JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Despite an increasing relevance of statistics in health sciences, teaching styles in higher education are remarkably similar across disciplines: lectures covering the theory and methods followed by application and computer exercises in given datasets. This often results in students having difficulties grasping fundamental statistical aspects for medical research. Therefore, we propose an interactive, problem- and simulation-based teaching method to learn statistics for students in public health and epidemiology. We argue that by applying a simulation-based teaching method – DICE (Design, Interpret, Compute, Estimate) – students will be equipped with an improved understanding of statistical concepts and advance their statistical thinking in medical research. Students work in small groups to plan, generate, analyze, interpret, and communicate their own scientific investigation and thus combine substantive knowledge, statistical models, and coding. This paper introduces the proposed method – DICE – and guides readers through a practical example. The materials of this paper, including the computer code, have been developed to provide stimulating and practical resources for students and teachers alike to introduce DICE into their environment.