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Epidemiology in Practice (POPH90243)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Online and On Campus (Parkville)

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Overview

Availability
March - Online
March - On Campus
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Within ‘Epidemiology in Practice’ students will work to address issues in health and public health by learning and applying epidemiological concepts. Students will learn systematic review and meta-analysis methodology through undertaking a small systematic review and meta-analysis, and then making policy recommendations. Students will also learn questionnaire development principles and apply these principles in appraising and developing a questionnaire.

Also in this subject, students will apply the concepts and methods involved in developing studies to assess the validity of questionnaires and tests to real-world examples in health/public health. The purpose and evaluation of screening programs will be discussed and applied to current controversies in screening. Lastly, students will learn about the role of natural experiments and how these study designs can be used to answer policy-relevant questions in public health.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to

  • Perform systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and observational studies
  • Reflect on the epidemiological research process and make recommendations based on these reflections
  • Appraise and compose questionnaires to obtain valid and reliable data
  • Design studies to assess the validity and reliability of questionnaires and tests, and analyse data from such studies
  • Discuss the epidemiological elements required for development and maintenance of a screening program, and apply these elements to specific diseases and screening programs
  • Explain the elements of natural experiments, in order to use natural experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of public health interventions

Generic skills

  • Utilisation of relevant software (Excel and Stata)
  • Written and verbal communication skills
  • Problem solving
  • Working with uncertainty
  • Persuasive skills

Last updated: 10 March 2026