TSHS Fall 2024 Webinar: “Clarifying practical relevance of p-values and confidence intervals. Clear choice of words and images, that foster conceptual understanding and steer away from misconceptions.”

TSHS Fall 2024 Webinar: “Clarifying practical relevance of p-values and confidence intervals. Clear choice of words and images, that foster conceptual understanding and steer away from misconceptions.”

 The ASA Section on Teaching of Statistics in the Health Sciences (TSHS) is excited to present our Fall 2024 webinar. Our speaker will be Hilary Watt of the Imperial College London. She will discuss the practical relevance of p-values and confidence intervals.

 The webinar is FREE and open to all. Details and registration information are below.

 TITLE: Clarifying practical relevance of p-values and confidence intervals. Clear choice of words and images, that foster conceptual understanding and steer away from misconceptions.

 PRESENTER: Hilary Watt, Imperial College London

 DATE/TIME: Tuesday, October 29, 2024, 3:00pm Eastern Time (US & Canada)

 VENUE: Online webinar hosted using the Zoom platform

 ABSTRACT: Informal p-value and CI interpretations are often used in health science teaching yet may be too crude to help much in developing understanding. Not all students deduce CIs and p-values practical relevance from their definitions. This talk suggests transparent explanatory interpretations, that promote understanding of their practical relevance. They are compact enough for routine repetition whilst teaching. Referring to the sample (not blood sample!) as participants provides a clear starting point. Repeatedly clarifying the relationship of participants to the population, including the random sampling assumption, addresses the issue that ‘population’ is poorly understood. Implications of random sampling being impractical can be discussed. Images of the distribution of sample statistics are useful for understanding calculation methods yet can readily be misinterpreted. Strategies are suggested to offset the risk of common misinterpretations. This includes use of images designed to foster conceptual understanding, for both CIs and for p-values (for p-values, illustrating their continuous nature). The intention is to make statistics easier and more intuitive to understand. The inspiration is to steer towards higher standards of data interpretation within health sciences.

REGISTRATION: To register for the webinar, please complete this form:

https://uniofqueensland.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4I9TBkB3xKNS7AO

We will send the Zoom link for the webinar to your email address the day before the webinar.