Overview

This course will introduce you to regression methods for analysing count or rate data.

You'll learn about:

• poisson regression - used to determine associations between a count/rate outcome and a number of predictor variables
• quasi poisson and negative binomial regressions - more flexible extensions of the poisson regression

You should have a basic understanding of statistical concepts such as p-values and confidence intervals before attending this course. 

You can take this course either online or face to face. 

Course content

When dealing with a count or rate outcome variable, basic linear regression is inappropriate as it will lead to invalid predictions.

Poisson regression is an extension of the ideas used in linear regression that allows counts or rates to be validly modelled against chosen predictor variables.

You'll explore how poisson regression models are formulated, interpreted and checked using worked examples.

You'll learn how poisson regression can be extended when the strict assumptions are not met, by using quasi poisson and negative binomial models.

This course doesn't involve hands-on use of a statistical package. You'll be given results in the notes, which should be comprehensible regardless of which statistical package you are used to.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course you should be able to:

• understand what poisson regression is and when to use it
• formulate and interpret poisson regression models for counts and/or rates
• know the diagnostic statistics and assumptions that must be checked to ensure poisson models are valid
• know when to consider quasipoisson and negative binomial models and how to interpret them

Cost and concessions

The fees are as follows:

• External delegates (non UCL) - £150
• UCL staff, students, alumni - £75*
• ICH / GOSH staff and students - free    

* valid UCL email address and/or UCL alumni number required upon registration

Certificates

You can request a certificate of attendance for this course once you've completed it. Please send your request to ich.statscou@ucl.ac.uk

Include the following in your email:

• the name of the completed course for which you'd like a certificate
• how you'd like your name presented on the certificate (if the name/format differs from the details you gave during registration)

Cancellations

Read the cancellation policy for this course on the ICH website. Please send all cancellation requests directly to the course administrator

Find out about other statistics courses

CASC's stats courses are for anyone requiring an understanding of research methodology and statistical analyses. The courses will allow non-statisticians to interpret published research and/or undertake their own research studies.

Find out more about CASC's full range of statistics courses, and the continuing statistics training scheme (book six one-day courses and get a seventh free.)

Course team

Dr Chibueze Ogbonnaya

Since joining the teaching team at CASC in February 2019, Chibueze has contributed to the teaching and development of short courses. He currently leads and co-leads short courses on MATLAB, missing data, regression analysis and survival analysis. Chibueze has a BSc in Statistics from the University of Nigeria, where he briefly worked as a teaching assistant after graduation. He then moved to the University of Nottingham for his MSc and PhD in Statistics. His research interests include functional data analysis, applied machine learning and distribution theory.

Dr Manolis Bagkeris

Manolis has a BSc in Statistics and Actuarial-Financial Mathematics from the University of the Aegean and an MSc in Medical Statistics from the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB). He’s worked as a research assistant at University of Crete, UCL and Imperial College London. He’s been working at CASC since November 2021, providing short courses in research methods and statistics for people who want to develop or enhance their knowledge in interpreting and undertaking their own research. His interests include paediatric epidemiology, clinical and population health, HIV, mental health and development. He was awarded a PhD from UCL in 2021 on the topic of frailty, falls, bone mineral density and fractures among HIV-positive and HIV-negative controls in England and Ireland.

Course information last modified: 3 Jan 2023, 13:30