Essentials of Statistical Analysis (EOSA)

The suggested audiences are undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest in pursuing a career in social or biomedical sciences research. In addition, clinical research coordinators, basic research faculty, research team members, and IRB members and administrators may benefit from these courses. The courses are particularly useful for students who will soon begin a classroom course in statistics.

The Essentials of Statistical Analysis courses are available to both independent learners and subscribing organizations.

An organizational subscription provides affiliated members access to the EOSA courses as determined by the organization. This allows organizations to meet the needs of learners who may benefit from a review of statistical analysis.

The courses are designed to:

1. Provide the student with a head start before the student takes a classroom statistical analysis course.
2. Provide a comprehensive review of the fundamentals of research statistics theory and practice.
3. Provide a user-friendly resource for learners needing a refresher experience in specific areas of statistical practice.

All you need is a working knowledge of algebra – specifically, working with variables. These courses involve basic mathematical operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, raising a number to a power, and taking the square root of a number. Operations beyond these will be explained as part of the courses.

The courses consists of self-contained modules. Each module consists of a “teaching” portion (with examples), a knowledge check, an interactive exercise, and an end-of-module quiz. Learners go through each module at their own pace, and no instructor or moderator is needed.

The course passing scores and individual module passing scores are set at 75 percent and cannot be adjusted.

Although completion time will vary from one learner to the next, we estimate that each module will take about 25-35 minutes to complete. The modules are designed so that learners can complete them in one sitting or in multiple sittings, and there is no time limit for course activities.

Yes. The courses were adapted from the introductory statistical analysis course that Dr. Schwartz has taught for many years. The courses actually include more material than can feasibly be included in a 13-week, in-person course – including alternatives to use if the assumptions of parametric (normal distribution based) tests are not met.

The courses were designed to work on as many devices as possible. For the best results, we recommend using a large screen device such as a desktop, laptop, or tablet. While mobile use is possible, it may not be desired if screen space is limited.