I wrote a book about nine years ago and interest in it has largely died down. Perhaps I should write a second edition. Anyway, I ran across a book review that I had not seen before. It was published in 2006, but I never noticed it until now. Sarah Boslaugh wrote the review and it got published in MAA Reviews (MAA stands for Mathematical Association of America). It says some nice things like my approach was “fresh.” Dr. Bosluagh also likes my web site, according to the review. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Critical appraisal
Quote: That’s not an experiment…
Referring to anecdotal data: “That’s not an experiment you have there, that’s an experience.” Sir Ronald A. Fisher.
Recommended: Improving Bioscience Research Reporting: The ARRIVE Guidelines for Reporting Animal Research
A lot of people have adapted and updated the CONSORT Guidelines to reporting clinical trials to handle other types of research. One of these adaptations is the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research. Many of these guidelines follow CONSORT quite closely, but there are details, such as documenting the species and strain of the experimental animals and describing the housing conditions, that are specific to animal experiments. Continue reading
Recommended: In search of justification for the unpredictability paradox
This is a commentary on a 2011 Cochrane Review that found substantial differences between studies that were adequately randomized and those that were not adequately randomized. The direction of the difference was not predictable, however, meaning that there was not a consistent bias on average towards overstating the treatment effect or a consistent bias on average towards understating the treatment effect. This leads the authors of the Cochrane review to conclude that “the unpredictability of random allocation is the best protection against the unpredictability of the extent to which non-randomised studies may be biased.” The authors of the commentary provide a critique of this conclusion on several grounds. Continue reading
PMean: Claims lacking specificity are meaningless
I recently encountered a claim about the unlimited applications for a new statistical model. I, for one, tend to view “unlimited applications” as a negative comment rather than a positive comment. Any new model that pretends to be applicable in all areas is probably applicable in no areas. Here’s why. Continue reading
Recommended: Twenty tips for interpreting scientific claims
This article provides advice to non-statisticians on how to interpret claims made in the peer-reviewed literature. Continue reading