lunes, 27 de enero de 2014

Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis : The Lancet

Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis : The Lancet



The Lancet, Volume 383, Issue 9912, Pages 166 - 175, 11 January 2014
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62227-8Cite or Link Using DOI
Published Online: 08 January 2014

Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis

Prof John P A Ioannidis MD a c f g Corresponding AuthorEmail AddressProf Sander Greenland DrPH hProf Mark A Hlatky MD b dMuin J Khoury MD i jProfMalcolm R Macleod PhD kProf David Moher PhD l mProf Kenneth F Schulz PhD n oProf Robert Tibshirani PhD e f

Summary

Correctable weaknesses in the design, conduct, and analysis of biomedical and public health research studies can produce misleading results and waste valuable resources. Small effects can be difficult to distinguish from bias introduced by study design and analyses. An absence of detailed written protocols and poor documentation of research is common. Information obtained might not be useful or important, and statistical precision or power is often too low or used in a misleading way. Insufficient consideration might be given to both previous and continuing studies. Arbitrary choice of analyses and an overemphasis on random extremes might affect the reported findings. Several problems relate to the research workforce, including failure to involve experienced statisticians and methodologists, failure to train clinical researchers and laboratory scientists in research methods and design, and the involvement of stakeholders with conflicts of interest. Inadequate emphasis is placed on recording of research decisions and on reproducibility of research. Finally, reward systems incentivise quantity more than quality, and novelty more than reliability. We propose potential solutions for these problems, including improvements in protocols and documentation, consideration of evidence from studies in progress, standardisation of research efforts, optimisation and training of an experienced and non-conflicted scientific workforce, and reconsideration of scientific reward systems.

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