Re: Misuse of statistics in medical research

From: Sharon Hope (shope_at_anet.net)
Date: 03/14/05 

Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:22:46 -0800

"Fabrikant" <benny_patrick7@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:f855b5d5.0503131359.18826c0@posting.google.com...
> Ok, in general you are right. So, did you read the introduction and
> did you read the article?
>

Honestly? It was a topic of great interest to me, but I didn't get past the
intro part - distracted & the 9-second rule (I gave it a few more, but then
decided to try to work through it later).

I was appreciative of Bill's comments, and a little disappointed you mistook
them for negatives, when they were positives.

How about adding a good Executive Summary patterned after the format of the
Abstracts in Pub Med?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi

> Fabrikant
>
>> If you take a deep breath, and step back a bit for a broader perspective,
>> you will find that you have received very constructive sylistic advice.
>>
>> Major (high dollar) management seminars are now training managers and
>> those
>> who want to move up in management that you have 9 seconds to grab
>> someone's
>> attention. In that 9 seconds the decision is made on whether to move on
>> to
>> the other myriad of things demanding attention, or to delve more deeply.
>>
>> There, many people are paying $1,200+ to hear that advice. Bill offered
>> it
>> to you for free. Don't waste that bargain.
>>
>> The problem is not in your excellent research, it is in the introduction.
>> You have squandered the 9 seconds, and in doing that, lost the readership
>> your hard work deserves.
>>
>> So, revise the first 3 lines to something that has some punch and
>> commands
>> attention in that 9 seconds, and then make your detailed case for the
>> readership you have earned.
>>
>> It isn't that people are too dense to understand your points, it is that
>> they will not read that far if your intro doesn't grab them. There are
>> too
>> many other things in competition.
>>
>>
>> "Fabrikant" <benny_patrick7@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:f855b5d5.0503051126.6bfa7556@posting.google.com...
>> > "Bill" <xxx@yy.zz> wrote in message
>> > news:<nD6Vd.15411$hU7.13039@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com>...
>> >> "Fabrikant" <benny_patrick7@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> >> news:f855b5d5.0503011414.75a69f17@posting.google.com...
>> >> >I have prepared an article of misuse of statistics in medical
>> >> > research. If you are a cardiologist, you might be interested to read
>> >> > it. Your professional opinion would be appreciated.
>> >> >
>> >> > If you want to read it, click here:
>> >> > http://www.geocities.com/benny_patrick/stats.html
>> >> >
>> >> > Fabrikant
>> >>
>> >> You might want to put some of the "meat" of your results in the first
>> >> couple
>> >> of paragraphs to convine people you have something and read further. I
>> >> did not
>> >> want to wade through stuff to find it.
>> >>
>> >> Bill
>> >
>> >
>> > Here is "meat" #1.
>> >
>> > Heart Protection Study claimed to reduce relative risk of heart attack
>> > by 20%. And here is a deeper look. Group which took medication had 8%
>> > of heart attack vs 10% in the group which did not take medication. The
>> > trick of 20% difference comes from the term "relative" risk. And here
>> > is another wording of the same result: if you do take medication, you
>> > have probability of 92% to avoid heart attack. If you don't take
>> > medication, you have 90% chance of avoiding heart attack. If are told
>> > the result that way, would you consider your heart protected and would
>> > you take the medication?
>> >
>> > There is much more "meat" in the article. Sorry that you are too busy.
>> > My article was written for curious people who like to use their brain
>> > for thinking and have enough time for that.
>> >
>> > Fabrikant

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