Course Syllabus

Applied Research and Statistical Methods for Beginners
Summer 2013

Course Syllabus (Draft)

Course Instructor:
Gandhi R Bhattarai, PhD
Director, Healthcare Economics
OptumHealth Care Solutions
Phone: 860-690-8057
Email: grbhattarai@gmail.com

Instructor credentials:
I am one of the life members of NAConn and I currently serve as its Chief Advisor (expiring on June 30, 2013). In the past two years, I have provided major services in many initiatives including coordinating and advising NAConn’s blood donation programs, curriculum development and advising for Nepali language school, first Editor-in-Chief of Connecticut Chautari (NAConn’s newsletter), active member of bylaws revision and many other institutional development activities. In my professional life, I am working as Director of Healthcare Economics in the Healthcare Analytics department at OptumHealth. I have published several peer-reviewed journal articles and have presented my research works in many professional forums. I received my PhD in Applied Economics Auburn University in 2006.
My previous teaching positions include Visiting Professor of Economics at the School of Business, Auburn University Montgomery, Online Adjunct Faculty at Baker College, Michigan, Instructor of Economics at Department of Economics at Auburn University and Lecturer of Agricultural Economics at the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Nepal. I have taught several undergraduate and graduate courses in principles of economics, global economics, international trade, agricultural economics and survey research methods.

Class Information and Tuition Fees:
Classroom: 701 Farmington Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117
12 classes (Coinciding with Nepali Summer Class)
2 hours session each Saturday, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Class size: Minimum 2 and maximum 10

This course does not have any pre-requisite. However, it is taught at the rigor of undergraduate course at state colleges. Students are expected to be among the top 25th percentile of their class. Grade 9 and 10 students are allowed only if they have minimum GPA 3.75 or have scored >=1600 in SAT.

Reference books:
STEM Student Research Handbook by Darci J. Garland, NTSA Press.
Naked Statistics by Charles Wheelan, W. W. Norton & Company.
(Reference books can be changed before or during the first week of classes.)

Course Objective:
At the end of the course, students will be able to show the following competencies:
Understanding of basic research process
Understand the concept of peer review
Read and comprehend peer reviewed articles written by junior scientists
Develop research proposal with hypothesis
Understand primary and secondary data
Understand continuous and categorical data
Collect secondary data from multiple sources
Graphical interpretation of data (bar chart, histogram, line graph, pie chart, box plot)
Understand the normal distribution of data
Measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion of single variable
Correlationship between multiple variables
Understand the concept of statistical significance, confidence interval, margin of error
Apply and interpret student’s t-test and chi-square test
Simple linear regression models (Optional based on student background)
Writing a research report and peer reviewing
Reporting of research findings in PowerPoint presentation

Approach: Hands on experience for applying basic statistics to simple research questions suitable for senior high school or beginning college students. The course will focus on health and/or education sector studies (Social science data analysis and reporting).

If a few students are able to bring a good research concept and carry out complex statistical analysis, I will help them to make it a publishable paper under my mentorship.

Some Journal Resources
Caltech Undergraduate Research Journal The Journal of Undergraduate Sciences
The Journal of Young Investigators Pittsburg Undergraduate Review
Issues in Political Economy AGORA
University Avenue Undergraduate Journal of Economics