Class schedule

Note on reading assignments: When a paper or book chapter is assigned, graduate students are expected 1) to have read the item before the class period, 2) to bring the item to class, 3) to come prepared with questions about topics that are unfamiliar or confusing, and 4) to participate in the in-class discussion of the topics.

Handouts given out in class:

Study Designs

6-Sep

Reading and Assessing the Literature

Reading assignment:

Harrison JE. Evidence-based orthodontics—how do I assess the evidence? J Orthod 2000; 27.

also skim: Chapter 13, “Reading the Medical Literature” in Dawson-Trapp.

Handouts:

How to Critique Papers, How to Participate in a Paper Critique

8-Sep

Recognizing Sources of Bias in the Literature

Reading assignment:

Hartman JM, Forsen JW, Jr., Wallace MS, Neely JG. Tutorials in clinical research: part IV: recognizing and controlling bias. Laryngoscope 2002; 112:23-31.

also see the sections beginning on page 335, “Bias related to subject selection” in Dawson-Trapp; continuing thru “Blinding” on page 340.

13-Sep

Overview of Statistical Methods, Summarizing Data

Reading assignment:

K.R. Baumgardner (1997) “A review of key research design and statistical analysis issues,” Oral Surgery Oral Medicine Oral Pathology, 84(5), 550-556.

Handouts:

Re: Baumgardner, and Summary of Statistical Analysis Methods

Introduction to Biostatistics, Summarizing and Displaying Continuous Data

Reading assignment:

Chapter 3 “Summarizing data …” in Dawson-Trapp up to but not including “Summarizing nominal and ordinal data with numbers” on page 40.

Handout:

Descriptive Statistics for Continuous Data

15-Sep

No class

Endo unavailable

20-Sep

Summarizing and Displaying Nominal Data

Reading assignment:

Chapter 3 “Summarizing data …” in Dawson-Trapp starting with “Summarizing nominal and ordinal data with numbers” on page 40 thru “Tables and graphs for nominal and ordinal data” on page 47. The section on “adjusting rates” can be skimmed (pages 44-46).

Handout:

Descriptive Statistics for Nominal Data.

Estimation and confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, significance levels, power

Reading assignment:

Chapter 5 “Research Questions about One Group” thru section 5.4.2 in Dawson-Trapp.

Handout:

Research questions about one group

22-Sep

An Example of a Paper Critique

Reading assignment:

CL Bell, et. All "The immediate placement of dental implants into extraction sites with periapical lesions: A retrospective chart review". 2011 Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery 69:1623-1627.

Faculty will stand in as “graduate students assigned to critiques a paper”. They will lead the discussion of this paper—just as you will with future papers (See “How to Critique Papers”).

Assignment:

Come prepared with at least one question regarding the paper—see “How to Participate in a Paper Critique”. Since this an “example critique”, on this occasion your participation will not be graded.

27-Sep

Paper Critiques

Reading assignment:

Paper 1 - Sorensen and Martinoff. “Clinically significant factors in dowel design.” 1984. Journal of Prosthodontic Dentistry 52:28-35.

Paper 2 - West et al. Changes in the craniofacial complex from adolescence to midadulthood: A cephalometric study. 1999 American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 115:521-532.

Assignments:

See “How to Critique Papers"

Abdul-Nabi, Bhatti, Ha will lead a discussion of 1 (Sorensen).

Babb, Doan, Hay will lead a discussion of 2 (West).

29-Sep

No class

Ortho unavailable

4-Oct

Proportions and Contingency Tables

Reading Assignment:

Chapter 6 “Two separate groups” in Dawson-Trapp (only the sections on contingency tables)

Note: Students will sign up for their presentations beginning on 20-Oct

6-Oct

Use of Humans and Animals in Research

Reading assignment:

The World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki

(download from: http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/ )

Assignment (due before Thanksgiving):

Complete training for biomedical researchers human subjects protection at: www.research.vcu.edu/irb/education.htm. Down at the bottom of this page, you’ll see “Required human subjects education: Click here” and the link: www.citiprogram.org.

When the training is complete, you will receive a “diploma”—print out multiple copies and turn in one copy.

11-Oct

Critiques: Proportions and Contingency Tables

Reading Assignment:

Paper 3 by Lindauer et al.. Paper 4 by Jackson et al.

Assignment:

Bakuri, Eppright, Hodgson will lead a discussion of 3 (Lindauer).

Merrell, Shreck will lead a discussion of 4 (Jackson).

All will participate in the discussion.

13-Oct

Comparing means (t-test)

Reading assignment:

Chapter 6, “Two separate groups”, the section on comparing means

18-Oct

Critiques: Comparing means

Reading Assignment:

Paper 5 by Ziebert et al. Paper 6 by Farik et al.

Assignment:

McEntire, Rost, Smart will lead a discussion of 5 (Ziebert).

