STATISTINE METODE V EPIDEMIOLOGIJI

• to enable the students to use the methods in practice, meaning transferring the
emphasis from the lectures to practical work on an example (learning with
experience);
• to watch carefully all the time if the students are following the explanation and
practical use of the teaching matter; the teacher must strive for not concluding
a subject until it is accepted by the majority of students;
• to use new pedagogical approaches at lecturing, for example working in
smaller groups, learning with discussion etc., whenever possible;
• to use adequate tools, meaning learning with the statistical program of good
quality; nevertheless certain calculations shall be carried out manually or
partly manually, particularly where this shall be necessary for the procedure to
be easier understandable;
• students shall be proposed, if not supplied with, corresponding studying
material.
The main purpose of teaching public health students statistical methods with
comprehension is for them to be able to have entire process of a public health
research, from the definition of a problem as a starting point, through collecting the
relevant data and analysing them, finally to interpretation of the results of the analysis
under control. This does not necessarily mean that they will need to do the entire
process by themselves. Lack of general acquaintance with research tools including
statistical methods most often results in a public health worker, not be able to
translate the results of an analysis into technical language of his or her profession.
This is usually followed by a very complicated interpretation, which can be very hard
to understand, especially to decision makers and politicians to whom the results are
intended for. In other words, teaching statistical methods with comprehension means
to make future public health experts to be able to speak the same language as statistic
experts, who are responsible for technical realisation of the methods.
Process of teaching
In teaching statistical methods in public health at postgraduate level of education in
Slovenia we try to follow the principles just described as much as possible. It seems
that this could be the right way to achieve the aim already described.
In continuation, a short description of the process of teaching statistical
methods at the 2 semester (60 ECTS) postgraduate course of public health, which is a
compulsory part of the professional third-cycle study of public health postgraduate
specialization in public health for doctors of medicine or dental medicine (for others
is optional), is given. This method is used now successfully for about 10 years.
Educational objective
End objective of educational process is adoption of practical skills. For achieving this
objective, practical exercising in small groups is especially recommended (35).
Target group
Target group are adult postgraduate students of 25-40 years of age, occasionally some
students up to 55 years of age are expected. According to developmental psychology
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