Introduction

EPI 513 is the second course in a two-course sequence on epidemiologic methods, designed primarily for graduate students majoring in Epidemiology.  It is assumed that EPI 512-513 graduates will actually be conducting research in the future using epidemiologic study designs.  These courses are also open to graduate students from other departments who need an in-depth introduction to epidemiologic methods in order to apply them as research tools in related fields. 

The successful completion of EPI 512 is a firm rerequisite for EPI 513, and EPI 513 may be taken for credit only once.

Faculty

Victoria Holt
Professor
Office: F-346A Health Sciences
Telephone: 206-685-1643
E-mail: vholt@uw.edu

Noel Weiss
Professor
Office: F-262D Health Sciences
Telephone: 206-685-1788
E-mail: nweiss@uw.edu

Alison Rustagi
Teaching Assistant
E-mail: asilvis@uw.edu

Jeff Stanaway
Teaching Assistant
E-mail: stanaway@uw.edu

Kristjana Ásbjörnsdóttir
Teaching Assistant
E-mail:  kasbjorn@uw.edu

Victoria Holt will handle most administrative matters concerning EPI 513.

Course objectives

The primary objective of EPI 512-513 is to help you learn how to conduct good epidemiologic research. Secondary objectives are to help you understand and evaluate research reported by others, and to enable you to apply epidemiologic principles in other health-related areas, including clinical medicine, public health practice, and health policy.

Specific learning objectives for EPI 512-513 correspond to those for the MPH, MS, and PhD programs in Epidemiology. Upon successfully completing these two courses, you should be able to:

o    Define and apply measures of disease frequency as they reflect the health status of a population.

o    Apply widely accepted criteria for causal inference.

o    Define and calculate measures of association between a given risk factor and disease.

o    Describe and interpret variations in disease frequency according to characteristics of person, place, and time.

o     Describe the strengths and weaknesses of alternative epidemiologic study designs for determining whether a given factor is a determinant of disease risk.

o     Use epidemiologic methods to evaluate public health programs and policies.

o     Describe major sources of bias in epidemiologic research (including selection bias, measurement error, and confounding) and how such biases can be evaluated and reduced.

o     Explain and use the basic terms and methods used in outbreak investigation, infectious disease epidemiology, chronic disease epidemiology, disease prevention research, and evaluation of screening tests.

o     Evaluate effect modification.

o     Critically review scientific literature and synthesize findings across studies.

o     Correctly interpret epidemiologic research and place the findings into proper context in relation to other epidemiologic studies, biological or social processes, and public health implications.

o      Design a randomized trial, cohort study, or case-control study to evaluate whether a certain exposure is causally associated with a certain health outcome.

Course format

The format of EPI 513 resembles that of EPI 512. There will be a mixture of lectures and class discussion of a problem set that was distributed at a previous session. Several sessions that focus on problem sets will take place in four smaller groups meeting concurrently in different rooms (see below), which we hope will prove more conducive to discussion.

Lectures

Lectures on new material will take place in our main classroom, T-625.  For most sessions, a handout based on the lecture slides will be available in electronic form as a PDF file for downloading from the course web site at least a day before class.  Paper copies of these handouts will not be routinely distributed in class.  Instead, you should download the handout for each upcoming lecture yourself and bring it to class with you.

The easiest way to take notes during lecture is to bring your own printed copy of the handout to class and write your notes on it.  You can also view the handout on your laptop and take notes in another file or on paper.  It is also possible to add your own notes electronically to a PDF file.  To this end, most lecture handouts will be edit-enabled, allowing them to be marked up with Adobe Reader.  If you choose to take notes electronically, be aware that you will not be able to use your computer during the EPI 513 final exam, although you may use printed notes.

