Well, I thought that was a better title than ‘Volatility’ which, to be fair, is closer to what this meandering post is all about. When we’re struggling our way through medicine, we have to face all sorts of uncertainties. Some of these are the frank face of ignorance (we just don’t know something), some of […]
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Guest Blog: Sampling bias and randomisation
The blog series is expanding! No doubt soley inspired by now running the magnificent @ADC_JC, @davidking83 has taken up the challenge of exploring a critical appraisal nugget/thorn in response to an appraisal session. You too could be part of our team – tweet @ADC_BMJ or find us on Facebook to get in touch – but for now, let’s […]
Why not look at what you already know?
A little while ago we blogged on the surprisingly varied methods folk use to pick how how big an effect needs to be in order to be ‘clinically relevant’. A further paper on this theme has emerged that takes up a slightly different aspect of the challenge of getting the number right before doing a […]
Naming culture
I’ve written lots here in the past about names – the issues of how we address each other, and how we permit patients and their families to address us. During the process of writing those posts I made some changes to how I thought, which altered some of my behaviours. I wanted to share here some other thoughts […]
Why, what do you mean when you ask “Why?” ?
That’s not the right question. Well. It might be the right question, but the answer might be right but differently wrong in all sorts of ways. When parents ask – “Why has A got poorly with Ulcerative Colitis/sepsis?” – the answer might be Because humans are complicated things and sometimes break down Because the bacteria that invaded […]
Guest post: Making research really relevant
Do you know someone with a brain or spinal cord tumour? Has this condition touched your life? Research is always going on into brain and spinal cord tumours – but is it investigating the things that matter most? The aim of the Neuro-Oncology Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) is to gather views from people most directly […]
Publication bias.
SO – you all know about publication bias? The fact that nasty, authoritarian Journal Editors, sat with their cigars, expensive brandy and well-roasted coffee look upon trials that don’t give positive results and consign them to the pit of Rejection? (That’s just how it happens.) Well, there’s another variants on this theme. There’s the “we’ll […]
Top five tips from the UK’s National Paediatric Academic Trainee Weekend
The UK’s National Paediatric Academic Trainee group organised a conference to talk about how to get on in academic paediatrics. Now, there are academics of very many flavours in paediatrics and child health, and it’s always great to see more folk turning to the (en)light(ened) path of never believing anything and ending every conversation “but more […]
The New-Look ADC_JC has arrived
Bristling with new folk, layered with many layers of intellectual finery, and repeatedly pointed at by folk around the world as an example of high-class education the ancient public school of Eton College has few similarities with our online, twitter-based, journal club @ADC_JC. But both began new years, recently, and the Journal Club opened examining […]
StatsMiniBlog: Spot on, time and again.
“Spot on!” is a rather anachronistic and very Anglophile phrase, redolent of croquet lawns, tweeds and well designed woven straw hats. It’s no wonder we tend to use – if we are being technical – the word “accurate” instead. But should we be using the word “precise” to make ourselves sound all academic? And what’s […]