Tentative table of contents for my second book (created 2010-07-24).

This page is moving to a new website.

As I mentioned in an earlier webpage, I am talking to some publishers about writing a second book. The working title is "Jumpstart Statistics: How to Restart Your Stalled Research Project." Here's a tentative table of contents.

Preface

Introduction

  1. The first three steps in selecting a research hypothesis
     - Choose an outcome measure
     - Define your patient population
     - Select your control group
     
  2. The first three steps in selecting a research design
     - Decide if you can/should randomize
     - Consider the advantages/disadvantages of retrospective versus prospective research
     - Think about the most efficient way to select subjects
     
  3. The first three steps in determining an appropriate sample size
     - Define your research hypothesis
     - Find a measure of variability for your outcome measure
     - Specify the minimum clinically important difference
     
  4. The first three steps in developing a pilot study
     - Visualize the bigger study in the future
     - Identify planning gaps
     - Think about where "Murphy's Law" might strike
     
  5. The first three steps in designing a questionnaire
     - Brainstorm to develop a long list of questions/responses and then prune back what isn't needed
     - Get opinions about your questionnaire from content experts
     - Pilot test your questionnaire
     
  6. The first thee steps in obtaining ethical approval for your study
     - Establish your credentials as a researcher
     - Demonstrate your concern for privacy rights
     - Prepare a defensible strategy for data analysis
     
  7. The first three steps in data entry
     - Arrange your data in a rectangular grid
     - Create codes for categorical data
     - Document missing values
     
  8. The first three steps in a descriptive data analysis
     - Know your count
     - Compute ranges and frequencies
     - Examine relationships using crosstabs, boxplots, and/or scatterplots
     
  9. The first three steps in a linear regression analysis
     - Plot your data and examine your assumptions
     - Compute a simple model
     - Compute an adjusted model
     
  10. The first three steps in a logistic regression analysis
     - Examine raw probabilities using crosstabs
     - Compute a simple model
     - Compute an adjusted model
     
  11. The first three steps in a survival data analysis
     - Plot Kaplan-Meier curves for each group
     - Compare a simple survival model
     - Compute an adjusted model
     
  12. The first three steps in a non-linear regression analysis
     - Use calculus to explore the nature of your non-linear function
     - Graph, re-graph, and graph again
     - Compare your results to simpler and/or more complex models
     
  13. The first three steps in writing a methods section of a research paper
     - Define who got in and who was left out
     - Explain how you justified your sample size
     - Document the statistical procedures and the statistical software that you used
     
  14. The first three steps in writing a results section of a research paper
     - Present general demographic information
     - Prepare a flow chart of exclusions, refusals, and dropouts
     - Present crude and adjusted estimates and their confidence intervals
     
  15. The first three steps in writing a discussion section of a research paper
     - Paint the big picture
     - Acknowledge any weaknesses
     - Play up any strengths
     
  16. The first three steps in setting up a quality control program
     - Establish management support
     - Measure your process
     - Experiment