Overview
As a second year student in the MS in Biostatistics program, you will perform a substantial data analysis project as a culminating experience under the supervision of a Department faculty member. We encourage students to pursue projects based in outside sponsoring organizations. Sponsoring organizations may include healthcare facilities, government agencies, non-profit organizations, health insurance companies, consulting firms, pharmaceutical companies, and other academic departments. Projects based in outside organizations need to have a doctorally-prepared on-site supervisor identified in the outside organization. The project needs to be approved by the faculty advisor in consultation with the on-site supervisor.
Via this project, the student shall demonstrate the following competencies:
(1) clearly understand the substance of scientific problems and be able to formulate them quantitatively
(2) be able to organize, enter in computer and manipulate data in a form ready for analysis
(3) choose appropriate statistical methods and understand the strengths and limitations of different methods
(4) conduct high quality data analysis that can stand review and criticism; and
(5) communicate the work in a clear and logical report and oral presentation
At the end of the data analysis project, each student shall submit a written report of the project. The report should in general be 30-50 pages long (not including appendices or citations) and consist of competency in the following:
(1) Research question and background;
(2) Study design and data structure;
(3) Consideration of alternative statistical methods;
(4) Statistical methods used and data analyses conducted;
(5) Results and interpretation; and
(6) Discussion and conclusion.
At the conclusion of the project, the student will be required to make a 25-30 minute research presentation about their work to the Department.
Links to Important Forms
Data Analysis Project Overview
Data Analysis Project Form
Data Analysis Project Collaboration Agreement Guidelines
Exempt Review Category 4
IRB Information
Drexel Non-Medical IRB Page
Information about required IRB forms
Drexel Online IRB Training Information
CITI Registration and Login Link
All students, faculty and preceptors are in Learner Group 1 (“Medical, Biomedical, Nursing, Public Health and Psychology Research Investigators”) and must complete the Human Subjects Research and Health Information and Privacy modules from the CITI website
Anyone working with protected health information must also complete HIPAA I and HIPAA II training from the old Drexel IRB Online Training Link