Foundations of Data Analysis for Health Policy

Explores health-relevant data sources, analytic methods like regression and clustering, and associated policy challenges such as privacy and fairness.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify data sources and data usage that have relevance for public health

  • Know and understand basic statistical methods that are frequently used in this context and their limitations

  • Understand ethical and policy challenges that different data sources and applications create in the realm of public health

  • Understand how to apply policy analysis and policy research to key debates

  • Use critical analysis, practical problem-solving, and work inter-professionally

Source: UW Guide

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Prerequisites

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Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
PUBAFFR 242

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  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

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Spring 2027

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Student experience

the class

We have entered a new era of "big data." It is now possible to collect and analyze genetic information, digital health records, and many other types of data quickly, cheaply, and non-invasively from large numbers of people. This new wealth of information creates exciting opportunities for more targeted, individualized approaches to health care and better management of public health risks such as age-related diseases or pandemics. However, it also creates policy challenges such as privacy, discrimination, equality, and fairness. Covers what types of health-relevant data exist, how such data is typically analyzed and used, and discuss what types of applications this enables, what type of policy challenges this brings about, and which options policy makers have to deal with these challenges. Analytic methods will include regression, principal component and cluster analysis, statistical approaches for prediction, how to interpret the results of such analyses and their limitations.

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Topics

  • Big data in health: genetic information and digital health records
  • Policy challenges: privacy, discrimination, equality, and fairness
  • Statistical methods: regression, PCA, cluster analysis, and prediction

Skills

  • Understand basic statistical methods and their limitations
  • Apply policy analysis and policy research to key debates
  • Use critical analysis, practical problem-solving, and work inter-professionally

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Sources & history

UW–Madison

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Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
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Model & dataset provenance
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  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "cbc9bf6c5067770798c34cd7fa91b7c5abc26e3eedfa1c020a082d2b3be1cb83",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
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