Research Validity

Dr. Petitti brings some real world experiences into the classroom.  We had the opportunity to discuss the news interview on the latest mammogram recommendations coming from the task force where she is the vice chair.  It's very interesting to hear the different perspectives and how people hear things differently and the media tries to twist the truth or make you stumble.  Nonetheless, she did a good job on the news interview I saw.  Then, the next day, she shows up in our class to talk about research validity.  Of all people to question if research is valid or not, I think Dr. Petitti has a lot of experience with evidence based medicine and has certainlhy shared her knowledge on the validity of research.  This lecture was good but I felt it needed a lot more explanation, especially when talking about the odds ratio and the risk ratio.  It looks very similar to the sensitivity and the specificity tables but not quite the same.  I guess in order to better understand, we should take her biostatistics course.  The confusion for me was determining the sample size and coming up with the 4 factors to plug into a power analysis to recommend a valid sample size.  I'm not sure if the 4 factors are made up or if these are coming from some other type of calculation.  I'd like to see a little more in regards to the points she reviewed as the information shared felt a little rushed and we were unable to practice with examples.


Posted by Debbie Carter