Hi Larry,
Interesting point you make there "it is the medical people who need to be paying the sociologists to tell them why and where statistics and biomarkers are inherently unreliable". National Centre for Research Methods http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/ is a centre for methods in social sciences and we encourage our researchers and people who we work with to explore new ways to do socially relevant research e.g. into health and disability. Why don't you come along to the course on biomarkers to learn about what progress has been made in the last few years? You can find out more about the research team working on this work stream in http://pathways.lshtm.ac.uk/
Bw, Kaisa
-----Original Message-----
From: Larry Arnold [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 March 2012 15:43
To: Puustinen K.J.; [log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Places still left: Introduction to Biomarkers for Social Scientists, 12 April, London
In my opinion it is the medical people who need to be paying the sociologists to tell them why and where statistics and biomarkers are inherently unreliable and not the other way about :)
The worst abuses of statistics are those I see in the bio-medical literature are when unsustainably small studies are put through the mill to make them look statistically significant when there is a greater chance of that process creating the artefacts that are then called "significance" not to mention a complete ignorance of possible confounding counter facts. BTW some of the worst studies involve "fMRI" data, some of which is so much akin to dowsing, it's a wonder the amazing Randi hasn't debunked it yet.
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List [mailto:DISABILITY-
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kaisa Puustinen
> Sent: 23 March 2012 13:26
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Places still left: Introduction to Biomarkers for Social Scientists, 12 April,
> London
>
> NCRM Course: Introduction to Biomarkers for Social Scientists
> Date and place: Thursday 12 April 2012, London
> Course leader: Professor Bianca De Stavola, Pathways node of NCRM, London School
> of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
> Further info: http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/training/show.php?article=3329
>
> New approaches to studying associations between social factors and health include
> making use of data on biomarkers, now available in an increasing number of UK
> datasets. However, fully exploiting these data requires an understanding of what they
> are measuring, how they are collected, their biological variability and the associated
> measurement issues that derive, for example, from how specimens are collected and
> stored.
>
> This introductory course will review these issues using examples based on biomarkers
> available in mainstream UK studies, such as the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
>
> Fees: £30 for UK registered postgraduate students; £60 for staff at UK academic
> institutions, ESRC-funded researchers and registered charity organisations; £220 for all
> other participants. All fees include event materials, lunch, morning and afternoon tea.
>
> For further information and to book please go to
> http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/training/show.php?article=3329
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Kaisa Puustinen
> Communications Manager
> National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM)
> Social Sciences
> University of Southampton
>
> Tel. 023 8059 7473
> Email. [log in to unmask]
> Web. www.ncrm.ac.uk
> Twitter. http://twitter.com/NCRMUK
>
> Keep up-to-date about social science research methods. Subscribe to the National
> Centre for Research Methods Ebulletin and MethodsNews newsletter at
> http://www.ncrm.ac.uk/news/subscribe/
>
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