Lecture sessions are routinely audio recorded, and the recordings will be available from the course website as MP3 files.  MP3 files can be played back on most personal computers and on various portable audio devices (e.g., i Pods and some cell phones).  The audio recordings are intended only for occasional use when you must miss class due to illness or out-of-town travel, or if you want to review a point covered in lecture. The recordings are not intended to be a regular substitute for attending class because there is no opportunity to ask questions, recordings and handouts do not capture all of the visual features of the slides, there is always a risk of technical problems with the recordings, and you miss the collegial experience of learning side by side and interacting with fellow students.  In general, you will need to have a copy of the lecture handout in front of you to make sense of an audio recording of the lecture.  Handouts for sessions beyond the next one are not usually available in advance, because we are still working on them and like to reserve the option to make changes based on what has happened in class before they are distributed.

As a courtesy to your fellow students, please turn off cell phones and audible pagers during class.

Small group sessions

Most Tuesdays we will meet from 10:30-11:20 in four small groups for discussion of a problem set--see the course schedule for details. Consult the small-group roster on-line to see which group you are in.  Room assignments will be listed in the daily page for each session on the course web site.  The faculty and teaching assistants will rotate as discussion leaders among all four groups.  You may be asked to sign in on a checklist each time your small group meets so that the discussion leader knows who is present. Signing in is for informational purposes only and is not used in grading.  Discussion of problem sets in class is intended to be interactive, involving everyone in thinking through the methodological issues raised by a problem.  To that end, we often call on individual students at random to initiate discussion on a problem by proposing their own answer.  Calling on students at random promotes broader participation in the discussion, which otherwise tends to be dominated by a few vocal volunteers.  It also provides an incentive for everyone to be prepared for class, even if no written answers are required that day.  At random is literally true: a computer program is used to generate a random list of students' names, giving everyone an equal chance of being called upon.  The random selection is carried out with replacement, so your probability of being called on for a given question is unaffected by whether you were called on for another question recently.

There is no penalty for giving a "wrong" answer in class.  You may also "pass" if you are called upon for a specific problem but do not want to offer your answer to that problem.  If you are painfully shy, you can opt out from being called on by requsting that your name not be included on the list from which random names are chosen.  Contact Victoria Holt to do so. If you prefer to be called by a different name than the official one by which you are known to the Registrar's Office, just let Victoria know.

Past EPI 513 students have occasionally complained when some of their classmates seem to ask more than their share of questions and dominate the discussion. If you have already asked a question or two in class on a certain day, please consider holding back and giving others a chance to do so.  From time to time, the small-group discussion leader (often a TA) may deliberately skip over a hand that has been raised before, in order to broaden participation and manage the discussion.  We are always glad to talk with you individually after class or during office hours if you have more questions or comments after discussion of a problem set.

Learning resources

Textbooks

The required textbook is:

 

Koepsell TD, Weiss NS. Epidemiologic Methods: Studying the Occurrence of Illness. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

This book was written by Tom and Noel specifically for use in EPI 512-513 and in similar courses at other universities. We hope you like it. Suggestions for improvement of possible future editions are always welcome.

A few errors escaped detection during proofreading of the Koepsell & Weiss textbook and made their way into print.  A list of currently known errors appears on a Textbook Errata page that is accessible from the course web site home page.  Several of them were pointed out by sharp-eyed EPI 512-513 students, to whom we are grateful.  If you come across a new one, please let us know so that it can be corrected in any future editions of the book and, meanwhile, made known to other readers.

An optional supplementary text is:

Gordis L. Epidemiology (4th edition). Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 2009.

Before the currently used book was published, an earlier edition of the Gordis book was used as the primary text for EPI 512-513. It is rich with examples and graphical aids and is written with a touch of humor. We expect that it will still be popular with many students. However, it covers many topics more lightly than we do in EPI 512-513.

Both books can be obtained at the South Campus Center branch of University Bookstore or from other booksellers.

