The Analysis Factor
Statistical Consulting, Resources, and Statistics Workshops for Researchers
Effect size statistics are required by most journals and committees these days — for good reason.
They communicate just how big the effects are in your statistical results — something p-values can’t do.
But they’re only useful if you can choose the most appropriate one and if you can interpret it.
This can be hard in even simple statistical tests. But once you get into complicated models, it’s a whole new story. [Read more…] about Member Training: Interpretation of Effect Size Statistics
Last week I had the pleasure of teaching a webinar on Interpreting Regression Coefficients. We walked through the output of a somewhat tricky regression model—it included two dummy-coded categorical variables, a covariate, and a few interactions.
As always seems to happen, our audience asked an amazing number of great questions. (Seriously, I’ve had multiple guest instructors compliment me on our audience and their thoughtful questions.)
We had so many that although I spent about 40 minutes answering [Read more…] about Your Questions Answered from the Interpreting Regression Coefficients Webinar
Sample size estimates are one of those data analysis tasks that look straightforward, but once you try to do one, make you want to bang your head against the computer in frustration. Or, maybe 
that’s just me.
Regardless of how they make you feel, they are super important to do for your study before you collect the data.
[Read more…] about Member Training: The Fundamentals of Sample Size Calculations
Here’s a common situation.
Your grant application or committee requires sample size estimates. It’s not the calculations that are hard (though they can be), it’s getting the information to fill into the calculations.
Every article you read on it says you need to either use pilot data or another similar study as a basis for the values to enter into the software.
You have neither.
No similar studies have ever used the scale you’re using for the dependent variable.
And while you’d love to run a pilot study, it’s just not possible. There are too many practical constraints — time, money, distance, ethics.
What do you do?
[Read more…] about Sample Size Estimation Without Past Reliable Pilot Data or Evidence
There are many rules of thumb in statistical analysis that make decision making and understanding results much easier.
Have you ever stopped to wonder where these rules came from, let alone if there is any scientific basis for them? Is there logic behind these rules, or is it propagation of urban legends?
In this webinar, we’ll explore and question the origins, justifications, and some of the most common rules of thumb in statistical analysis, like:
[Read more…] about Member Training: Statistical Rules of Thumb: Essential Practices or Urban Myths?