Biostatistics Portfolio I

Dr. F.J. Rodenburg
© 2020–2022 Universiteit Leiden

Preface

Teaching statistics to students of the life sciences is a challenge:

• The courses are usually too short, with too much time in between them;
• Too many skills are introduced at once (math, programming and statistics);
• The connection to other courses is not clear enough.

This is what I aim to address through this portfolio. You should complete the chapters leading up to your first statistics course. Part II will then pick up where your first course (presumably) left off and is meant to bridge the gap between your first statistics course and the next.

Figure 0.1: The knowledge that is usually either assumed to be known already, or introduced briefly at that start of your first statistics course, will be introduced gradually throughout this portfolio. Expert knowledge: The knowledge you have of your own field of research (biology).

Chapters are short, have overlap with each other, and are accompanied with explanatory videos. This is not meant to be a cumbersome addition to your already intensive education, it is merely meant to reduce the difficulty of statistics courses.

For those seeking an extra challenge, there are optional exercises that go more in-depth.