Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and determinants of health in populations and the application of this study to improve health. The course will cover basic epidemiological concepts including study design; measures of disease frequency and association; bias, confounding and effect modification; causality; screening; and disease surveillance. The course will also introduce the basic tools necessary for using and interpreting population health data.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Understand basic principles of epidemiology.
2. Identify key sources of population health data.
3. Calculate and interpret measures of disease frequency.
4. Describe and design basic epidemiologic studies and know the advantages and disadvantages of each design.
5. Define major sources of error and bias in epidemiologic research, assess the implications and identify approaches to minimise their impact.
6. Use epidemiologic reasoning to evaluate causal inference in epidemiologic studies and to critically review epidemiologic literature.

Research-Led Teaching

This course will use current research articles/projects to introduce students to interesting topics and problems in the field of epidemiology. All the material in this course was developed by senior academic researchers at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health.

Examination Material or equipment

All assessments are open-book assessments and students may use calculators and course notes. All assessments must be individual work and students may not get information from others during an assessment task.

Required Resources

Students will need a calculator or other device to perform mathematical calculations.

The course textbook is Webb P, Bain C , and Page A. Essential Epidemiology: An Introduction for Students and Health Professionals (4th edition). New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Access to this text is a requirement for this course and it is also available as an eBook. Please note that if you purchase the eBook, you will not be able to print more than one page at a time.

The 1st (2005), 2nd (2011) or 3rd (2017) editions of the text can also be used, and Chapter Equivalencies are provided in the Course Textbook section of Wattle. However, it is recommended that students use the most recent version of the textbook.

Recommended Resources

Further resources are available on the Wattle site for this course.

Recommended student system requirements 

Fundamentals of Epidemiology is an interactive course with engaging lessons, short videos and animations where appropriate, frequent non-assessed knowledge checking, and extensive exercises to enable students to consolidate their learning and check their own understanding of complex concepts.

To fully participate, students need:

• A computer or laptop. Mobile devices may work but a computer or laptop may be more appropriate.
• Reliable, stable internet connection. Broadband recommended.
• Suitable location with minimal interruptions and adequate privacy for classes and assessments.

For more information please see https://www.anu.edu.au/students/learning-platforms/recommended-student-system-requirements

Staff Feedback

Students may be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• forum posts on Wattle
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Introduction to Epidemiology
2	Measures of Disease Frequency
3	Study Design	Quiz 1 - 5%
4	Measures of Association
5	Error: Chance and Bias	Quiz 2 - 5%
6	Confounding and Effect Modification	Short Essay 1 - 5%
7	Critical Appraisal	Quiz 3 - 5%
8	Measuring Population Impact
9	Causation and Causal Inference	Short Essay 2 - 5%
10	Prevention and Screening	Critical Appraisal - 30%
11	Field Epidemiology	Quiz 4 - 5%
12	Revision	Short Essay 3 - 5%

Tutorial Registration

Registration for tutorials is not required.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Short Essays	15 %	*	*	1,3,4,5,6
Quizzes	20 %	*	*	1,2,3,4,5,6
Critical Appraisal	30 %	06/05/2024	*	3,4,5,6
Online Exam	35 %	04/06/2024	27/06/2024	1,2,3,4,5,6

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Guideline and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Examination(s)

This course will include an online exam at the end of the course, to be held on Tuesday 4 June 2024. Further details about this can be found under Assessment Task 4.

Assessment Task 1

Short Essays

Students are required to write short essays to demonstrate their conceptual understanding of topics, and as preparation for “short answer” questions in the final exam. There are three short essays, broadly keyed to areas of Description, Validation and Population. Short essays will open at the completion of the lessons for the key area and students will have until the dates posted below to post their answers for each forum. After this time, grades will not be award for posts on the respective forum.

