Module code

HCS226

Module title

Research and Analytical Skills for Biosciences

Title of assignment (and weighting %)

 A statistical analysis and presentation of results of a clinical dataset (limited to 1000 words, not including references or figure legends) assessing learning outcome 3. (50%)

Name of staff setting assignment

Katrin Jaedicke

Submission deadline

23:59, 27^th November 2022

Submission instructions

You should submit via the Turnitin dropbox that will be posted on Canvas.

Learning outcomes tested in this assignment

Learning outcome 3: Effectively apply tests of statistical analysis in hypothesis testing.

Assignment task instructions

You are being provided with a unique set of data each which is derived from a clinical trial. Your task is to perform a statistical analysis on these data as you feel appropriate following the guidance provided during the IT practical sessions and to present and discuss your results in an essay. Your unique dataset is provided in the format of a quiz on Canvas. Submission of this quiz will link your unique dataset to your name/student number.

Please note that there are 2 quizzes. The first quiz is for the acceptance of your data (no score is given) and the second quiz is asking questions about your data (scored). The submission of the first quiz unlocks access to the second quiz.

Once you have downloaded your dataset and submitted this first quiz, you can either directly start to analyse the dataset or start to work through the second quiz which may help you to perform the correct statistical analysis for your dataset. You will only be able to access this guidance quiz once you have obtained your dataset (i.e. submitted the first quiz), as responses in the quiz will be unique to your set of data.

There is no time limit on the guidance quiz and you can return to it at any time until the submission deadline for the coursework. This means, that you do not have to work through all the statistical analysis in one go. Any answers that you give as part of the quiz will be saved automatically.

Questions in the guidance quiz will be locked, so once you have chosen to proceed to the next question, you will not be able to return to the previous one. Also, you only have one attempt to do the guidance quiz. After each question, you will be provided with the correct answer for this question.

Information about the clinical trial:

A clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of a TNF-α blocker drug in psoriasis patients. Half of the patients also had diabetes and the psoriasis patients were therefore split into 2 groups of 100 each. The psoriasis patients without diabetes had a normal weight. Each group had various blood measurements taken before the treatment start (month 0) and at 3 months and 6 months after the treatment. One of the blood measurements  was the QUICKI index (QUICKI ranges from >0.45 in healthy individuals, 0.45-0.3 insulin resistance and <0.3 is associated with diabetes. QUICKI does not have any units but is considered as a number on a scale for the purpose of statistical analysis.) Amongst others, the trial aimed to address these two questions:

1. Is the QUICKI index changing across time?
2. Is there a difference in the QUICKI index at each timepoint between the 2 groups?

Any students with Support Plans issued by the Student Journey team should contact the module leader to arrange any specific support requirements for this assignment. This does not happen automatically without your input.

Format and structure of the submission

This assignment is split into two quiz submissions and the submission of an essay. There are a total of 3 parts to submit for this assignment.

Part 1: Submission of the datafile for statistical analysis (0 points, but required to access part 2)

Part 2: Submission of a guidance quiz for the statistical analysis (10 points)

Part 3: Submission of an essay with an overall word limit of 1000 words.

The following structure should be used for this document:

Results (40 points)

Present a box plot or a bar chart (mean and standard deviation/median and interquartile range as appropriate according to your dataset) of the data and statistical analysis, including a detailed figure legend (it does not matter if you use SPSS or Excel to create the graph). Give a detailed description of your results. Please avoid making an assessment in reference to the literature in this section and describe your findings in an unbiased way.   

Discussion (40 points)

Discuss your findings, include appropriate references from the literature to back up what you are claiming. There should not be references to statistics or detailed descriptions of the results.

References (10 points)

A references list in either numbered or author/date format. This should be correctly formatted.

There should be no introduction and methods section. The statistical analysis methodology should not be described in the results section other than in figure legends as appropriate.

Marking process

Your work will be marked in accordance with the University marking policy (https://my.sunderland.ac.uk/display/AQH/Assessment+Policy) and the University generic assessment criteria (https://my.sunderland.ac.uk/display/AQH/Assessment+Policy?preview=/105484817/105583325/Generic%20Assessment%20Criteria%20v5.pdf)

The University also has a policy of penalties for work which is over-long at (AQH-F14): this is designed to help you learn the skill of presenting your ideas concisely. Guidance (AQH-F15) can be accessed here:

https://my.sunderland.ac.uk/display/AQH/Programme+Regulations+and+Assessment

The penalty is as follows:

References and figure legends are not included in the word count. Within text citations (author, date) are included in the word count.

Feedback plan

Individual feedback will be provided through TurnitIn free-text and as a general exemplar. Feedback will be released within 4 weeks after submission.

Assignment support and resources

Resources and support for the assignment are available in the Canvas module space.