Principles of epidemiology for public health (EPID600) - Module instructions and case studies

EPID600, Principles of Epidemiology for Public Health

Instructors: Victor J. Schoenbach, Lorraine K. Alexander

University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health

Department of Epidemiology

Module Instructions and Case Studies

The case studies for EPID600 were for the most part the same for the Internet and Classroom courses through spring 2013. In that era, we invited students to submit their answers to a subset of the questions (marked with an asterisk) and asked the small groups to develop and submit “consensus” answers for grading. The instructor answers were distributed after all groups had submitted their answers. Case study answers are for your personal use and are not to be shared with others, since if people have the answers in advance, the educational value of the case study questions is compromised.

The outbreak investigation case study was provided in class (for the classroom course) and as an online exercise in Sakai (for the internet course). A recent version of the other case studies can be accessed from this page. The readings on which the case study questions are based are available either through public access (see websites listed in the instructions for each module) or the UNC-CH electronic journal collection (E-journal finder).

[Instructors: If you would like to use substantial parts of these case studies in teaching or for other purposes, kindly obtain permission from Victor_Schoenbach@unc.edu. Individual questions may be used without permission but with appropriate acknowledgement.]

  1. Introduction (required case study questions)
    Instructions: Internet   Questions: Internet

  2. Studying populations
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  3. Investigating disease outbreaks
    Instructions: Internet         

  4. Critical review of epidemiologic studies
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  5. Measuring disease: incidence and prevalence
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  6. Natural history / population screening
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  7. Study designs: Intervention studies
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  8. Study designs: Cohort studies
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  9. Study designs: Case-control studies
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  10. Study designs: Cross-sectional and ecologic studies
    Instructions: Internet         

  11. Error: Selection bias
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  12. Error: Information bias
    Instructions: Internet         

  13. Multicausality: Confounding
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  14. Data analysis and interpretation, Causal inference
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 

  15. Conclusion - Epidemiology and public health
    Instructions: Internet    Questions: Internet 


  16.  

    8/20/2012vs, 4/27/2017, 5/15/2017, 10/22/2018