Supplemental texts

Several other standard textbooks in epidemiology are available in the Health Sciences Library and Information Center. They are:

1. Friedman GD. Primer of Epidemiology (5th edition). New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004.
2. Hennekens CH, Buring JE. Epidemiology in Medicine. Boston: Little, Brown, 1987.
3. Kelsey JL, Whittemore A, Evans A, Thompson WD. Methods in Observational Epidemiology (2nd edition). New York: Oxford, 1996.
4. MacMahon B, Trichopoulos D. Epidemiology: Principles and Methods (2nd edition). Boston: Little, Brown, 1996.
5. Rothman KJ, Epidemiology: An Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
6. Rothman KJ, Greenland S. Modern Epidemiology (3rd edition). Philadelphia: Lippincott-Raven, 2008.
7. Haynes RB, Sackett DL, Guyatt GH, Tugwell P. Clinical Epidemiology: How to Do Clinical Practice Research (3rd edition). Boston: Little, Brown, 2006.
8. Szklo M, Neito FJ.  Epidemiology: Beyond the Basics (2nd edition). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2007.
   
9. Weiss NS. Clinical Epidemiology: The Study of the Outcome of Illness (3rd edition). New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Personal assistance

Alison, Jeff, and Kristjana will each have regular office hours when students may stop in for help on any of the course material covered to date.  Their current office-hours schedule can be accessed via a link from the EPI 513 web site home page.  You may also send course-related e-mail questions to epi513@u.washington.edu, which will be regularly monitored by the TAs.  Please use it as the primary address for most questions, including any new ones.  If you want to follow up on an issue you discussed earlier with a particular TA, feel free to use his or her personal e-mail address, which can be found on the website home page and earlier in this syllabus.

Victoria Holt is in her Department of Epidemiology office (F-346A) Tuesdays and most Thursdays, and she can be reached by telephone (685-1643), e-mail (vholt@uw.edu), or after class.  Noel Weiss is in his Department of Epidemiology office on most weekdays.  Students are welcome to drop by to see any of the instructors.  E-mail also works well for setting up appointments or for questions that are not too lengthy or difficult.

Study groups

Past students in EPI 512-513 have often found it useful and stimulating to work together on problem sets and to review together for exams. Doing so is perfectly acceptable and, in fact, encouraged. However, once the discussion is over, each individual must compose and turn in his or her own answers to the problem sets. Other students prefer to work independently, which is also fine. Formation of study groups is entirely up to you and usually occurs informally.

Supercourse

Dr. Ronald LaPorte and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh manage the Supercourse project, an on-line collection of over 2,000 self-study "lectures" on various topics in epidemiology, including epidemiologic methods. Lectures have been contributed by faculty from all over the world. Past students have found them to be variable as to level of difficulty and quality, but you may wish to explore what is available by visiting the Supercourse web site.

EPI 513 on-line

To help manage information flow for our large class, we will rely heavily on the World Wide Web.  EPI 513 has its own website from which most teaching materials will be available for downloading.  We will also use several UW Catalyst Web Tools, including: (1) an on-line dropbox to which you will submit homework assignments electronically, and (2) an on-line gradebook that lets you keep track of your scores on homework and exams throughout the course. Besides the basic functions described below, they have other optional features that you may find handy, such as notifying you automatically by e-mail when something new has been posted to our course website.

Course website

The course website will be an important resource throughout the course. Handouts from lectures, problem sets, answers to problem sets, answers to exams, and other teaching materials will be added as we go along. Announcements and schedule updates will also be posted on the website.

URL:  http://courses.washington.edu/epi513

Parts of the website are publicly accessible, including the home page, syllabus, and TA office-hours schedule.  However, access to some parts is restricted because those areas are intended for use by students in EPI 513, not for everyone on the Internet. When you first enter a restricted-access area during a session, you will be asked for your UW NetID and password—the same ones you use to access your UW email account. Students who are officially registered for EPI 513 are automatically authorized to use the private areas of the website.  The website authorization list is updated automatically every night based on data from the UW Registrar's Office.  If you recently added the course, you should be able to access privae areas of the website within a day or so.  Approved guests may also be granted such access.

Teaching materials posted on the website are not in the public domain and are protected by copyright law. You are asked not to share your password with anyone or redistribute materials retrieved from the website.

Most downloadable items are in Portable Document Format (PDF), which can be viewed and/or printed with Adobe Reader on almost any personal computer. Adobe Reader is widely available in on-campus computing labs, and can be downloaded for free over the Internet from the Adobe web site.

The course website has limited storage capacity, so expect that materials on it will disappear soon after the EPI 512-513 sequence is over for the year.

On-line drop box

The standard way to submit your answers to required problem sets and the midterm exam is to submit them electronically.  To do so, follow these steps:

1.    Create an electronic document that contains your answers.  You may use whatever software you wish, but the final product should be a single file of type .doc, .docx, .pdf, or .txt.

If you do calculations or prepare graphics using other software (e.g., Stata, R, Excel, Powerpoint) and wish to include the results as part of your answers, please figure out how to incorporate them into the main document that contains your answers rather than submitting multiple separate files.

2.    Using your Web browser, go to the dropbox. A link to it can be found on the course website home page.  The Daily Details page also contains a link to the dropbox for days when a homework assignment is due.  You can also access the dropbox via MyUW by following a link to Catalyst Web Tools.  (Note that Catalyst Web Tools will work with most commonly used Web browsers, but not with all browsers.  Catalyst will advise you if you need to switch browsers.)

3.    Once at the dropbox, select the appropriate assignment, then upload your file by clicking on the Browse button under Submit a file for this assignment.

Each assignment has an Open date and time, after which files can be submitted, and a Due date and time, which for problem sets is 10:30 AM on the day when the problem set is scheduled for discussion in class.  Files submitted to the dropbox after the due date and time are automatically flagged as late, which may affect the score.  At any time before the due date and time, you can delete and replace a file that you previously uploaded if you decide you want to update your answers.

If on-line submission of assinments poses a special hardship for you, please discuss your situation with one of the teaching assistants.  If necessary, answers on paper can be submitted instead, due on the same date and time.

Please also bring a paper copy of your answer to class for use during the discussion, or an electronic copy that you can view on your laptop computer during class.

Gradebook

Electronic mailing list

Grading

EPI 513 is graded very similarly to EPI 512, with grades based on the following factors:

Problem sets. Written answers will be required for several of the problem sets and are to be submitted on-line before class begins on the dates shown in the course schedule.  When written answers are to be turned in for a problem set, each student must prepare his or her own set of written answers, even if he/she worked on them as a member of a study group.  Submitted answers for a problem set that are not the student's own work (e.g., identical answers from members of a study group, or official answers from previous years) will be considered plagiarism, and may result in no credit for that problem set.  Be aware that without obtaining credit for all the problem sets, it is difficult to pass this course.

The three Teaching Assistants will review and grade the problem sets.  All answers to a given problem set will be read by the same TA.  Questions about how a particular answer was graded may be directed to epi513@uw.edu , where they will be routed to the appropriate TA.

In general, answers that are submitted on time, represent the student's own work, and reflect a good-faith effort to grapple with the issues will receive full credit.  This policy is an attempt to reward hard work and to discourage fixation on the number of points earned.  However, a thoughtful response that is given full credit may not necessarily be correct.  You should always try to reconcile what you wrote with what is discussed in class, with the "official" answers posted on the course website, and with any written feedback on your own answers.

Exceptionally well-crafted (and correct) answers to graded homework may earn a "check-plus." Answers that are turned in late, are judged to reflect little effort, or are very far from correct may be given a "check-minus."  At the end of the quarter, students with several check-pluses may qualify for a small boost in course grade, and those with several check-minuses may lose a little, at the instructors' discretion. However, it is possible to get a grade of 4.0 even with no check-pluses.

