared supervisor on site and should have approval from the faculty advisor.
The MS Data Analysis project allows students to demonstrate the following competencies:
- Clearly understand the substance of scientific problems and be able to formulate them quantitatively
- Be able to organize, enter in computer and manipulate data in a form ready for analysis
- Choose appropriate statistical methods and understand the strengths and limitations of different methods
- Conduct high quality data analysis that can stand review and criticism; and
- Communicate the work in a clear and logical report and oral presentation
At the end of the MS Data Analysis project, each student submits a written report of the project that consists of the following:
- Research question and background
- Study design and data structure
- Consideration of alternative statistical methods
- Statistical methods used and data analyses conducted
- Results and interpretation
- Discussion and conclusion
At the conclusion of the project, the students makes a 25-30 minute research presentation about their work to the Department.