Whether you are a member of the general public trying to understand health headlines, a medical student reading their first journal article, or a healthcare professional trying to use the latest research to improve patient care, understanding data and statistics has never been more fundamental for extracting accurate information from the medical literature. This is a high-level, introduction to the concepts you need to know. It is targeted at busy students and professionals, and therefore efficient, with short lessons that can be completed in 5 to 10 minutes, with the whole course-time totaling around 4 hours. We leave out the mathematical detail and focus on the conceptual ideas. Anyone can pick this course up and gain a better understanding of the medical literature.

Learning objectives

After taking this course you will be able to:

• Identify potential statistical problems and biases in the medical literature
• Interpret commonly seen statistical methods and graphics in the medical literature
• Determine whether a medical study was conducted in a statistically rigorous manner

How you will be graded

The course has a series of short quizzes, one for each section, and a final assessment. You will get two attempts at each assessment and your best score for each one will count toward your final score. If you receive more than 70% of the points across all assessments you will pass. If you receive more than 90% of the points across all assessments you will pass with honors. You get two attempts at the class with each class purchase.