Course Evaluation for Biostats VHM 801 at AVC - Fall Semester 2016

The purpose of this questionnaire is to summarize the student's experience of the course, as an aid for me (Henrik, the instructor) in the planning of the course in the future. Because I will be on sabbatical leave in 2017, there will be extra time to think about and develop new ideas for the course, so your opinions will be important in determining the future layout of the course. Your answers will be entirely anonymous, unless you choose to identify yourself. Completed forms may be put in my mailbox (Health Management, 3rd floor North) or given to me directly anytime before or after the exam, as you prefer. Upon receipt of answers from at least 6 students, I'll post a summary of the responses on the web page.

General questions

Utility of different course parts

(scale for utility/usefulness/benefit: 1=little, 2=some, 3=considerable, 4=high; for the relative utility, give a percentage for the utility of each part of the course, so that the percentages add up to 100%)

Course part	Worst thing(s) about	Best thing(s) about	Utility	Relative
			(1-4)	utility (%)
Lectures	.	.	.	.
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Lab sessions	.	.	.	.
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Textbook	.	.	.	.
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Web page	.	.	.	.
(incl. solutions)
Home assignments	.	.	.	.
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Overall	.	.	.	100%
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Comments:

Course benefits

If your last assessment was 1 (little), please state previous course(s):

Course workload and difficulty

	Assessment (1-4)
Course workload (compared to other 3 credit courses)	.
Course difficulty (compared to other 3 credit courses)	.

In addition: indicate which 2 of the statistical methods you found most difficult:
descriptive statistics, probability, statistical distributions and random variables, normal distribution, binomial distribution, one-sample analysis of continuous data, one-sample analysis of discrete data, two-sample analysis of continuous data, two-way tables, one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, linear regression/correlation, non-parametric methods in general, sample size calculations.

Comments:

Statistical software

	small, would not use	some, would maybe use	considerable, would most likely use	high, would most certainly use
Familiarity with Minitab	.	.	.	.

Comments about Minitab:

Specific questions

• The distribution between lecture and lab time reflects the instructor's view that things are best learnt by doing them (under guidance). One drawback of only two scheduled lecture hours is that some material is reviewed quickly, other material is deferred to the labs, and some material is not reviewed at all. Do you think the length and coverage of material at the lectures (including extra time during lab sessions) was appropriate?

  
  

  
  

• One new part of the lectures in the last two years was the review of "Summary Worksheets" from the Stevens (S) book, for most of the course topics. Do you think these reviews were beneficial and should be kept in future runs of the course? If yes, do you think these reviews are most efficiently done in lecture time (thereby taking away time for new material), or should they be moved to lab sessions or lab review sessions?

  
  

  
  

• The lab sessions are intended to give students (first) experience with the statistical methods introduced and the statistical software by solving a range of introductory/simple exercises. Do you think the software demonstration and the individual work parts of the lab sessions were useful and effective? (If your answers are different for the demonstration and individual work parts, please separate them.) Any other suggestions on how to make the labs more effective would be welcomed as well.

  
  

  
  

• The optional review sessions (on Thursdays) attracted substantial interest this year (relative to class size). If you attended (some of) them, do you think the current format and content are optimal, or do you have suggestions for improvement?

  
  

  
  

• The course material was expanded moderately in a couple of ways this and last year, including more comprehensive media links as well as summary notes for almost all lectures. The course also, as in previous years, included Minitab project files for all teaching sessions. I would be interested to get a sense of how useful these materials were for the class. Please indicate on a 4-point scale (1=never used; 2=used little but didn't find too useful; 3=used some and found quite useful; 4=used a lot and found very useful) your evaluation of each of these specific parts of the course material: (A) media links, (B) summary notes, (C) Minitab files.

  
  

  
  

• The course introduced several topics beyond the coverage in textbooks (e.g. Bayes' formula, Fisher's exact test, McNemar's test, Friedman's test, Spearman's rank correlation) without including them in the exam syllabus. In your view, is it useful to have such extra topics briefly explained within in the course, and would you prefer to have their scope reduced/kept as is/expanded?

  
  

  
  

• The main change and novelty of the course over the last years was to no longer match the course with a single textbook. Indicate which textbook you used (PSLS/S/IPS/none of these), and comment generally on whether you think that textbook supported the course adequately. Examples of issues you could address if you found them problematic: material included in the course not covered in your text (in particular for S); switching between textbook, textbook supplements and course notes; using lab problems from another textbook; access to relevant statistical tables. All comments on use and choice of textbooks are welcomed here (the next question will ask for a specific preference).

  
  

  
  

• After having tried a new system for textbooks for a few years, it is relevant to consider whether this system should be continued or replaced by an alternative. Please indicate which of the following options you think would be preferable for the course next year:
  • The 8th edition of IPS (allowing for 6th and 7th editions as well),
  • The 3rd edition of PSLS,
  • The S book, with necessary supplements,
  • Keep the current system allowing for choice between textbooks,
  • Other suggestions -- give details:
    

  Additional comments to motivate your choice would be welcomed as well.

Any other comments:

Many thanks for your help!
- Henrik