Abstract:Access to statistical information is at an all-time high, and the information age is fuelling this access at an extraordinary pace. This access increases the capacity for medical researchers to use statistics to guide decision making, yet few courses teach methods to do so. Rarely does statistics training include methods for incorporating statistical output into decision making. Mass education and educational reform is needed. Technological advances of the past decade make this goal possible, and allow us to d… Show more
“…On the other hand some statisticians recommend that all of test results, confidence intervals, and power analysis or estimation of effects should be presented. Others favour using a Bayesian approach in inference, for example see Lecoutre (1999) who gives arguments in support of this with many references, and Stangl (2001) who discusses why medical researchers should be trained in Bayesian methods.…”
Section: Topics Covered In Training Courses For Researchersmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Most statisticians would prefer to be collaborators and joint authors rather than thanked in a foot-note if their contribution is at all substantial, but the survey results reported by Godino et al (2001) suggest that it will be some time before statisticians are readily accepted as joint authors. In all cases statisticians must be given the opportunity to veto any incorrect statistical work or misunderstandings on the part of the researchers, and mistakes can occur as Stangl (2001) comments. Saying that a statistician was involved does not give work statistical credibility.…”
Section: Interaction Between the Statistician And The Researcher In C...mentioning
Training courses for researchers are discussed in some detail. The preparation of researchers and of statisticians for consulting sessions, and the opportunities such sessions provide for training, are considered.
“…On the other hand some statisticians recommend that all of test results, confidence intervals, and power analysis or estimation of effects should be presented. Others favour using a Bayesian approach in inference, for example see Lecoutre (1999) who gives arguments in support of this with many references, and Stangl (2001) who discusses why medical researchers should be trained in Bayesian methods.…”
Section: Topics Covered In Training Courses For Researchersmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Most statisticians would prefer to be collaborators and joint authors rather than thanked in a foot-note if their contribution is at all substantial, but the survey results reported by Godino et al (2001) suggest that it will be some time before statisticians are readily accepted as joint authors. In all cases statisticians must be given the opportunity to veto any incorrect statistical work or misunderstandings on the part of the researchers, and mistakes can occur as Stangl (2001) comments. Saying that a statistician was involved does not give work statistical credibility.…”
Section: Interaction Between the Statistician And The Researcher In C...mentioning
Training courses for researchers are discussed in some detail. The preparation of researchers and of statisticians for consulting sessions, and the opportunities such sessions provide for training, are considered.
“…The other major issue that arises from this project is that of using Internet or Intranet facilities. Stangl (2001) lists four interrelated reasons that increase the chance of success of the Internet as a teaching tool over other technologies such as video and CD-ROM. One of these is interactivity and she points out its drawbacks of complexity and expense in developing and delivering the materials and of human factors such as time and the feeling of information overload.…”
Section: Implications For and Relationship To The Training Of Researc...mentioning
Postgraduate students from non-statistical disciplines often have trouble designing their first experiment, survey or observational study, particularly if their supervisor does not have a statistical background. Such students often present their results to a statistical consultant hoping that a suitable analysis will rescue a poorly designed study. Unfortunately, it is often too late by that stage. A statistical consultant is best able to help a student who has some grasp of statistics. It is appropriate to use the Web to deliver training when required and that is the mechanism used in this project to encourage postgraduate students to develop statistical thinking in their research. Statistical Thinking is taught in terms of the PPDSA cycle and students are encouraged to use other Web resources and books to expand their knowledge of statistical concepts and techniques.
“…As part of the continuing training in the future, web based distance learning courses similar to those presented by Lee (2001) and Stangl (2001), but using 'case studies,' are currently being developed by the regional training centres. Researchers will be able to post problems on a web site.…”
Section: Self-chosen Project (2-3 Weeks) With Oral Presentationmentioning
Clinical researchers rely on biostatisticians in order to design, conduct and analyse observational and experimental studies involving populations of subjects. In many countries, trained biostatisticians are not readily available. There are many possible approaches to this problem, including educating the medical or health professional to be a researcher with an understanding of statistical methodologies, as well as training statisticians to be biostatisticians with an understanding of clinical considerations. The International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) embarked on such an endeavour by creating clinical epidemiology units that included both approaches, trained clinical epidemiologists as well as biostatisticians. The specific statistical training needs of both types of students are described.
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