Useful links
Unit of study_
BSTA5004: Data Management and Stats Computing (DMC)
2025 unit information
The aim of this unit is to provide students with the knowledge and skills required to undertake moderate to high level data manipulation and management in preparation for statistical analysis of data typically arising in health and medical research. Specific objectives are for students to: gain experience in data manipulation and management using two major statistical software packages (Stata and R); learn how to display and summarise data using statistical software; become familiar with the checking and cleaning of data; learn how to link files through use of unique and non-unique identifiers; acquire fundamental programming skills for efficient use of software packages; and learn key principles of confidentiality and privacy in data storage, management and analysis. The topics covered are: Module 1 - Stata and R: The basics (importing and exporting data, recoding data, formatting data, labelling variable names and data values; using dates, data display and summary presentation); and creating programs. Module 2 - Stata and R: graphs, data management and statistical quality assurance methods (including advanced graphics to produce publication-quality graphs); Module 3 - Data management using Stata and R (using functions to generate new variables, appending, merging, transposing longitudinal data; programming skills for efficient and reproducible use of these packages, including loops and arguments.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Medicine and Health
| Study level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Public Health |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
?
|
None |
|---|---|
|
Corequisites:
?
|
None |
| Prohibitions:
?
|
None |
| Assumed knowledge:
?
|
None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. undertake data manipulation and management using two major statistical software packages (Stata and R)
- LO2. appropriately display and summarise data using statistical software
- LO3. understand how to check and clean data
- LO4. link data files through unique and non-unique identifiers
- LO5. have fundamental programming skills for efficient use of statistical software
- LO6. understand key principles of confidentiality and privacy in data storage, management, and analysis
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Semester 1 2024
|
Online | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney | |
|
Semester 2 2024
|
Online | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Semester 1 2025
|
Online | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
|
Semester 2 2025
|
Online | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
Find your current year census dates
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
