How statistical learning interacts with the socioeconomic environment to shape children's language development.

Language is acquired in part through statistical learning abilities that encode environmental regularities. Language development is also heavily influenced by social environmental factors such as socioeconomic status. However, it is unknown to what extent statistical learning interacts with SES to affect language outcomes. We measured event-related potentials in 26 children aged 8-12 while they performed a visual statistical learning task. Regression analyses indicated that children's learning performance moderated the relationship between socioeconomic status and both syntactic and vocabulary language comprehension scores. For children demonstrating high learning, socioeconomic status had a weaker effect on language compared to children showing low learning. These results suggest that high statistical learning ability can provide a buffer against the disadvantages associated with being raised in a lower socioeconomic status household.

A teaching tool about the fickle p value and other statistical principles based on real-life data.

A poor understanding of statistical analysis has been proposed as a key reason for lack of replicability of many studies in experimental biomedicine. While several authors have demonstrated the fickleness of calculated p values based on simulations, we have experienced that such simulations are difficult to understand for many biomedical scientists and often do not lead to a sound understanding of the role of variability between random samples in statistical analysis. Therefore, we as trainees and trainers in a course of statistics for biomedical scientists have used real data from a large published study to develop a tool that allows scientists to directly experience the fickleness of p values. A tool based on a commonly used software package was developed that allows using random samples from real data. The tool is described and together with the underlying database is made available. The tool has been tested successfully in multiple other groups of biomedical scientists. It can also let trainees experience the impact of randomness, sample sizes and choice of specific statistical test on measured p values. We propose that live exercises based on real data will be more impactful in the training of biomedical scientists on statistical concepts.

A cross-sectional assessment of statistical knowledge among pharmacy faculty.

INTRODUCTION: The debate about the optimal level of research methods incorporated in doctor of pharmacy curricula is ongoing. Yet relatively little has been published about the research-based knowledge of the faculty in these programs. This study seeks to assess pharmacy faculty members' knowledge of fundamental statistical concepts. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey included a random sample of US-based pharmacy schools. Invitations were sent to faculty in each selected pharmacy school to participate in the online survey comprised of demographic questions and a multiple-choice statistics knowledge assessment covering eight fundamental biostatistics concepts. Each question had three answer options, with an additional fourth 'opt-out' option for those wishing to avoid guessing. RESULTS: The random sample of selected pharmacy schools resulted in email invitations sent to 2036 faculty from 30 pharmacy schools. The final study sample consisted of 139 pharmacy faculty members with a mean of 10.2 years of experience as a faculty member. Over 95% of pharmacy faculty reported that they read peer-reviewed scientific journal articles, while nearly 99% said the understanding of statistics was either 'somewhat important' (35%) or 'very important' (64%) in their role as a researcher. Pharmacy faculty achieved a mean of 5.1 correct responses out of eight knowledge-based questions. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacy faculty provided correct responses to 64% of the items about fundamental statistical concepts. These study results are useful for making decisions about biostatistics education and curriculum content, particularly as pharmacy programs continue to incorporate a prominent role for research.

A proposal for a new PhD level curriculum on quantitative methods for drug development.

This paper provides an overview of "Improving Design, Evaluation and Analysis of early drug development Studies" (IDEAS), a European Commission-funded network bringing together leading academic institutions and small- to large-sized pharmaceutical companies to train a cohort of graduate-level medical statisticians. The network is composed of a diverse mix of public and private sector partners spread across Europe, which will host 14 early-stage researchers for 36 months. IDEAS training activities are composed of a well-rounded mixture of specialist methodological components and generic transferable skills. Particular attention is paid to fostering collaborations between researchers and supervisors, which span academia and the private sector. Within this paper, we review existing medical statistics programmes (MSc and PhD) and highlight the training they provide on skills relevant to drug development. Motivated by this review and our experiences with the IDEAS project, we propose a concept for a joint, harmonised European PhD programme to train statisticians in quantitative methods for drug development.

Blended learning with Moodle in medical statistics: an assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to e-learning.

BACKGROUND: Blended learning that combines a modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment (Moodle) with face-to-face teaching was applied to a medical statistics course to improve learning outcomes and evaluate the impact factors of students' knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) relating to e-learning. METHODS: The same real-name questionnaire was administered before and after the intervention. The summed scores of every part (knowledge, attitude and practice) were calculated using the entropy method. A mixed linear model was fitted using the SAS PROC MIXED procedure to analyse the impact factors of KAP. RESULTS: Educational reform, self-perceived character, registered permanent residence and hours spent online per day were significant impact factors of e-learning knowledge. Introversion and middle type respondents' average scores were higher than those of extroversion type respondents. Regarding e-learning attitudes, educational reform, community number, Internet age and hours spent online per day had a significant impact. Specifically, participants whose Internet age was no greater than 6 years scored 7.00 points lower than those whose Internet age was greater than 10 years. Regarding e-learning behaviour, educational reform and parents' literacy had a significant impact, as the average score increased 10.05 points (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This educational reform that combined Moodle with a traditional class achieved good results in terms of students' e-learning KAP. Additionally, this type of blended course can be implemented in many other curriculums.