There are multiple activities associated with this task with individual due dates. The dates for the essays are as follows:

Short Essay 1

Key Area: Description

Covers Topics Taught in Weeks: 1-4

Date: 25 March

Short Essay 2

Key Area: Validation

Covers Topics Taught in Weeks: 5-7

Date: 29 April

Short Essay 3

Key Area: Population

Covers Topics Taught in Weeks: 8-10

Date: 20 May

 

For a short essay, a prompt will be provided that offers multiple topics of discussion related to the material covered in the preceding weeks. Students will need to choose, reflect upon, and discuss one topic in no more than 300 words (not including references). For attempts longer than 300 words, only the first 300 words will be assessed. Posts should be thoughtful and constructive, and be supported by reference to other academic or official sources. References must be cited appropriately, using any common referencing style, such as APA, Harvard Flinders or Vancouver.

Essays will be given a mark out of 10. Students are only required to discuss one of the offered topics per essay. Each essay is worth 5% of the total mark for the course. 

Student essays will be submitted via Turnitin. Late submissions will only be permitted where an extension has been granted. Students are encouraged to read the feedback provided when essays are graded. This will help guide students on the expectations in the final exam.

The table below gives an indication of how marks are awarded in the Q&A forums.

Rubric

	Poor (0%)	Poor (25%)	Fair (50%)	Good (75%)	Excellent (100%)
Description (4 marks) Provide a summary and description of your chosen topic	Did not provide any description of chosen topic	Provided limited or mostly incorrect description of chosen topic	Provided some correct description of chosen topic	Provided description of most key elements	Provided a thorough description of most key elements
Discussion (4 marks) Using an example you are interested in, discuss your chosen topic	Did not provide any real life example	Provided limited or not applicable example	Provided some discussion of a valid example	Identified a good example and discussed most key aspects	Identified an excellent example and discussed all key aspects
Academic writing and referencing (2 marks) Demonstrate well developed academic writing skills in your response (you may use first person, but not dot points) and support your response with references from the scientific literature	Did not demonstrate a comprehensible level of writing   Did not reference essay	N/A	Demonstrated comprehensible writing skills, however with noticeable spelling/ grammar errors	N/A	Demonstrated sophisticated, concise writing skills, with no spelling/ grammar errors   Identified all areas where references are required, identifies high quality sources and formats references without errors

Assessment Task 2

Quizzes

The four topic-based online quizzes are designed to prompt students to revise the material covered in lectures and tutorials. Each quiz will cover material up to the previous week (e.g. Quiz 1 covers material from weeks 1 and 2). The final quiz may cover material from the entire course.

Marks from all four quizzes count towards the total quiz mark. Each individual quiz is worth 5% of the overall mark for the course (total 20%). No quiz can be taken after it has closed. Therefore, failure to complete any of the quizzes within the allotted time, without prior permission from the Convenor, will result in a zero grade for that quiz. Quizzes will be available on the following dates:

• 6 March
• 20 March
• 17 April
• 15 May

Format

Each online quiz will be available on Wattle for a limited time. Once started, students must continue until completed, as each quiz allows only one attempt per student. There is a 60-minute time limit for each quiz. The format is open- book, so students may make use of course materials and textbooks while taking any quiz. Calculators are also permitted. Students must complete each quiz as individual work. This means sharing or discussing answers with others is not allowed and collusion will be treated seriously.

Assessment Task 3

Critical Appraisal

Description

This assessment task involves writing a critique of a published epidemiological study and contributes 30% of the total mark for the course. The journal article will be available on Wattle at the end of week 7. The due date will be 6 May.

A critical appraisal is a careful and systematic review of a piece of research to assess the strengths and limitations of the study. The primary aim of this assessment task is for students to demonstrate that they understand the key epidemiological concepts covered throughout the course.

  

• Format Requirements
• Do not include a title page or cover sheet.
• Document names should not be longer than 50 characters.
• 12-point of any font type is acceptable, with line spacing of 1.5 lines and page margins of at least 2.5cm on all sides.
• Each page should be numbered.
• Headings and sub-headings may be used to structure your Critical Appraisal, but full sentences are required throughout (ie. do not write in bullet points at all).
• Limit your Critical Appraisal to 2000-2500 words. Avoid lengthy introductory material or a paragraph telling the readers what you will tell them. If there are too many issues to cover well within the word limit, choose the most important issues to discuss. Write the word count (not including References or Declaration) at the end of the text. 