Abdul-Nabi, Sarao, Peters will lead a discussion of 6 (Farik).

20-Oct

Concept papers due, Begin Discussion of concept papers

Handout:

See “Concept Papers, what’s expected”

For the next four class periods, four students will present their proposed research concepts. Each will have 18 minutes—plan on about a 12-15 minute presentation and then open it to questions, comments, suggestions from your peers for up to 5 minutes. Note that purpose of this presentation is two-fold: 1) for the presenter to get useful feedback to improve the research, and 2) for the students in the audience to gain further experience in critiquing research.

We’ll need something visual to work from. Either bring 18 copies of your concept paper or have powerpoint handouts.

Presenters (starting at 12:30): Hodgson, Sarao, Eppright, Peters

25-Oct

Discussion of concept papers

Presenters (starting at 12:30): Hay, McEntire, Shreck, Rost

27-Oct

Discussion of concept papers

Presenters (starting at 12:30): Doan, Merrell, Babb, Abdl-Nabi

1-Nov

Discussion of concept papers

Presenters (starting at 12:30): Smart, Ha, Bhatti, Bakuri

3-Nov

No class

Ortho, Pedo unavailable

8-Nov

No class

Best unavailable

10-Nov

Critiques: Comparing means; Building a database

Reading Assignment:

Paper 7 by Norton

Assignment:

Babb, Bhatti, Ha will lead a discussion of 7 (Norton).

Creating an Excel database

Reading: none. Presented by Dr. Best

15-Nov

No class

Perio unavailable

17-Nov

Review of Methods and ANOVA

Reading assignment: Baumgardner and Chapter 7, “…comparing three or more groups”

Correlation and regression

Reading assignment: Chapter 8, “Relationships among variables…

22-Nov

Critiques of Papers

Assignment:

Bakuri, Doan, Hay will lead a discussion of 8 (Yee).

Hodgson, Merrell, Shreck will lead a discussion of 9 (Johnson).

All discuss

24-Nov

No Class

Thanksgiving

29-Nov

Critiques of Papers

Assignment:

Eppright, McEntire, Smart will lead a discussion of 10 (Gapski).

Abdul-Nabi, Sarao, Rost will lead a discussion of 11 (Phrukkanon).

1-Dec

No Class

Chapter 1 of Thesis Due

No discussions, just eMail me your draft thesis TO: ALBest@vcu.edu

Assignment:

Written literature review for research project due. (complete "Introduction" chapter; begin "Methods")

(See “Concept Papers, What’s Expected”.) What’s due is the first draft of your thesis up to and including the Introduction section (including full lit review, plus specific aims), and a perfectly formatted bibliography. You must also begin your methods section including at least a rough idea of how you’ll perform the study.

This document must be formatted just as your final thesis will be formatted.

6-Dec

Equivalence or “just as good as” Claims

Reading assignment (everyone):

Jones, Jarvis & Lewis “Trials to assess equivalence …” BMJ (1996). Dr. Best will present an overview of this material. Then we discuss the following paper:

Assignment:

Bhatti, Eppright, Hay will lead a discussion of 14 (Burns).

All discuss

8-Dec

[placeholder in case we need this class]

End of Fall Semester Classes

Classes resume on Tuesday, 17-Jan

Consultations with Dr. Best to finalize database design, and statistical methods

17-Jan

19-Jan

24-Jan

26-Jan

(No class for students who are not signed up for a “slot”)

Sign up to finalize your research proposal. Bring your proposal, and any associated material [such as ‘scoring sheets’ or proposed excel spreadsheets]

31-Jan

Logistic regression

Reading assignment: “Logistic Regression” in Chapter 10, “Statistical methods for multiple variables”

2-Feb

Logistic regression paper critiques

Babb, Peters, Smart will lead a discussion of 12 (Baughan).

Bakuri, Ha, Merrell will lead a discussion of 13 (Cutler).

7-Feb

Survival analysis

Reading assignment: Chapter 9 “About survival …”

9-Feb

Critique of Survival papers

Doan, McEntire, Sarao will lead a discussion of 15 (Becker).

Peters, Rost will lead a discussion of 16 (Bogacki).

14-Feb

Sensitivity and Specificity; Measurement error, agreement

Reading assignment: Chapter 12, “Measuring the accuracy of diagnostic procedures …” and Chapter 5, “Measuring agreement” in Dawson-Trapp

Assignment:

Hodgson, Shreck will lead a discussion of 17 (Lanning).

16-Feb

Meta-Analysis and Critical Reviews

Reading Assignment

"Meta-Analysis" in Chapter 10 of Dawson-Trapp, starting on page 267- to 271

Assignment: (all read and be prepared to discuss)

Gunsolley, JC. A meta-analysis of six-month studies of antiplaque and antigingivitis agents. 2006. JADA. 137(12):1649-57.

Final Written Research Proposal due.

this is the last class