Effect of standardized training on the reliability of the Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: The Cochrane risk of bias tool is commonly criticized for having a low reliability. We aimed to investigate whether training of raters, with objective and standardized instructions on how to assess risk of bias, can improve the reliability of the Cochrane risk of bias tool. METHODS: In this pilot study, four raters inexperienced in risk of bias assessment were randomly allocated to minimal or intensive standardized training for risk of bias assessment of randomized trials of physical therapy treatments for patients with knee osteoarthritis pain. Two raters were experienced risk of bias assessors who served as reference. The primary outcome of our study was between-group reliability, defined as the agreement of the risk of bias assessments of inexperienced raters with the reference assessments of experienced raters. Consensus-based assessments were used for this purpose. The secondary outcome was within-group reliability, defined as the agreement of assessments within pairs of inexperienced raters. We calculated the chance-corrected weighted Kappa to quantify agreement within and between groups of raters for each of the domains of the risk of bias tool. RESULTS: A total of 56 trials were included in our analysis. The Kappa for the agreement of inexperienced raters with reference across items of the risk of bias tool ranged from 0.10 to 0.81 for the minimal training group and from 0.41 to 0.90 for the standardized training group. The Kappa values for the agreement within pairs of inexperienced raters across the items of the risk of bias tool ranged from 0 to 0.38 for the minimal training group and from 0.93 to 1 for the standardized training group. Between-group differences in Kappa for the agreement of inexperienced raters with reference always favored the standardized training group and was most pronounced for incomplete outcome data (difference in Kappa 0.52, p < 0.001) and allocation concealment (difference in Kappa 0.30, p = 0.004). CONCLUSIONS: Intensive, standardized training on risk of bias assessment may significantly improve the reliability of the Cochrane risk of bias tool.

Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE): extending GAISE into nursing education.

Statistics coursework is usually a core curriculum requirement for nursing students at all degree levels. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) establishes curriculum standards for academic nursing programs. However, the AACN provides little guidance on statistics education and does not offer standardized competency guidelines or recommendations about course content or learning objectives. Published standards may be used in the course development process to clarify course content and learning objectives. This article includes suggestions for implementing and integrating recommendations given in the Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education (GAISE) report into statistics education for nursing students.

The summer institute in clinical dental research methods: still going and growing after twenty years.

The first Summer Institute in Clinical Dental Research Methods, a faculty development program at the University of Washington, was offered in the summer of 1992 for sixteen participants. The primary objective of the program was to give clinical faculty members in dentistry an introduction to and an understanding of the fundamental principles and methods used in good clinical research. In the twentieth offering of the institute in 2011, there were thirty-five participants, and over the twenty institutes, there has been a cumulative total of 463 participants who have come from thirty U.S. states as well as forty-three countries outside the United States. The curriculum has expanded from the initial offering of biostatistics, clinical epidemiology, behavioral research methods, and ethics in clinical research to now include clinical trials, grantsmanship, data analysis, an elective in molecular biology, and a team project that provides participants with hands-on experience in research proposal development as members of an interdisciplinary team. Enrollment has doubled since the first year, yet exit evaluations of the program content have remained consistently high (rated as very good to excellent). One of the indicators of program quality is that at least 50 percent of recent participants indicated that they attended because the program was recommended by colleagues who had attended. There seems to be an ever-increasing pool of dental faculty members who are eager to learn more about clinical research methodology through the institute despite the intensive demands of full-time participation in a six-week program.

Intergenerational transmission of reproductive behavior during the demographic transition.

New evidence from the Utah Population Database (UPDP) reveals that at the onset of the fertility transition, reproductive behavior was transmitted across generations - between women and their mothers, as well as between women and their husbands' family of origin. Age at marriage, age at last birth, and the number of children ever born are positively correlated in the data, most strongly among first-born daughters and among cohorts born later in the fertility transition. Intergenerational ties, including the presence of mothers and mothers-in-law, influenced the hazard of progressing to a next birth. The findings suggest that the practice of parity-dependent marital fertility control and inter-birth spacing behavior derived, in part, from the previous generation and that the potential for mothers and mothers-in-law to help in the rearing of children encouraged higher marital fertility.

Investing in African research training institutions creates sustainable capacity for Africa: the case of the University of the Witwatersrand School of Public Health masters programme in epidemiology and biostatistics.

