This is an introductory course in biostatistics taught at the graduate level. Unlike traditional statistics courses, little attention is paid to algebraic details of statistical methods. The main focus in the lecture portion of this course is on the interpretation of results from different statistical methods. At the end of the semester the students should also be prepared to properly choose the most adequate statistical method to analyze several types of experimental and observational data. Most of the contents are based on frequentist statistics, although three lectures in Bayesian statistics (estimation, hypothesis testing, and linear regression) are also part of the syllabus.

The laboratory portion of this course introduces the use of SAS® software for the analysis of data. Laboratory activities complement the theoretical methods presented in lecture and may be taken separately as BIOM405 if the student has already had an equivalent graduate-level biostatistics course that was exclusively lecture based.

Illustrative examples and exercises are used throughout the semester to help the learning process. Problems are drawn from many biological areas, especially animal science, agriculture, zoology, botany, nutrition, kinesiology, ecology, behavioral sciences, and cytology.

BIOM601 meets for the lectures on Tuesdays and Thursdays (12:30pm - 1:45pm) and once a week for a 2-hour period laboratory session.