BIOS0019 Biostatistics Coursework 23/24
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BIOS0019 Biostatistics Coursework 23/24
Coursework Brief
You are working as an analyst in a research lab studying factors that influence degradation of human brain function. Your research supervisor has been sent a dataset which they think might contain some useful data and has asked you to investigate it. The dataset was not collected by your team and your supervisor is not familiar with it (this is not such an an unusual scenario!).
Write a 1000-word report, for delivery to your research supervisor, which investigates the following research question:
Do age and/or smoking influence human synchronization ability?
The only information you have about the data is described in the section below.
The Data
The data was derived from a human behavioural study. In the experiment, human participants were asked to tap along to a given beat and their accuracy was recorded. Asynchrony was measured as the discrepancy between the time of the finger tap and the time of the external beat. Before taking part in the experiment, subjects were asked to fill in a questionnaire about themselves which recorded (among many other variables) their age and whether they were smokers.
The dataset you are given (see tab-delimited text file, dataset_rhythm.txt) contains the following four columns:
. a unique ID for each human subject;
. the standard deviation of asynchrony (the smaller this value, the better the subject did in the task);
. the age group;
. whether the participant smokes (1 denotes smokers while 2 denotes non-smokers).
The Report
You should think carefully about the purpose and audience of the report. You can assume that your supervisor is familiar with the statistical techniques studied in this module and that they are not interested in Excel methods. You do not need to explain the scientific basis of the data.
Your report should include the following elements.
1. Exploratory Data Analysis (descriptive of sample)
Using suitable figures and summary statistics, describe the dataset. This section should introduce the data and motivate the rest of the report by drawing attention to its relevant features.
Think carefully about what to include here. Don’t include every summary statistic and graph you can think of. Include figures that reveal important or interesting characteristics of the data, that are relevant to the research question, or that help to inform the inferential data analysis in the next section. You might include a small amount of representative data, but be considerate to the reader: it would not be appropriate to present large tables.
2. Inferential Data Analysis (inferring characteristics of populations)
Apply techniques of statistical inference to investigate the research question. In this section you should perform hypothesis testing for which you should quote a p-value and/or calculate confidence intervals and state them. You should explain your method in sufficient detail for a reader to reproduce and verify your results.
Think about which analysis tool would be most appropriate for your research question, and ensure you understand what assumptions are required to apply it, and that these are met. You have been asked to clearly explain the method. It is appropriate to include intermediate calculation steps and key equations. However, do not include details on how the calculations were carried out in Excel.
3. Conclusions and Discussion
Clearly state and critically evaluate your conclusion(s). To what extent were you able to answer the research question? With reference to the analysis in the previous two sections, describe the strengths and limitations of both the data and your method. Justify any decisions or assumptions you have made.
Do not neglect this section, in which you can demonstrate a good understanding of the methods you have applied. The best submissions will pick up the top marks here.
Word Count
A penalty often percentage marks will be applied to any piece of work exceeding the 1000- word limit, provided that this does not reduce the overall mark below a pass. There is no lower word limit.
Included in word count:
. References within the text, e.g. Author names or numbered references
. Abbreviations within the text (counted as 1 word)
. Figure captions more than 50 words (counted entirely)
. Equations (counted as 1 word per numbered expression)
Excluded from word count:
. Figure or table captions of50 words or less
. Data presented in tables.
Academic Integrity
All students must be familiar with UCL’s rules on academic integrity and on use of AI. Penalities for academic misconduct can be found in Chapter 6 of the Academic Manual.
Submission
You should submit your report via the link on the BIOS0019 Moodle (“Assessments”). You may use any tool of your choice to type your text and prepare graphs, but you must submit in PDF format.
Late submissions will be penalized in accordance with Chapter 4 of the Academic Manual.
2023-12-26