BACKGROUND: Improving health in Africa is a high priority internationally. Inadequate research capacity to produce local, relevant research has been identified as a limitation to improved population health. Increasing attention is being paid to the higher education sector in Africa as a method of addressing this; evidence that such investment is having the desired impact is required. A 1998 3-year investment by the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) in research training at the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa was reviewed to assess its' impact. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional survey of the 70 students registered for the masters programme in epidemiology & biostatistics from 2000-2005 was conducted. Data were collected from self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS: Sixty percent (42/70) of students responded. At the time of the survey 19% of respondents changed their country of residence after completion of the masters course, 14% migrated within Africa and 5% migrated out of Africa. Approximately half (47%) were employed as researchers and 38% worked in research institutions. Sixty percent reported research output, and four graduates were pursuing PhD studies. Government subsidy to higher education institutions, investments of the University of the Witwatersrand in successful programmes and ongoing bursaries for students to cover tuition fees were important for sustainability. CONCLUSIONS: Investing in African institutions to improve research training capacity resulted in the retention of graduates in Africa in research positions and produced research output. Training programmes can be sustained when national governments invest in higher education and where that funding is judiciously applied. Challenges remain if funding for students bursaries is not available.

Composition, concentration and deprivation: exploring their association with social cohesion among different ethnic groups in the UK.

Although studies in the US have shown an association between the ethnic residential composition of an area and reports of decreased social cohesion among its residents, this association is not clear in the UK, and particularly for ethnic minority groups. The current study analyses a merged dataset from the 2005 and 2007 Citizenship Survey to assess the evidence for an association between social cohesion and ethnic residential concentration, composition and area deprivation across different ethnic groups in the UK. Results of the multilevel regression models show that, after adjusting for area deprivation, increased levels of social cohesion are found in areas of greater ethnic residential heterogeneity. Although different patterns emerge across ethnic groups and the measure of social cohesion used, findings consistently show that it is area deprivation, and not ethnic residential heterogeneity, which erodes social cohesion in the UK.

Methods, approaches and data sources for estimating stocks of irregular migrants.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of available methods for sizing irregular migrant populations as a particular group in the study of hidden populations. Based on the existing body of literature on the subject, a generic classification scheme is developed that divides existing estimation procedures into subcategories like "approaches", "methods" and "estimation techniques". For each of these categories, basic principles, methodical strengths and weaknesses, as well as practical problems, are identified and discussed with the use of existing examples. Special emphasis is placed on data requirements, data shortcomings and possible estimation biases. In addition, based on the empirical classification and quality assessment of country-specific estimates developed in the CLANDESTINO research project, the potential and requirements for replicating best practice models in other countries are explored. Finally, a number of conclusions on the appropriate design of estimation projects are offered.

The size of the irregular migrant population in the European Union ­ counting the uncountable?

It is difficult to estimate the size of the irregular migrant population in a specific city or country, and even more difficult to arrive at estimates at the European level. A review of past attempts at European-level estimates reveals that they rely on rough and outdated rules-of-thumb. In this paper, we present our own European level estimates for 2002, 2005, and 2008. We aggregate country-specific information, aiming at approximate comparability by consistent use of minimum and maximum estimates and by adjusting for obvious differences in definition and timescale. While the aggregated estimates are not considered highly reliable, they do -- for the first time -- provide transparency. The provision of more systematic medium quality estimates is shown to be the most promising way for improvement. The presented estimate indicates a minimum of 1.9 million and a maximum of 3.8 million irregular foreign residents in the 27 member states of the European Union (2008). Unlike rules-of-thumb, the aggregated EU estimates indicate a decline in the number of irregular foreign residents between 2002 and 2008. This decline has been influenced by the EU enlargement and legalisation programmes.

Child-care availability and fertility in Norway.

The child-care and fertility hypothesis has been in the literature for a long time and is straightforward: As child care becomes more available, affordable, and acceptable, the antinatalist effects of increased female educational attainment and work opportunities decrease. As an increasing number of countries express concern about low fertility, the child-care and fertility hypothesis takes on increased importance. Yet data and statistical limitations have heretofore limited empirical tests of the hypothesis. Using rich longitudinal data and appropriate statistical methodology, We show that increased availability of child care increases completed fertility. Moreover, this positive effect of child-care availability is found at every parity transition. We discuss the generalizability of these results to other settings and their broader importance for understanding variation and trends in low fertility.

China's below-replacement fertility: government policy or socioeconomic development?

The article challenges the notion that below-replacement fertility and its local variation in China are primarily attributable to the government's birth planning policy. Data from the 2000 census and provincial statistical yearbooks are used to compare fertility in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, two of the most developed provinces in China, to examine the relationship between socioeconomic development and low fertility. The article demonstrates that although low fertility in China was achieved under the government's restrictive one-child policy, structural changes brought about by socioeconomic development and ideational shifts accompanying the new wave of globalization played a key role in China's fertility reduction.

Population decline in Polish and Czech cities during post-socialism? Looking behind the official statistics.

The evolving debate on "urban shrinkage" mirrors an increasing interest in demographic phenomena on the part of urban scholars. This paper discusses ambiguous evidence about recent population decline in the large cities of Poland and the Czech Republic, with a particular focus on Lódz and Brno in general and their inner cities more specifically. By applying a mixed-method approach, the paper identifies indications of inner-city repopulation and socio-demographic diversification which are not yet apparent in register or census data. It is argued that there are indications of a silent transformation of traditional residential patterns and neighbourhoods in east central Europe. In the inner cities, this is reflected, amongst other things, by the presence of new households that may be called "transitory urbanites".