Understanding Medical Research Your Facebook Friend is Wrong
How can you tell if the bold headlines seen on social media are truly touting the next big thing or if the article isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on? Understanding Medical Studies, will provide you with the tools and skills you need to critically interpret medical studies, and determine for yourself the difference between good and bad science.
The course covers study-design, research methods, and statistical interpretation. It also delves into the dark side of medical research by covering fraud, biases, and common misinterpretations of data. Each lesson will highlight case-studies from real-world journal articles.
By the end of this course, you’ll have the tools you need to determine the trustworthiness of the scientific information you’re reading and, of course, whether or not your Facebook friend is wrong.
This course was made possible in part by the George M. O’Brien Kidney Center at Yale.
How to efficiently read a medical research paper and how to differentiate between good and bad research
The different tests used in medical research and how to spot common errors in methodology and interoperation for each
Read and understand statistical figures, charts, and graphics
How best to verify claims made in news articles
Syllabus
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week 1
Welcome!
Week 2
The Basics
Week 3
Medical Statistics Made Ridiculously Simple
Week 4
Types of Medical Studies
Week 5
How Wrong Conclusions Are Reached
Week 6
Bias
Week 7
Fixing the Problems with Medical Studies
FAQ
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
Is financial aid available?
Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.
Reviews
Informative, entertaining. Great content.. (a lot of very important content). The instructor provided excellent examples to capture our attention and help us retain concepts more easily. Thank you!
I liked the review for me of my past courses in stat and research methods. I do not think anyone who never has a stat course could even follow this course, But i did enjoy the course and the content.
Great Couse! The information is very useful and easy to understand. It is also presented in a way that is not boring and not too complicated. Everything was very informative and enjoyable!
It is a pretty good course to begin sailing in the tricky sea of research :D but you will need more in-depth courses to fully understand and write in medical literature , specially on biostatistics .
