The aim of this course is to introduce students to important areas of application of statistical methods in the Life and Behavioral Sciences. Emphasis is on the biological and psychological subject matter knowledge needed to understand statistical applications in these areas and on how statistical methodology contributes to the progress in the life and behavioral sciences. Seven themes will be highlighted, each taking two weeks. Part of each theme is a visit to a research institute, where an overview of the area is given together with examples of statistical applications. Additional biological or psychological background knowledge of the areas is provided by self study of articles and book chapters. The themes include:
Clinical research (visit to LUMC/Center of Human Drug Research)
Epidemiology (visit to LUMC)
Plant/animal/human genetics and genomics (visit to Department of Plant Science and Department of Animal Science, Wageningen University)
Survey research (visit to Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS))
Psychometrics (visit to Centraal Instituut voor Toetsontwikkeling (CITO))
Forensic applications (visit to Netherlands Forensic Institute)
Statistical applications in the Environmental Sciences (visit to Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University)
Literature
Will be specified during course, no books are required.