P.Mean: Proposal for session on grant writing (created 2011-10-04). News: Sign up for "The Monthly Mean," the newsletter that dares to call itself average, www.pmean.com/news.

I might be helping out with a workshop at an upcoming research conference on the statistical considerations for writing a CAM grant. Here's an outline of what this workshop might involve:

Session Scientific Title: Writing a CAM grant: statistical considerations.

Purpose (200 words or less): not written yet.

Abstract (400 words or less): not written yet.

Objective #1. Identify the appropriate research design for a CAM research grant.

Conent for Objective #1:
1. Why randomized trials are preferred by granting agencies.
2. Alternatives to randomized trials and when they should be used.
3. When should you use a pilot study?
4. Other design issues, such as blinding, allocation concealment, handling dropouts
5. Small group studies

Time Frame for Objective #1:
1. Randomized trials (30 minutes)
2. Alternatives (15 minutes)
3. Pilot study (15 minutes)
4. Other design issues (15 minutes)
5. Small group exercises (45 minutes)

Faculty: not determined yet.

Teaching/Learning Strategies: not written yet.

Objective #2: List major concerns of reviewers about statistical methods in CAM grants

Content for Objective #2:
1. What is an appropriate infrastructure for data management and data analysis?
2. How do you insure data quality?
3. What particular research designs call for specialized statistical methods beyond a t-test?
4. Small group exercises

Time frame:
1. Appropriate infrastructure (15 minutes)
2. Data quality (15 minutes)
3. Specialized methods (15 minutes)
4. Small group exercises (45 minutes)

Faculty: not determined yet.

Teaching/Learning Strategies: not written yet.

Objective #3: State how sample size justification is documented in a CAM grant.

Content for Objective #3:
1. What is the minimum clinically relevant difference (MCID)?
2. How can you cope with a limited sample size?
3. How do you find a good statistician and collaborate effectively with them?

Time Frame:
1. MCID (15 minutes)
2. Coping with a limited sample size (15 minutes)
3. Finding a statstician (15 minutes)

Faculty: not determined yet.

Teaching/Learning Strategies: not written yet.

The application form asks for your qualifications (200 words or less). Here is what I wrote about myself.

Steve Simon earned a PhD in Statistics from the University of Iowa in 1982. He has worked as a statistical consultant at three academic consulting centers (University of Iowa, Bowling Green State University, and University of Missouri-Kansas City). He has also consulted at a federal research agency (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) and at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO. He is co-author on over 80 peer-reviewed publications including four which have won major awards. He is the author of a book by Oxford University Press, Statistical Evidence in Medical Trials: What Do the Data Really Tell Us. He has a contract with Cambridge University Press to write a second book about research methods. He has developed two major websites about Statistics (www.childrensmercy.org/stats and www.pmean.com) and has an email newsletter about Statistics with over 300 subscribers. He has consulted with several members of Cleveland Chiropractic College and received salary support from an NCCAM grant. He is currently working part-time as an independent statistical consultant and part-time as a Research Faculty member at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

This page was written by Steve Simon and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Need more information? I have a page with general help resources. You can also browse for pages similar to this one at Incomplete pages.