The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a new biosketch format where they ask you to summarize “up to five of your most significant contributions to science.” Here’s a first draft of my research contributions to Evidence Based Medicine. Continue reading
Category Archives: Statistics
PMean: A short biography for the person introducing me
I get requests for a short biography from people asked to introduce me. I like to store these on my website so that I can refer to them and update them. Here’s the latest short bio. Continue reading
PMean: Informed consent in a study without human subjects
Dear Professor Mean: Do you need an informed consent form if you are not conducting research on human subjects? Continue reading
PMean: My research contributions to reproductive toxicology
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a new biosketch format where they ask you to summarize “up to five of your most significant contributions to science.” Here’s a first draft of my research contributions to reproductive toxicology. Continue reading
PMean: My research contributions to numerical accuracy
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has a new biosketch format where they ask you to summarize “up to five of your most significant contributions to science.” Here’s a first draft of my research contributions to numerical accuracy. Continue reading
Recommended: Developing Grant Proposals: Guidelines for Statisticians Collaborating Under Limited Resources
This article provides guidance for developing the “statistical considerations” section of a research grant. I normally do not use that term, and suggest separate sections on statistical methods, sample size justification, data management plan, etc. But that’s a quibble. This is very good practical advice, such as reminding you that you need to write both for the statistical reviewer and the non-statistician who is also reviewing the proposal. Continue reading
PMean: Can I replace missing values with zero?
Dear Professor Mean, I have a large data set from a household budget survey with 20,000 records. When I calculate the mean for some of the variables, there are some missing values. Sometimes it is an average of almost 20,000 observations and sometimes is an average of much less than 20,000. Can I replace all the missing values with zero so I am averaging exactly 20,000 observations for each variable? Continue reading
PMean: Validating a test of diabetes
Dear Professor Mean, I have a simple algorithm that determines whether a person is diabetic or not. I am planning on validating this algorithm, and I need to know how many patients I need to sample. Is there a formula I could use? Continue reading
Recommended: Training on how to write a grant
I usually do not recommend commercial products, as I know most of you have very limited funds. But when it comes to grants, you should consider paying for good training. The best grant writing class I ever took was from David Morrison, who is part of Grant Writers Seminars and Workshops. Also good are the seminars produced by the Grant Training Center. Details on both groups are listed below. Continue reading
PMean: What not to say in the limitations and alternative strategies section of your grant
I was reviewing a grant and the section on limitations and alternative strategies started off with the following sentence, “We do not anticipate any major limitations in conducting this research.” I suggested in my comments that this was a bad way to start off this section. Here’s why. Continue reading