CAMS runs a series of introductory statistics courses twice a year. This series of one and two day courses focuses on the principles and practicalities of study design and analysis. All courses are designed for those interested in any type of data based health related research and aim to demystify statistics, with practical exercises and applications in health care. Several courses assume no prior knowledge; and two courses emphasise hands-on training with the user-friendly software SPSS® for Windows. If you are uncertain whether our introductory statistics and research methods course is necessary then try our quiz.
All courses take place in the Small Seminar room, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge, adjacent to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. For further information, or to reserve a place, please contact Marianne Blanc. It would help us if the first contact could be made by e-mail whenever possible. CAMS reserves the right to cancel courses and advises early booking for particular dates as places are limited.
If you are unsure which courses to attend please contact us, our course overview or quotes from past attendees or our summary of feedback might help. If you have attended some of our courses further information including datasets are available for some courses.
Below are basic details of our full range of courses with dates for the current session.
Please click on an individual course for further details:
Courses with no prerequisite:
1. Introductory Statistics and Research Methods
Choice 1: Thursday 6th and Friday 7th September 2012 (2-day course)
Choice 2: Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th September 2012 (2-day course)
Covering common statistical methods of design and analysis in medical research. No prior knowledge assumed.
2. Critical Appraisal
Wednesday 12th September 2012
Introducing the skills needed to understand medical literature more fully, and to gain a health scepticism when reading published research.
3. Observational Studies
Monday 17th September
Discussing the epidemiological research options available when its not possible to do a randomised trial.
4. Clinical Trials
Wednesday 19th September 2012
Discussing basic concepts in randomised controlled trials, including sample size considerations.
5. Statistics For Medical Journals
Wednesday 26th September 2012
What authors of medical research papers need to know to help their chances of getting published in their preferred journals, including how to avoid pitfalls detected by statistical reviewers.
Courses with prerequisites:
6. Getting Started With SPSS®
Thursday 13th and Friday 14th September 2012 (2-day course)
Hands-on supervised training with the user friendly statistics package SPSS® from beginner to intermediate level.
Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent. Early booking is advised as places are limited.
7. Understanding Meta-Analysis
Tuesday 18th September 2012
Interpreting evidence drawn from several studies. Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent.
8. Coping With Many Variables
Thursday 20th September 2012
Explaining multiple and logistic regression, and other methods of multivariable analysis for deeper understanding of research data.
Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent
9. Understanding Non-Parametric Methods
Friday 21st September 2012
Coping with commonly encountered skewed and ordered categorical data and small datasets.
Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent.
10. Handling Of Time-To-Event Data
Monday 24th September
Introducing survival analysis, with hands-on applications with SPSS ® for Windows.
Prerequisite: Getting Started With SPSS®, and Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent.
11. Introduction to Studies of Agreement
Tuesday 25th September 2012
Covering the design and analysis of studies in which a diagnosis or measurement is made using two or more methods.
Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent.
12. Statistics Using ‘R’: Free Software
Thursday 27th September 2012
From data analysis to publication-quality graphics, a hands-on introduction to this versatile free software.
Prerequisite: Introductory Statistics and Research Methods or equivalent.
Course fees
Course fees depend on funding source and cancellation fees apply. All course fees include lunch, refreshments and a comprehensive set of course notes. The rates from Autumn 2008 are:
1-day courses: Cambridge University staff £150, NHS / other academic staff £175, Externals £200.
2-day courses: Cambridge University staff £275, NHS / other academic staff £325, Externals £375.
Discounted places are available for full-time University of Cambridge registered students, by prior arrangement and subject to availability. Students are required to provide a letter from their supervisor confirming that they are full time University of Cambridge registered students.
Cancellation Policy
After reserving a place, if you fail to attend a course, you will be automatically re-booked for the next time the course is offered. Alternatively, a colleague from the same billing account could be sent in your place. If you do not give CAMS five working days notice of cancellation, you can expect to be charged a cancellation fee of £40 per course day missed (or £25 for full-time students).
No Parking
Please note that there is no public parking available at the IPH site for courses. However, there is easy access to the site via the Babraham Road Park and Ride, and several buses serve Addenbrooke’s Hospital regularly from the city centre and the train station. The main hospital visitors’ car park costs around £15 for the day and is about 10 minutes’ walk from the IPH.
Course bookings
To reserve a place, please contact Marianne Blanc. It would help us if the first contact could be made by e-mail whenever possible. CAMS reserves the right to cancel courses and advises early booking for particular dates as places are limited.