1. Lecture 1 Introduction to course Introduction to measurement

2. Pre-requisite (or co-requisite) 606 607 or permission of instructor

3. Format Lectures Guest lectures Small group discussions/presentations –group and room assignments to be posted on web-page Information on web-page –Detailed schedule on web-page –Course objectives on web-page

4. Web-page Detailed schedule Course objectives Lectures Small group exercises –guidelines –group assignments Assignments Other?

5. Readings Course packs: –1) required readings –2 additional readings –more to come! Available at Copies Nova –(corner of Sherbrook and Peel)

6. Assessment Assignments (20%) –4, graded by TA Paper critiques (10%) –5–5 To be posted on web-page with due date Work handed in late will not be accepted!

7. Assessment (cont) Mid-term exam (30%) –Monday Nov 10, 11:00 - 12:30 Final exam (40%) –Monday Dec 15, 9:00 - 12:00

8. Introduction to measurement Purposes of measurement Types and sources of data Types of variables Questionnaires Types of scale

9. Purposes of measurement Clinical –screening, diagnosis, monitoring in individuals Surveillance –planning and monitoring public health and health care in populations Research –measurement of determinants, outcomes, confounders/modifiers

10. Examples of requirements by purpose of measurement Clinical –discrimination between health and disease relevant to management Surveillance –valid measurement of trends Research –maximize validity of study results

11. Sources of data Primary vs secondary Clinical observations Questionnaires and interviews Reportable diseases and registries Health records Administrative databases (hospital discharges, claims, medication prescription) Vital statistics

12. Examples of measures: for discussion Use of health services during past year (doctor visits, hospitalization) Use of alcohol and drugs (current and lifetime) Blood pressure (current and during past 5 years) Mood/depression (current and lifetime)

13. Types of variables (level of measurement) Continuous (syn. dimensional, quantitative, interval) Categorical (discrete) –dichotomous, binary –polychotomous nominal ordinal

14. What level of measurement? Country of birth Blood pressure Diagnosis of SARS Level of pain

15. Planning questionnaires Open-ended or close-ended Level of measurement Choice of response scale

16. Open-ended question

17. Question wording: Open- vs close-ended questions Close-ended questions –used most frequently –easier to analyze Open-ended questions –useful in exploratory research –basis for developing more structured questions in later research –analysis more time-consuming, requires qualitative methods

19. Alternative formats

20. Nominal scale

21. Ordinal scales

22. Disadvantages of categorical scales Loss of information Loss of precision

24. Continuous response scales in questionnaires Visual analogue scale Adjectival scale Likert scale Semantic differential scale

25. Visual analogue scale

28. Likert scale