Monthly Subscription Starting at AED 99 + VAT

Validity and Bias in Epidemiology
  • Level Professional
  • Duration 7 hours
  • Course by Imperial College London
  • Offered by

About

Epidemiological studies can provide valuable insights about the frequency of a disease, its potential causes and the effectiveness of available treatments. Selecting an appropriate study design can take you a long way when trying to answer such a question. However, this is by no means enough. A study can yield biased results for many different reasons. This course offers an introduction to some of these factors and provides guidance on how to deal with bias in epidemiological research. In this course you will learn about the main types of bias and what effect they might have on your study findings. You will then focus on the concept of confounding and you will explore various methods to identify and control for confounding in different study designs. In the last module of this course we will discuss the phenomenon of effect modification, which is key to understanding and interpreting study results. We will finish the course with a broader discussion of causality in epidemiology and we will highlight how you can utilise all the tools that you have learnt to decide whether your findings indicate a true association and if this can be considered causal.

Modules

Welcome to Imperial College London

    • 4 Readings
    • 1 Discussion
    • 1 Plugin
Show info about module content

1 Discussions

  • Nice to meet you!

4 Readings

  • About Imperial College & the team
  • How to be successful in this course
  • Grading policy
  • Glossary & Additional readings

Introduction to Validity and Bias

    • 4 Videos
    • 2 Readings
    • 1 Assignment
Show info about module content

1 Assignment

  • Validity and Types of Bias

4 Videos

  • Introduction to Course
  • Validity
  • Selection Bias
  • Information Bias

2 Readings

  • Examples of Selection and Information Bias
  • Quiz Instructions

Confounding

    • 3 Videos
    • 1 Readings
    • 1 Discussion
    • 1 Assignment
Show info about module content

1 Assignment

  • Checking for confounding

1 Discussions

  • Association and Confounding

3 Videos

  • Introduction to Confounding
  • Criteria for Confounding
  • Criteria for Confounding: An Example

1 Readings

  • Recap: How to Identify Confounding

Dealing with Confounding

    • 5 Videos
    • 3 Readings
    • 1 Assignment
Show info about module content

1 Assignment

  • Dealing with Confounding

5 Videos

  • Controlling for Confounding at the Design Stage
  • Controlling for Confounding at the Design Stage: Example
  • Controlling for Confounding at the Analysis Stage
  • Controlling for Confounding at the Analysis Stage: Example
  • Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs)

3 Readings

  • Regression
  • Recap: How to Control for Confounding
  • Quiz Instructions

Effect Modification

    • 2 Videos
    • 2 Readings
    • 1 Discussion
    • 1 Assignment
Show info about module content

1 Assignment

  • Confounding and Effect Modification

1 Discussions

  • Same or Different Effect Across Subgroups?

2 Videos

  • Effect Modification
  • Confounding vs Effect Modification

2 Readings

  • Confounding or Effect Modification?
  • Quiz Instructions

Course Wrap Up

    • 2 Videos
    • 1 Readings
    • 1 Plugin
    • 1 Assignment
Show info about module content

1 Assignment

  • Bias, Confounding and Effect Modification

2 Videos

  • Causation
  • Course Summary

1 Readings

  • Quiz Instructions

Auto Summary

This course delves into epidemiology, focusing on understanding and addressing validity and bias in research. Led by Coursera, it covers key biases, confounding, effect modification, and causality in studies. Aimed at professionals in health and fitness, it spans 420 minutes and offers both Starter and Professional subscription options.

Filippos Filippidis
Instructor

Filippos Filippidis