Courses and Registration
Non-CTS Elective Course Descriptions
(Suggested elective options though students are not limited to these options. Students may choose electives from the UVM Graduate Course Catalogue and request approval for elective credit by their CTS advisor)
CDAE 351 Research Methods
(3 credits, Instructor: Thomas Patrick DeSisto)
Developing research projects with the scientific methods; evaluating alternative literature review, sampling, surveying, and analytic methods; and reporting the results
Prerequisite: Three hours of statistics
Offered by the Community Development and Applied Economics Department
PA 325 Health Care Policy
(3 credits, Instructors: Meg O'Donnell, Steven Jerome Kappel)
This course addresses policy issues affecting the structure, performance and change in the U.S. health care system, with a specific focus on the role of health care managers.
Pre/co-requisite: CDAE 102 or CDAE 124 or instructor permission
Offered by the Public Administration Department
PH 301 Public Health and Health Policy
(3 credits, Instructor: Jan Carney)
Course focuses on current public health issues, barriers to improving population health, and policy tensions between science, economics, education, politics, government, media, and public health.
Offered by the Public Health Department
PH 396 Special Topics-Epidemiology
(3 credits, Instructor: Matthew Thomas)
Epidemiology is the study of disease distribution and determinants in populations; we will define populations and estimate the distribution of health-related conditions and their determinants.
Offered by the Public Health Department
SOC 274 Qualitative Research Methods
(3 credits, Instructor: Dale J. Jaffe)
Principles of qualitative research design and ethics and data collection, analysis, and presentation. Students will complete a research project over the course of the semester. The focus of this course is on qualitative methods of research and analysis. This involves the observation and study of people in their "natural" everyday settings. The main objective is for you to learn how to go about doing this sort of research by reading about qualitative methodology, conducting your own original research project, and discussing your experiences, discoveries, and dilemmas with your classmates. During the course of the semester, you will select a setting for study, create field notes on participant observation, develop an interview guide and conduct a small number in-depth interviews, learn how to analyze these date, and write a qualitative research report.
Section Expections: The entire course is structured around the conduct of student research projects. All of your work will be geared toward the preparation of a qualitative research report which is due at the end of the semester. Lectures, readings, weekly assignments, and class discussions will provide you with the tools to successfully complete this project. Final grades are based on attendance, participation, quality of weekly assignments and an assessment of the final paper.
Prerequisites: 6 hours of sociology including SOC 001 and 100, or instructor permission
Offered by the Sociology Department
STAT 200 Med Biostatistics and Epidemiology
(3 credits, Instructor: Peter Callas, PhD)
Introductory design and analysis of medical studies. Epidemiological concepts, case-control and cohort studies. Clinical trials. Students evaluate statistical aspects of published health science studies. STAT 200 covers the design and analysis of epidemiologic studies, including descriptive studies, cross-sectional designs, case-control studies, cohort studies, and randomized controlled studies. Computational methods include calculation of measures of disease frequency (incidence, prevalence) and measures of association (e.g. relative risk, odds ratio, attributable risk). Study issues include evaluating the role of chance, selection, bias, information bias, confounding, and effect modification in interpreting research findings. STAT 200 does not cover specific computational details of statistical tests but rather focuses on interpretation of the results of such tests. The required text for Fall 2012 is Oleckno, WA. Epidemiology:Concepts and Methods. Long Grove, IL:Waveland Press Inc., 2008. ISBN 1-57766-522-8
Section Expectations: Course sessions will generally consist of lecture covering new material and discussion of one or more assigned journal articles from the biomedical literature.
Evaluation: Grades are based on homework, exams, written project evaluation in assigned epidemiologic study, in-class presentation evaluating a study chosen by the student, and class participation (attendance and contribution to in-class discussion)
Prerequisite: STAT 111, 141, or 211.
Cross listed with BIOS 200
Offered by the Statistics Department
STAT 211 Statistical Methods I
(3 credits, Instructor: Douglas Dickey)
Fundamental concepts for data analysis and experimental design. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including classical and nonparametric methods, regression, correlation, and analysis of variance. Statistical software.
Prerequisite: Junior Standing
Offered by the Statistics Department
STAT 381 Statistical Research
(3 credits, Instructors: Jeff Sandor Buzas, Ruth Mickey, Mun Shig Son)
Methodologic or data analytic research culminating in oral and written reports to the faculty.
Prerequisite: Permission
Cross listed with Biostatistics 381
Offered by the Statistics Department