Statistics for clinicians
Statistics for clinicians
S4C is a course intended to give clinicians the tool to understand indications, limits and proper interpretation of the most commonly used statistical analysis. It will be of significant help for a proper understanding of the literature and in choosing the appropriate test for your own studies. Participants will have their hands on SPSS to execute every test and learn…
I searched and found no papers!!!!! What should I do???
I searched and found no papers!!!!! What should I do???
According to a study conducted by the University of Ottawa in 2015, about 2.5 million new scientific papers are published each year. In the top 6 publishers in medical field, the least number of journals included in one publisher is 672 journals. With this inflation in the number of medical literatures, capturing the relevant articles to your research or answering…
Comprehensive Sample Size Calculation
Comprehensive Sample Size Calculation
One of the major limitations in clinical research is the insufficient information provided regarding its sample size calculation. The power of any study is to find the evidence and this cannot be achieved without adequate sample size. The question is how many is considered adequate. In course, we will show you how to calculate the sample size for different clinical…
Repeated Measures Design Tests
Repeated Measures Design Tests
Repeated measures design tests each patient: either for different conditions or for the same condition overtime (at different time points). For example, comparing the effect of medications to exercise in obese patients or, serially testing the effect of either condition overtime; all being carried out in the same group of patients. As each patient serves as his own control, the…
Presentation Skills
Presentation Skills
Success is not only about generating new ideas or achieving the best results. It equally depends upon our ability to convince others that: ideas have feet on the ground and results are reproducible. Workshop items: Scientific methodology to prepare your presentations Acquire the skill set you need to present effectively (e.g., conference presentation) How to present your work in a…
Observational Studies
Observational Studies
In observational studies, the researcher tests the association between a given risk factor or a therapeutic intervention under normal circumstances. These studies give us a better understanding of what can actually happens in real clinical settings rather than in controlled research facilities. As a clinician, you would need to evaluate the quality of these studies before trusting their results, and…
Systematic Review & Meta-analysis
Systematic Review & Meta-analysis
One study can never be enough to provide an adequate evidence. Systematic review does not simply summarize the results of the previous studies, but it analyzes the evidence provided by each study to draw meaningful and statistically valid conclusion (Meta-analysis). Each year the number of published systematic review & meta-analysis is increased reaching up to 28,959 systematic review & 9,135…
The Odds, the Risk & the Hazard: Meaning and Interpretation
The Odds, the Risk & the Hazard: Meaning and Interpretation
The relative risk (RR) is not the hazard ratio (HR). If the outcome is cure and follow-up is for 5 years; a RR of 2 means that after 5 years, twice as much of patients in the treatment group are expected to be cured, compared to the control group; i.e., the RR is cumulative, which is why it is the…
Non parametric tests
Non parametric tests
Small sample studies constitute a challenge for the internal and external validity of scientific studies. Yet, small sample research is critically important as the research questions posed in small samples often represent serious health concerns in vulnerable and underrepresented populations. Small sample studies usually do not follow the statistical assumptions to conduct parametric statistical tests. An alternative appropriate analysis for…
Non-inferiority & Equivalence studies
Non-inferiority & Equivalence studies
The aim of a non-inferiority study is to prove that a new (generic) drug is NOT WORSE THAN the classic treatment (the brand). Fulfilling non-inferiority should never be interpreted those treatments are equal. An equivalence study is analyzed as TWO NON-INFERIORITY STUDIES; each aiming to prove that one treatment is not worse than the other. Workshop items: Understand the difference…
Diagnostic Accuracy Statistical Analysis
Diagnostic Accuracy Statistical Analysis
Having an accurate diagnostic test is as important as having an effective treatment. With the advancement of technology (e.g. smartphone, artificial intelligence), more diagnostic tools are evolving, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this 2-days workshop, you will learn how to interpret and conduct the statistical tests that detects the accuracy of a diagnostic test. Workshop Items: Sensitivity Specificity Positive…
Clinical trials
Clinical trials
A properly planned and executed clinical trials is a powerful experimental technique for assessing the effectiveness of an intervention. We consider clinical trials experiments as the investigators rather than the patients or their doctors select the treatment the patients receive. The results of randomized clinical trials usually provide the highest level of evidence to determine whether a treatment is effective.…
Validity, Reliability & Agreement Measures
Validity, Reliability & Agreement Measures
A common question encountered in biology is to which extent the measurement of a variable by two different methods, or by two different assessors using the same method, or by a single assessor repeating the measurement at two different time points, produces essentially the same result. Statistical methods used to assess agreement are concerned both with accuracy (validity), which is…