Late homework will only be accepted for possible full credit if prior arrangement has been made with the TAs.  If you will be unable to turn in answers to a problem set on time, you should make arrangements with a TA about how to turn them in without incurring a late penalty.  One "free" turned-in-late homework will be accepted without prior arrangement during the quarter; however, in any case, the tardy homework is due no later than one week past the original due date.  Regardless of the reason, homework answers that are turned in after the official answers have been posted are not eligible for a check-plus.

 
Exams.  The mid-term and final examinations will consist of a series of questions resembling those in the problem sets. Some will require calculation, some a short answer, and some may be based on a published article. You may use any written notes and books you wish during these exams. It may be handy to have a calculator available. Personal computers and portable communication devices may not be used during the final exam.

The mid-term exam will be a take-home exam, given out on Thursday, Feb. 2.  Written answers will be due on-line before class begins on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

 
The final exam will take place on Monday, March 12, from 10:30 am -12:20 pm in our regular lecture room, T-625.

Be forewarned that most students perceive the final exam to be more difficult than the problem sets, the mid-term exam, or the optional practice problems.  This is probably because both exams must be done individually, the final exam has a more rigid time deadline, and the point of each question is not an automatic consequence of recent lecture material.  Also, in contrast to the problem sets, answers on the exams receive full credit only if they respond to the point of the question and are correct.

Any registered student who completes all of the required homework assignments successfully and on time and takes both exams is assured a passing grade of at least 2.7.  Historically, the average grade in EPI 513 has been about 3.4.

Other information

Feedback to instructors

We welcome any comments, suggestions, criticisms or compliments you care to offer about the course as we go along. You can catch us during the break, after class, send us regular e-mail, or drop us a note in campus mail. You may also send comments anonymously by clicking on Send feedback to instructors on the course web site home page.

Students with concerns about the instructor or teaching assistants (TAs) should discuss these concerns with the TA and/or the course instructor. If the student is not satisfied with the response, s/he may contact the Department Chair at 206-543-1065. If concerns are not satisfactorily resolved, s/he may also contact the Graduate School at G1 Communications Building by phone at (206) 543-5900 or by email at elf@u.washington.edu.

Course evaluation forms will also be distributed on the last day of class.

 
Approved guests

From time to time, members of the UW community ask to sit in on EPI 512-513 to learn about selected topics in epidemiologic methods without earning academic credit.  As long as room capacity allows, permission to do so usually is given.  To gain access to the course website as an approved guest, e-mail your request to Victoria Holt from your UW e-mail account.  (A UW NetID is required.)  Approved guests do not turn in assignments or take exams and should remain on the sidelines in class discussion, but guests are of course welcome to seek out course faculty outside of class.

Plagiarism

EPI 512-513 students are expected to follow school and university policies against plagiarism, as described at: http://sphcm.washington.edu/gateway/plagiarism.asp.

Under these policies, forms of plagiarism include, among other practices: (1) using another person's phrases, sentences, outline, or the structure behind them without proper attribution; or (2) citing a source but reproducing the exact words without quotation marks.  Specific examples include copying part or all of another student's answers, or taking answers from course materials used in a previous year.  Penalties for plagiarism range up to suspension or dismissal from the university.

Students with disabilities

If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a disability, please contact Disabled Student Services, 448 Schmitz, 543-8924 (V/TDD). If you have a letter from Disabled Student Services indicating you have a disability that requires academic accommodations, please present the letter to Victoria Holt so that you and she can discuss the accommodations you might need for class.

Emergency evacuation

Should we need to evacuate the T-625 classroom:

• Exit via either door at the back of the room.
• Turn left and find the stairway that leads down.  Godown two floors to the 4th floor.
  
• When you exit the staircase on the 4th floor, turn right.  In a few stepsyou come to a corridor that leads outside.  Follow it, and cross the skybridge over Pacific Street.
• Assemble at the north end of the skybridge.
  

To be prepared for emergencies (e.g., fire, power outage, earthquake), review the UW Emergency Procedures.

**Take-home mid-term exam distributed on Thursday, Feb 2, due on-line by 10:30 am on Tuesday Feb. 7

Last Updated: 12/5/11