Interfaculty Center Data processing & Statistics

ICDS

• team of experts in applied statistics & methodology
  • principal consultants:
    wilfried (Life Sciences & Medicine) and lara (Human & Social Sciences)
    psychologists turned into applied statisticians for the love of research
  • coordinator, kurt, the math-stats guru at ease with real life applications
  • supporting consultants, researchers who share their expertise voluntarily
    (computer scientists, mathematicians, criminologist, ... )
• bookable @ www.icds.be/consulting/
• more details @ www.icds.be

methodological & statistical support

• provide complementary support to our research community (VUB - UZ Brussel)

  • consultancy: asking the right questions the right way
  • data analysis: getting the relevant information out of it
  • tutoring: learning to do things yourself
  • automation: getting the computer to do it for you
  • ...

• supported by: research board (UMC) & vice-rectorat research policy

• conditions:

  • consulting free of charge for our research community
  • data-analysis implies co-authorship, includes follow-up / review
  • for longer-term commitments a suitable compensation is considered
  • check our Terms of Service at www.icds.be

consulting

asking the right questions the right way

• discus how to

  • turn substantive questions into research aims (the right questions)
  • address these research aims (the right way)
    • with appropriate study design and sample size
    • with appropriate statistical techniques

• includes help on

  • interpretation and communication of the results
  • writing of research proposals
  • ...

consulting - practicalities

asking the right questions the right way

• typically involves one or a few meetings (< hour)
• at the consultants office (1st floor, D-building)
• booked through the booking-tool
  requesting 3 time-slots from which one is selected
• also available for master students working on thesis
  approved by the promoter
• does not include statistical analysis

data analysis

getting the relevant information out of it

• perform for you

  • data analysis (descriptive, inferential)
  • data management (eg., cleaning and preparation)

• includes

  • communication of data and analysis to the researcher
    • report and R-code (supporting reproducible research)
      • with visualizations, summaries
      • with discussions on choices and inference
    • meeting (consulting)

data analysis - practicalities

getting the relevant information out of it

• typically time consuming: a few days to a few weeks
• researchers are expected to participate
  • translate substantive interests into the language of statisticians
  • provide data that is easy to understand and deal with
  • show appropriate skepticism to ensure analyses are correct
  • try to understand and learn for future research
• as co-author, consultants take responsibility
  • support in writing the statistical part of the manuscript
  • dealing with reviewer comments

data analysis - case 1

Flamée, P., Varnavas, V., Dewals, W., Carvalho, H., Cools, W., Bhutia, J. T., Beckers, S., Umbrain, V., Verborgh, C., Forget, P., Chierchia, G.-B., Brugada, P., Poelaert, J., & de Asmundis, C. (2020). Electrocardiographic Effects of Propofol versus Etomidate in Patients with Brugada Syndrome. Anesthesiology, 132, 440–451.

data analysis - case 2

Smeets, S., Stangé, G., Leuckx, G., Roelants, L., Cools, W., De Paep, D. L., Ling, Z., De Leu, N., & in’t Veld, P. (2020). Evidence of Tissue Repair in Human Donor Pancreas After Prolonged Duration of Stay in Intensive Care. Diabetes, 69, 401-412.

data analysis - case 3

Baert, Y., Ruetschle, I., Cools, W., Lorenz, A., Marx, U., Oehme, A., Goossens, E. and Maschmeyer, I. (in press). A multi-organ-chip co-culture of liver and testis equivalents: a first step toward a systemic male reprotoxicity model. Human Reproduction.

data analysis - case 4

Gilissen, J., Gastmans, C., Wendrich-van Dael, A., Cools, W., Vander Stichele, R., Deliens, L., Van den Block, L. & Pivodic, L. (accepted). Nurses’ self-efficacy, rather than their knowledge, is associated with their engagement in advance care planning in nursing homes: a survey study. Palliative Medicine.

• reports for communication
• R-code for reproducibility

tutoring

learning to do things yourself

• workshop: sample size calculation with GPower

  • introduction to reasoning on sample sizes with exercises
  • 4 times for the doctoral schools, slides available at www.icds.be

• presentation: key issues in communicating methodology and statistics

  • primarily intended for applicants WF Willy Gepts
  • documented on-line at www.icds.be

• other workshops/presentations exist at ICDS, and more are planned

  • contact the coordinator to discuss what we can offer

automation

other services

• internal reviewer: Wetenschappelijk Fonds Willy Gepts / Ethical Committee
• internal consultancy: Clinical Trial Center UZ Brussel / ICDS colleagues
• building tools for our research community (eg., shiny apps)
  • https://icds.shinyapps.io/aspending/ (algorithm by Susanne Blotwijk)
    
  • https://icds.shinyapps.io/shinyt/ and others...

supporting consultants

• mail me @ wilfried.cools@vub.be
• coordinator @ kurt.barbe@vub.be
• website @ www.icds.be
• book us @ www.icds.be/consulting/