Experimental Methodology In Clinical Researches 2013/2014

Data collection methods and their limitations. Population and sample. Type of data. General concepts of statistical inference. Understanding uncertainty in sample estimates. The research process. Anecdotal and scientific evidence. Randomized cohort, observational cohort, case-control and observational cross-sectional studies. Causal inference. Generalizability of the results of clinical research.Overview on Research and Development of a Drug. Clinical phases of development of a drug. Internal and external validity. Efficacy and effectiveness. Experimental Trial Designs. Randomization. Masking. Outcome measures in clinical researches. The Protocol of a study: general guidelines to understand it.Continuous data measures. Sample proportions. Single sample numerical summary measures for continuous and binary outcomes. Visual displays for continuous outcomes. The normal (Gaussian) distribution and its relation to statistical inference. Sampling distributions. The Central Limit Theorem. The t distribution. Measures of association: mean differences, risk differences and relative risks. Confidence intervals for means, mean differences, proportions and relative risks. Hypothesis testing: paired and two-sample t-tests. Type I and II errors. Power and sample size.