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STAT8604 – Principles of Statistical Inference

2020 – Session 1, Fully online/virtual

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, any references to assessment tasks and on-campus delivery may no longer be up-to-date on this page.

Students should consult iLearn for revised unit information.

Find out more about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and potential impacts on staff and students

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(BCA802 or STAT8602) and (BCA817 or STAT8603)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

The aim of this unit is to provide a strong mathematical and conceptual foundation in the methods of statistical inference, with an emphasis on practical aspects of the interpretation and communication of statistically based conclusions in health research. Unit contents: Review of the key concepts of estimation, and construction of Normal-theory confidence intervals; frequentist theory of estimation including hypothesis tests; methods of inference based on likelihood theory, including use of Fisher and observed information and likelihood ratio; Wald and score tests; an introduction to the Bayesian approach to inference. Because of the multi-institutional nature of the BCA units, there is an early cut-off for enrolment in this unit, which is typically one week before the start of the session. Please contact the program coordinator for details.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Write a likelihood function
  • ULO2: Derive and calculate the maximum likelihood estimate
  • ULO3: Derive and calculate the expected information
  • ULO4: Calculate and interpret p-values, power and CIs correctly
  • ULO5: Derive a Wald test, Score test, and likelihood ratio test
  • ULO6: Use a Bayesian approach to derive a posterior distribution
  • ULO7: Calculate and interpret posterior probabilities and credible intervals
  • ULO8: Apply and explain an exact method, non-parametric and sampling-based method

Assessment Tasks

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Assessment details are no longer provided here as a result of changes due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Students should consult iLearn for revised unit information.

Find out more about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and potential impacts on staff and students

Delivery and Resources

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Any references to on-campus delivery below may no longer be relevant due to COVID-19.

Please check here for updated delivery information: https://ask.mq.edu.au/account/pub/display/unit_status

TBC

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Students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).

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Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/getting-started/student-conduct​

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Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

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