Thank you Kevin and Anne. Have found the books on Amazon. It’s just that I don’t like
to be beaten by what are probably just posh words for as you say,
simple sums. And when reading and
unpicking a paper one needs to understand these things or one cannot draw a
reliable conclusion for oneself. This may sound a bit nerdy but I know
what I mean!!
Mary
Mary
Smolen
Staff Nurse
Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Tel: 01202 704215
Fax: 01202 704513
-----Original
Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]
[mailto:occ-health@JIS
Sent:
To:
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Research
Terminology
Judging by what my daughter has had to cover in her
MSc in Occupational Psychology I bet you excel at “sums” Kevin. She
is even helping her friend who is in the second year of a Maths degree with her
stats course. I much prefer what many hard core statisticians would consider
the pink and fluffy approach to data collection - the qualitative
approach.
Have you come across the Derek Rowntree book “Statistics without
Tears” published by Penguin ISBN0 14-013632-0? Not sure if it is still in
print but it is what made statistics make a (bit more) sense to me. It is great
for students who work in health care as he uses examples which make sense such
he uses the height, systolic blood pressure reading, etc of a group of people
to explain statistical principles.
If still available, another easy reading resource for those who don’t take to
stats like a duck to water:
Adamantios Diamantopoulos, Bodo Schlegelmiclch Taking the fear out of
data analysis. Published by Dryden Press ISBN 0-03-099006-8
It did for me what it says in the title. The most difficult part of this book
is being able to remember, let alone spell, the names of the two authors.
Happy reading
Anne Harriss
Course Director
LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY
On 09/06/2011 10:44, "Kevin Maguire" <[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]> wrote:
These terms belong to one (big)
branch of research, that of sums (they call it statistics but they’re
just sums). Quantitative researchers like big sums. Qualitative
researchers sample knowledge and ideas rather than units and so have different
ways of analysing and describing. Sums tend to be taught by people
who love sums and they forget that most people just want to use them so
don’t be blinded by terminology. Think conceptually: what do I want
to find out? What is the best way of finding that out? This will keep you
sane. Letting the tail wag the dog is not so good for sanity.
Research methods are best learnt In a controlled but experiential manner.
If you want to learn specifically about statistical techniques
(especially in relation to epidemiology), there are plenty of courses around:
every MPH will teach you such stuff. Every Higher Ed Institution will
offer relevant courses on quantitative methods if you are just interested
in that aspect.
Good luck with your sums.
Kevin
PS I ought to add that I am not anti-sums. It’s just that I agree
with a mathematical friend who used to say: statistics is too important to leave to mathematicians.
Dr. Kevin MAGUIRE CPsychol MCIEH, Senior Lecturer,
Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University,
Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU. UK. Telephone ++ 44 (0) 115 848 5540
From: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Smolen, Mary
Sent: 09 June 2011 09:01
To: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [OCC-HEALTH] Back
Pain.. better not to do "back exercises"
Very
interesting. Thank you Diane. Would be interesting to see what
Physios have to say about it.
Incidentally does anyone know of a resource to help me understand the
terminology used in research studies? Prior to my commencement of the OH
degree last year I did a distance-learning module on Research but this did not
fully equip me to get all these words like ‘linear and logistic
regression models’ or ‘adjusted odds ratios’. I would
LOVE to understand every word I read!! Is there a course available or
something?
Mary Smolen
Staff Nurse
Occupational Health Department
Royal Bournemouth Hospital
Castle Lane East
Bournemouth
BH7 7DW
Tel: 01202 704215
Fax: 01202 704513
To email confidential information to me from a source outside
the RBCH NHS Trust, please email
[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
This message may contain information that is privileged or
confidential. It is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be
forwarded or copied to any third party without the consent of the sender.
If you received this in error please contact the sender and destroy the
message.
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Diane Romano-Woodward
Sent: 08 June 2011 22:23
To: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Subject: [OCC-HEALTH] Back Pain..
better not to do "back exercises"
Hello Listy
I cam across this article form a reputable USA university
on 681 people with low back pain
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16186460
These results suggest that individuals with low back pain should refrain from
specific back exercises and instead focus on nonspecific physical activities to
reduce pain and improve psychological health.
Food for thought...
Diane
******************************** Please remove this footer before
replying.
OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH
******************************** Please remove this footer before replying.
OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH
DISCLAIMER:
This email is intended solely for the addressee. It may contain private and
confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, please take no
action based on it nor show a copy to anyone. In this case, please reply to
this email to highlight the error. Opinions and information in this email that
do not relate to the official business of Nottingham Trent University shall be
understood as neither given nor endorsed by the University. Nottingham Trent University
has taken steps to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus-free,
but we do advise that the recipient should check that the email and its
attachments are actually virus free. This is in keeping with good computing
practice. ******************************** Please remove this footer before
replying.
OCC-HEALTH ARCHIVES: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/occ-health.html
CONFERENCES AND STUDY DAYS: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/filearea.cgi?LMGT1=OCC-HEALTH