Dear Professor Mean, I’m trying to publish a research study that involves some survey data, but the peer-reviewer is complaining about something I did. There was a scale that I used that had five items, but because the survey was already very long, I used only three of the five items. The peer reviewer seems to think that I arbitrarily chose these three items after looking at the data. How should I respond? Continue reading
Category Archives: Statistics
PMean: Do we really need to teach all this math stuff?
I got tagged in a Facebook post about an article criticizing the emphasis on math in high school and that proposes replacing some of the more theory based courses like Algebra II and Calculus with “a practical course in statistics for citizenship”. It’s an interesting article, and although it had some points, I had to disagree with the overall premise. Here’s what I said. Continue reading
PMean: My current work at the Greater Plains Collaborative
I’m spending a fair amount of time over the next few months working with Russ Waitman and the Greater Plains Collaborative (GPC). It’s an interesting job so far, and one of the things that I find quite appealing about the job is the openness that permeates all of their work. Continue reading
Recommended: PLOS ONE 2015 Reviewer Thank You
I reviewed a paper for PLOS One in 2014 and got a nice acknowledgment, but I also reviewed a paper for the same journal in 2015. Here’s the acknowledgment for that contribution. They’re still having a bit of trouble with alphabetization (Steve Simon should be the last “Simon” on the list, but it’s not). Still, it’s nice to have a public record of my small contribution. Continue reading
PMean: The data structure in i2b2
I’m working with the Greater Plains Collaborative on a research project and my work requires me to understand the underlying data structure of a system known as i2b2. It’s not a difficult data structure, but it is uncommon, so it is worthwhile to document what is going on. Continue reading
Recommended: Selection of controls in case-control studies
I’m working on a project where the researchers need a case-control study, though they may not know that yet. I want to show them what a case-control study gives them that would not be available with other methods. But I need to come up with a reasonable control group for the case-control design. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it can’t be a totally stupid control group either. This article is the classic reference on the theoretical principles that underlie the selection of controls in a case-control study. Continue reading
PMean: The need for documentation standards
I’m working in a team programming environment and I would have to characterize the quality of the documentation as uneven. I’m going to make the case for having detailed documentation standards at a meeting tomorrow. Here’s the a general overview of what I will say. Continue reading
PMean: The problem with incentivizing
I came across a question, “How does your institution incentivize researchers to write more grants?” that was posted a while ago. I felt it was too late to respond directly, but I did want to mention something in my blog about this. “Incentivize” is one of those awful words that used to be a noun (incentive) but has been changed to a verb to make it sound more trendy. That’s something to dislike from the very start, but I have an even greater gripe about incentivizing. Continue reading
PMean: Recent (and not so recent) advances in statistical computing
I’m giving a talk to the Statistics students at the University of Central Missouri. Here’s the title and abstract of my talk. Continue reading
PMean: My latest short biography
I am giving yet another talk and wanted to take some time to update my earlier short biography. Continue reading