Format codes for my web pages (September 14, 2007, major revision, October 8, 2005). Category: Administrative details

In an effort to create uniformity in the appearance of my web pages, I am listing brief pages that represent a format standard.

Here's an example of a category page using the current format.

Category: Extrapolation of research findings. These pages discuss some of the issues that you should consider when evaluating whether it is appropriate to extrapolate research finding to a different group of patients or to a different practice. Articles are arranged by date with the most recent entries at the top. You can find the theme and closely related categories and other resources at the bottom of this page.

Stats: Difficulties in generalizing research (February 15, 2006). I found this information thanks to an email in the Evidence-Based Health email discussion group. Someone asked if there was any empirical evidence that the setting of a study (e.g., primary versus secondary care) could influence the results of the research. Intuitively, you would suspect that this would be the case, because the types of patients who show up at a primary care clinic are quite different than those who show up at a secondary or tertiary care center.

Theme and closely related categories:

Other resources:

[Return to full topic list] [Read current weblog entries] This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2007-06-18, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page.

Here's an example of a definition page using the current format.

What is interval data?

Interval data is continuous data where differences are interpretable, but where there is no "natural" zero. A good example is temperature in Fahrenheit degrees.

Ratios are meaningless for interval data. You cannot say, for example, that one day is twice as hot as another day.

Example: In a study of a seven item pictorial scale for three aspects of dyspnea (throat closing, chest tightness, and effort), children were asked to place these images on along a visual analog scale.

Results Children aged eight years or older rated the scales in the correct order 75% to 98% correctly, but children less than 8 years of age performed unreliably. The mean distance between each consecutive item in each pictorial scale was equal. Conclusion Preliminary results revealed that children aged 8 to 18 years understood and used these three scales measuring throat closing, chest tightness, and effort appropriately. The scales appear to accurately measure the construct of breathlessness, at least at an interval level. Additional research applying these scales to clinical situations is warranted. -- Dalhousie dyspnea scales: construct and content validity of pictorial scales for measuring dyspnea. Patrick J McGrath, Paul T Pianosi, Anita M Unruh and Chloe P Buckley. BMC Pediatrics 2005, 5:33doi:10.1186/1471-2431-5-33. [Medline] [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2002-10-11, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page. Category: Definitions.

Here's an example of a general page using the current format.

Copyright notice.

When these pages were originally developed, the lawyers suggested that I copyright these pages. In January of 2008 I asked for and got permission to place these pages under an open access license. What this means is that you can use these pages however you like, including a derivative work as long as you acknowledge the original source. A link back to the original page or a listing of the URL of the page would be sufficient acknowledgement.

People will sometimes ask for permission to link to my pages. That has never been an issue. You can link to my site without any restrictions. It would be nice if you could let me know you are linking to my page. Also it would be nice if you could send me the URL of the page that includes the link to my site. That way, I can show my boss how much interest my web pages are attracting.

This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2000-01-28, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page. Category: Website details.

Here's an example of an interesting article page using the current format.

Interesting article: Clinical trials: the viewpoint of children. J Cherrill, H Hudson, C Cocking, V Unsworth, L Franck, J McIntyre and I Choonara. Archives of Disease in Childhood 2007;92:712-713 doi:10.1136/adc.2006.114207. [Medline] [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF] Description: How well do children understand the research process? This paper summarizes a semi-structured interviews of 30 children from 8 to 16 years old. Most of these children understood that there were risks associated with participating in a clinical trial and had a variety of opinions about financial incentives. The description of this article was written by Steve Simon on 2007-07-23, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-01-12. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page. Category: Children in research, Category: Interesting articles

Here's an example of an interesting quote page using the current format.

Interesting quote: All models are wrong, but some are useful -- George Box (en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_E._P._Box), Category: Interesting quotes

Here's an example of an interesting website page using the current format.

Interesting website: The Taxonomy of Logical Fallacies (Gary N. Curtis). Understanding flaws in the process of of advocating a particular viewpoint is an important component of critical thinking. You can understand these flaws better if you can ascribe them to a particular category. The description of this website was written by Steve Simon on 2007-07-23, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-06-21. This website was last verified on 2007-07-23. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page. Category: Critical appraisal, Category: Interesting websites. URL: www.fallacyfiles.org/taxonomy.html

Here's an example of a theme page using the current format.

Theme: Details about these webpages and their author (October 2, 2007). These  categories cover details from my professional life as well as information on the website itself.

Category: Professional details. This category includes pages explaining new developments in my professional career.

Category: Website details. This category includes pages explaining new developments in these web pages.

[View all categories] [Return to Stats page] This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2007-10-02, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page.

Here's an example of a weblog page using the current format.

useR! 2007 conference in Ames, Iowa (April 6, 2007).

I may not be able to go to it, but the R community has an annual meeting, useR!, that will be held this year in Ames, Iowa from August 8-10. The web site for this conference (user2007.org) provides some of the details. In addition to technical sessions, the conference will offer some nice tutorials (user2007.org/tutorials).

Previous conferences were held in Vienna, Austria, which is a bit further away, but also a bit more exotic.

This webpage was written by Steve Simon on 2007-04-06, edited by Steve Simon, and was last modified on 2008-07-08. Send feedback to ssimon at cmh dot edu or click on the email link at the top of the page. Category: R software

This webpage was written by Steve Simon and was last modified on 07/08/2008.