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Thread: Science peeps: Research design help needed

  1. #1
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    Default Science peeps: Research design help needed

    Hi peeps, I need help setting up a control group to evaluate the impact a new diabetes awareness and management course.

    Some background info: the hospital offers diabetic patients with a learning program comprised of 5 continuous classes, with 3 months in between each class (pretest data taken at 1st class to establish baseline, 5th class for post-test knowledge). The hope is that patients who have participated in the class will have higher than average knowledge about diabetes and how to manage it, along with better biometric measures (bmi or weight, blood sugar or cholesterol level, etc.) The course is taught in group setting by a health educator and a doctor specializing in diabetes (the purpose of the group-setting is so that when patients see other patients asking questions, they could learn more from that than the usual 10-mins doctor consulatation). The hospital want to know if, independent of the course, would a similar group of diabetic patients achieve the same result?

    My problem is that the participants in the experimental group (the group getting the education through the group seminars) isn't randomly selected. All diabetic patients at the hospital get referral to join the course through their primary physician, but only a few (about 15%) actually joined. So how would I set up a control group among those who didn't join the program to have a valid comparison?
    "A girl asked me if she should spent money to change the way she look, I told her that she should use it to change her personality instead."

  2. #2
    Senior Member Han Solo's Avatar
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    Easy.

    Anyone who refuses to join your course is your control group!

    Han Solo
    Last edited by Han Solo; 12-31-07 at 02:05 PM. Reason: experimental editing
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    Quote Originally Posted by bliss
    I think they're probably at the same level as or one level below Ah Qing, which is about the level of a 2nd or 3rd generation Quan Zhen disciple.
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  3. #3
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    How are you going to measure outcome?
    Oligoneuron disease is incurable.

  4. #4
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    Ah research...

    I just got 2 papers accepted in a peer reviewed journal but the medical field has tougher standards about experimental design..... But you are not going to publish your findings in a medical journal right?

    Ideally you should select say N diabletics (where N depends on the power of the test, your significance levels, anticipated efficeny etc) , then flip a coin for each patient, where say heads you would assign him to the control group and tails to the class.

    In practice, of course, you cannot compel patients to go for classes, nor can you stop those interested from attending due to ethical reasons.

    Personally I think this departure from rigor is not too bad, unless you have reasons to believe that there is some selective effect driving patients to go for class or not which might affect the resulsts. (Offhand I can think of several possibilities lol).
    A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he ever wants to see a ****ing cross? It's like going up to Jackie Onassis wearing a rifle pendant.

  5. #5
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    The self-selection bias is inherent in my experimental group; and for ethical/medical issue, I can't ask people to delay participation to be in the control group. Therefore, I've selected the control group from diabetic patients from doctors who have never heard nor offered the program to their patients.
    "A girl asked me if she should spent money to change the way she look, I told her that she should use it to change her personality instead."

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