Applied Statistics for Life Sciences

Updated

June 19, 2025

In science, statistical techniques provide a means of weighing quantitative evidence derived from observation and experimentation while accounting for uncertainty. This class aims to provide a hands-on introduction to common statistical methods used almost universally across the life sciences and a primer on statistical concepts. Examples emphasize applications with relevance to students’ majors, and students learn to perform simple analyses in R.

Read the [course syllabus] for more information.

Announcements

Check back on Monday 7/23/25.

Instructor: Trevor Ruiz (he/him) [email]

Office hours: TWR on Zoom and [by appointment]

Class meetings: asynchronous online [canvas] [youtube] [piazza]

Final exam: in-person Thursday 7/24/25 10:10am – 1:00pm in 38-122

Week 1 (6/23/25)

Introduction to data, descriptive statistics, and foundations for statistical inference

  • [reading] Vu and Harrington 1.1-1.5, 3.3.1-3.3.3, and 4.1-4.2
  • [lecture 1] study design, data semantics
  • [lecture 2] descriptive statistics
  • [lecture 3] point estimation
  • [lecture 4] interval estimation
  • [HW1] due Thursday 6/26/25 11:59pm PDT

Week 2 (6/30/25)

Statistical inference for one, two, and many means

  • [reading] Vu and Harrington 4.3, 5.3-5.5
  • [lecture 5] inference for a single population mean: one-sample t tests
  • [lecture 6] inference for a difference in means between two populations: two-sample t tests
  • [lecture 7] inference for differences in means among many populations: ANOVA
  • [lecture 8] post-hoc inference in ANOVA
  • [HW2] due Thursday 7/3/25 11:59pm PDT

Week 3 (7/7/25)

Nonparametric methods; simple linear regression

  • [reading] Vu and Harrington 6.1-6.5
  • [lecture 9] nonparametric alternatives to t-tests and ANOVA
  • [lecture 10] least squares estimation for simple linear regression
  • [lecture 11] inference in regression
  • [lecture 12] model checking
  • [HW3] due Thursday 7/10/25 11:59pm PDT

Week 4 (7/14/25)

  • [reading] Vu and Harrington 8.1-8.4
  • [lecture 13] inference for a single population proportion
  • [lecture 14] goodness of fit tests
  • [lecture 15] inference for a difference in proportions
  • [lecture 16] tests of association in two-way tables
  • [HW4] due Thursday 7/17/25 11:59pm PDT

Week 5 (7/21/25)

  • [reading] Vu and Harrington 8.5
  • [lecture 17] relative risk and odds ratios
  • [lecture 18] special topics
  • [final exam] in person Thursday 7/24/25 10:10am – 1:00pm in 38-122

Miscellany

Resources: