Admission requirements
A signed research project agreement must be shown at the start of the course.
Description
Biology is an empirical science, meaning evidence is gathered through observations. Statistics plays a central role in empirical science, governing many aspects of study design, the analysis of results, and the construction of tables and figures for use in reports, presentations and publication. A well-designed study involves statistics before any data collection takes place.
This course will briefly summarize the statistical methods you have learned thus far, before moving on to very commonly encountered models in the life sciences, including generalized linear models and basic mixed models. These allow you to study processes of various nature, and serve to prepare you for the Bachelor Research Project (BRP). All data processing, visualization and analysis will be conducted in the open source statistical programming language R.
Statistics 2 is an intensive course, where we expect you to be present during the computer practicals. Unless agreed upon with the study advisor in advance, the BRP starts after, not during this course. If you have to miss any practicals, please inform the coordinators in advance.
Course objectives
After completion of the course, students can:
1. Apply methods discussed in previous statistics courses at a deeper level, with extensions to generalized methods and unsupervised learning, in the context of their internship.
2. Recognize the correct definition of important concepts in statistics (false positive/negative, p-value) and can repeat the basic steps of a typical statistical analysis.
3. Evaluate the quality of collected data.
4. Describe the statistical methodology used.
5. Choose an appropriate statistical method from the tests and models covered during the course.
6. Open, edit and run basic scripts in R, using RStudio, and use literate programming to compile a report that includes code, output and commentary.
7. Write scientifically about the results of an analysis and provide an interpretation.
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of Instruction
Lectures, tutorials, assignments and modules during Bachelor Research Project.
Assessment method
The final grade consists of the following partial grades: ● Written exam (85%) ● Assignment (15%)
Minimum grade:
Courses require a minimum, unrounded 5.5 grade to complete.
If a course has 2 or more written partial exams, the minimum grade only applies to the weighted average of the exams.
For partial grades from components other than exams (e.g. practicals, seminars, writing assignments), the bottom grade does apply to the individual components.
Please refer to the Student Charter for an overview of regulations.
Reading list
An online ebook accompanying the course and a set of chapters from the Springer-link library will be published on Brightspace. The e-book can be accessed freely, and the Springer chapters can be downloaded for free using your ULCN account. In preparation, please perform a fresh install of the necessary software as explained here: https://youtu.be/jvL10YqZSEA
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Prospective students website for more information on how to apply.
Contact
Coördinator: Daniëlle Fluks en David Foschepoth
E-mail: d.e.fluks@biology.leidenuniv.nl, d.j.foschepoth@biology.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
Inspection and feedback on the examination: exam can be reviewed and discussed during a class session, and assignments can be reviewed in person.
Brightspace will be used for communication, Q&A, lecture summaries, screencasts, and handouts.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.