Foundational Epidemiology Knowledge
MACEPA Data Fellowship - Training Materials
Preface
These materials are intended to be a brief refresher on key principles and methods in epidemiology. This is by no means an exhaustive resource, so for comprehensive information and guidance, please refer to detailed texts and consult with qualified professionals in the field.
These materials have been adapted from lecture materials from the Imperial College London Masters in Epidemiology course from 2015-2016, the University of Washington Master of Public Health course from 2019-2021, and the CDC Introduction to Epidemiology Public Health 101 series
Schedule
As a reminder this module is self-directed learning through a set of slide decks and associated problem sheets.
We will meet as a team on [INSERT DATE] to discuss answers to the problem sets.
Topics
Learning Objectives
- Describe the scope and purpose of epidemiology as well as its limitations.
- Choose, calculate, and interpret measures of disease frequency, measures of association and measures of attributable risk for given scenarios.
- Describe and contrast strengths and weaknesses of different epidemiological study designs.
- Discuss and critique the design and findings of epidemiological studies to address a particular research question.
- Recognise and discuss different types of biases that may occur in epidemiological studies, and describe strategies that can be used to reduce such biases.
- Evaluate whether confounding and/or effect modification may have affected a given exposure-outcome relationship, and describe and apply techniques to deal with this at the design and analysis level.
- Evaluate and explain whether epidemiological data support an association between a given exposure and outcome, and describe epidemiological methods that would further support the evidence.