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Course syllabus - Quantitative Methods in Public Health

Scope

5.0 credits

Course code

FHA106

Valid from

Autumn semester 2026

Education level

Second cycle

Progressive Specialisation

A1N (Second cycle, has only first-cycle course/s as entry requirements)

Main area(s)

Science of Public Health

Organisation

Department of Health Sciences, Innovation and Design

Ratified

2025-12-09

Literature lists

Course literature is preliminary up to 8 weeks before course start. Course literature can be valid over several semesters.

Objectives

The aim of the course is for the student to acquire in-depth knowledge of quantitative analysis methods relevant to public health science.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students are expected to be able to:

  1. use, explain and justify descriptive statistics and statistical measures of association
  2. apply principles of statistical inference
  3. use a statistical software programme to carry out statistical analyses
  4. critically review and evaluate the results of statistical analyses from a public health science perspective

Course content

  • Biostatistics and epidemiology in relation to public health science
  • Structure of data matrix, types of variables
  • Descriptive statistics: frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and variation
  • Statistical measures of association: correlation, crosstabulation, group means/medians, regression
  • Statistical inference: statistical testing and confidence intervals
  • Critical review of quantitative public health data
  • Use of the SPSS statistical program

Specific requirements

A completed Bachelor’s degree from an institution of higher education of three years or more, equivalent to at least 180 ECTS credits with a major in public health sciences, caring sciences, medical sciences, psychology, physiotherapy, political sciences, or an equivalent academic field. In addition, at least 5 ECTS credits in public health sciences, either as part of or outside the degree and English course 6 or English level 2 or A TOEFL test result with a minimum score 575 and a TWE score of at least 4.5 (PBT) or 90 with a TWE score of at least 20 (iBT), or an IELTS test result with an overall band score of at least 6.5 and no band score below 5.5, or equivalent, are required.

Examination

SEM1, Seminar, 1 credit. Grades Fail (U) or Pass (G)
INL1, Assignment, 4 credits. Grades Fail (U) or Pass (G).

The course includes components with mandatory attendance. For further information, please refer to the course’s learning platform.

For a Pass on the course a grade of G is required on INL1 and SEM1, as well as attendance at mandatory components.

A student who has a certificate from MDU regarding disability study support, can request adaptions for the examination. It is the examiner who takes decisions on any adaptions, based on the certificate and other conditions.

Grade

Two-grade scale