Guidelines for writing a Critical Appraisal

Although a critique will include some descriptive statements about the study, the main focus is careful reasoning to clearly and objectively make a judgment about the piece of research. The emphasis should be on a synthesis and interpretation of the material and not simply a description of the study or a recitation of facts. It should focus less on statistical issues and concentrate more on the basic concepts of epidemiologic research design and the validity of the inferences that are drawn. For the purpose of this task, it is acceptable to assume that the correct statistical methods have been used.

 

To fulfil this requirement, your Critical Appraisal should include three sections, as below:

1. In no more than 150 words, concisely describe the study’s objective, methods and main finding(s).
2. Systematically, and critically, review the methods (ie. study design, bias, confounding and chance) to assess the study quality and validity of the findings. (Students may wish to make use of Figure 9.1 Issues to consider when reading epidemiological papers; see Wattle or Webb & Bain 4e 2020 p.221).
3. Weigh up the strengths and limitations of the study and make recommendations on how future studies might be designed in order to provide stronger evidence either for or against the existence of a relationship between the exposure and the outcome.

 

Referencing

Students will need to appropriately acknowledge source material for this assessment piece. It is recommended that in-text citations use numbers, such as Vancouver style, so that they are not included in your word count. Where possible, references should be drawn from the past eight years. If you are unsure whether, or how, to acknowledge source material, you can make use of the resources offered by the ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre. Students can obtain free and confidential help with their academic work through individual consultations, workshops, courses, podcasts and handouts.

 

ANU students are encouraged to use EndNote, which is software that allows a researcher to build libraries of references and insert them as citations into assignments, theses and papers. Using EndNote helps ensure the consistency of references and automates much of the work of formatting references. More information about EndNote, and links to download it for free, can be found at https://libguides.anu.edu.au/endnote.

 

Grading

• Marks will be awarded according to the following criteria:
• Demonstrates an understanding of epidemiological concepts and methods 
• Demonstrates an ability to reflect critically on the methodological rigour and reliability of the findings from an epidemiological study
• Clear expression of ideas and the presentation of a cogent argument
• Adherence to word limit and format requirements
• Referencing that is undertaken accurately and as necessary

 

For maximum marks, evidence of critical thinking in the synthesis and interpretation of the selected study and application of the key concepts covered throughout the course must be demonstrated within the word limit.

 

Unless an extension has been arranged beforehand, assignments submitted after the due date will be penalised by 5% of the possible marks available per day (or part thereof).

 

In fairness to students who submit on time and cannot have their marked assignments returned until every student has submitted, late assignments will not be accepted after ten working days; if a student is unable to submit by that time, alternative assessment may be set by the Convenor.

Assessment Task 4

Online Exam

Description

The online exam contributes 35% of the total mark for the course. The questions are based on a published epidemiological study (journal article), but may refer to any topic covered in the course. Calculations may be required. The journal article will be available on Wattle at least 24 hours before the assessment. The exam will be open for 24 hours on Tuesday the 4th of June 2024.

 

Format

Students will have 2 hours to complete all questions. The format is open-book, so students may make use of reference materials (including course notes, textbooks and bilingual dictionaries). Work must be individual and students may not share answers or speak with others during the exam. Collusion will be treated seriously. Calculators may be used.

Grading

Marks for each question are indicated next to the question; students may use these as a guide to the level of detail required for the answer.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date.

Late submission is not accepted for the final examination.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material.

Returning Assignments

It is intended that the marked forums will be returned within 2 weeks after submission, and the marked quizzes will be returned within 1 week after submission. Feedback will be provided via the course Wattle site.

It is intended that the marked critical appraisal assignment will be returned within 3 weeks after submission. Feedback will be provided via the course Wattle site.

The exam marks will be available via the course Wattle site on the date final results are published on ISIS.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

Resubmission of forums and quizzes is not permitted.

Resubmission of the critical appraisal assignment is not permitted. If a student is unable to submit that assessment they should contact the Convenor prior to the due date, with appropriate documentary evidence. If an extension is granted the student will submit their assignment via the course Wattle site.

Resubmission of the exam is not permitted. If a student is unable to submit that assessment they should contact the Convenor prior to the due date, with appropriate documentary evidence to consider options.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Access and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students