August FY21

[kristenhorsman]

This month's article is presented by Jen Hannon. She has chosen the article: Descriptive Statistics: Reporting the Answers to the 5 Basic Questions of Who, What, Why, When, Where, and a Sixth, So What? This is an important topic as descriptive statistics are specific methods that summarize research data in a logical and meaningful way and can help create a lens from which to view research. 


Here is a link to the article or reference the attachment in the email sent. 


Please answer the following questions to engage in discussion:


1)When reviewing research articles, what are the values you pay most attention to and why?

2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.

[Dahlia Rouchon]

Thank you Belinda for this article as a review for research definitions and explanation. For me the values I pay attention to the most are the sample size as the larger the sample size, the greater potential of representation in a study. I also am attentive to the mean to see the general response of the study with awareness outliers may skew this value.
The article for me reminded the importance of confidence interval as it can provide a true association strength of exposure and outcome in a study. Thank you for this helpful reminder.

[Jennifer Hannon]

Hey Everyone,
I chose this article because with the lovely 2020 presenting new and lots of research, I wanted to make sure I was remembering how to evaluate good studies from nosh. I also enjoy a good attention grabber and the Rudyard Kipling quote was it. Facebook Certified Infectious Disease Experts are everywhere.

1) I look at randomization, the mean and the CI a lot. Also taking note of sample size and then, if a Lichert response, the mode, and how often an answer was chosen.

2) This article reminded me of statistics class and of all the ways research articles can be evaluated. I will try to remember the 7W's with each approach.

[clawry]

1)When reviewing research articles, what are the values you pay most attention to and why?

Great review of descriptive statistics! Thanks Jen for sharing this article! Before reading this article, I would pay close attention to the p values. A P value less than 0.05 is statistically significant. It indicates that there is strong evidence against the null hypothesis. There is less than a 5% probability that the null is correct and that the results are random.


2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.

Yes! I needed a good review of statistics! The confidence interval is definitely a value that I would pay more attention to now. The CI validly makes inferences, calculates the observed treatment effect size, and strengthens the association between exposure and outcomes.

[kels]

1)When reviewing research articles, what are the values you pay most attention to and why?

When reviewing research articles I pay most attention to the sample size . For me, the sample size outweighs all other values of a study especially if the sample size is only a total of 2 people. The larger the sample size the closer the study gets to representing real life.

2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.

CI offers so much valuable information and I will be sure to look at this value in the future



When reviewing research articles I pay most attention to the sample size . For me, the sample size outweighs all other values of a study especially if the sample size is only a total of 2 people. The larger the sample size the closer the study gets to representing real life.

[Anne McNulty]

I look at the sample size , mean and standard deviation. I will be paying great attention to the confidence interval when evaluating studies of covid 19 vaccines . I enjoyed the Rudyard kipling quote.

[kelseyleonard]

     I find the total study sample size, mean and median to be important.  When the sample size is larger I tend to pay more attention to the outcomes of the research.  I like the mean value since it is usually widely reported however I also like to take a look at the median since mean does not take into account outliers which can widely skew the value.

2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.

    This article has been very useful and a great refresher about descriptive statistics and analysis!  I agree with others that the CI is important data that I sometimes overlooked.  Given that it is a range in which the most association between the "exposure and the outcome",  I will definitely be paying more attention to this.

[Soo-Ok Kim]

Depending on the type of research, I pay attention to different data values. For the research with rare genetic disorder, the sample size or CI may not be as important as each individual data.
In another hand, for the population study, SD and CI can be important to see if the research can be interpreted on general public.

2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.
Recently, I infrequently read the research articles (rather reading more fun subjects; novel, history, or other non fiction). So, this article gave me the opportunity to review the statistical values or meaning when I read the research articles. Thank you.

[Ben Waldbaum]

1.) I'm very interested in the sample size. The larger the sample, the more I trust the statistical significance.

2.) I feel well grounded in how to read research articles. Always good to review

[Jessica Hadley]

1. Thank you for this review of descriptive statistics. When reviewing research I pay particular attention to the study design, sample size and P value to determine significance.

2. This article helped provide a general refresher of how to read research which is great. The emphasis on reviewing the CI was a good reminder and something I will pay attention to in the future.

[Gordon Han]

1)When reviewing research articles, what are the values you pay most attention to and why?

I want to say the p-value, but we learned that generally the larger the sample size, the more likely a study will find a significant relationship. Therefore, I look at the effect size of the study. A p-value tells me that an intervention works, whereas an effect size tells me how much it works. Also, I look at the homogeneity of the sample population. A heterogeneous study population does not provide a generalization of the result.

2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.

I believe this article provided readers with a very detailed algorithm to review any research articles, especially the sampling process. These basic questions are rudimentary but essential. Going forward, when reading an article, I hope to focus on, not just on the article abstract, but also the sampling statistics.

[Katya]

1. when reading articles, I pay attention to sample size, variations in samples, randomization, and the mean.
2. This is a good article to refresh how to evaluate articles with statistics.

[aileenm4]

nice article
1. I look at the Title, key words and hypothesis making sure it has content of what I need plus sample size. I look at the literature review seeing that it has current articles.
2. this article was a very good review on statistics. I liked the idea of using graphs and tables to clearly show your data

[Belinda Gardner]

I Usually look at the type of study, sample size and P Value for statistical significance. This was a nice refresher, and will pay more attention to the CI.
Thank you!

[nanci]

1)When reviewing research articles, what are the values you pay most attention to and why?
After the topic, abstract, and conclusions I then look at sample size to show the power of the study and precision of study. Also look at statistical differences in larger studies to make sure they are relevant to topic.

2) Has this article added or subtracted any new ways of evaluating a research article. Explain what you changed.
Nice article as a refresher to reviewing or evaluating a research article. Will definitely pay a little more attention to all noted aspects of the article.