Statistical Thinking
29 January 2024
General context
The course mission is to help researchers to see statistics as an intrinsic part of research. Not as a tool that provides standard output when given an input, but a mean to help integrate their knowledge to allow them making objective decisions.
To achieve this, we should get rid of deeply embedded misconceptions about some common statistical tools and replace them by a more intelligent and flexible use of statistics based on understanding of the important principles.
A selection of important topics will be covered in dialogue with the course takers.
Researchers and research managers interested in improving their research by applying important statistical principles that go beyond applying standard tools without understanding them.
- This course if free for VIB participants
- Non-VIB participants pay a fee of €100
- This course is not open for industry
- Note that upon no-show without valid justification you will be blacklisted for the VIB training program for 1 year and a fee of €100 will be charged. Click here for more information
This course made me think more critically about how we use p-values in science and how we need to be careful with those. I really liked that there was room for questions, which were also answered extensively.
Participant edition spring 2021
Considering that I did not have any theoretical statistical training before, I think that this course came in just handy for me because it introduced me into the general and logical aspects of statistics and set me on a track that I consider right before I actually start to learn the theoretical part. I think I will have an easier time, keeping in mind what we have been taught during this training.
Participant edition spring 2022
Trainers
Joris De Wolf
Joris De Wolf has a long track record in biostatistics. He worked at Crop-Design, later BASF, as team leader of the biostatistics group. He was involved in the experimental design and start-up of the high-throughput phenotyping system TraitMill, design of the databases and streamlining of statistical analyses. Furthermore, he was responsible for the field testing pipeline and statistics on transgenic yield improvement. In 2016, he joined GSK vaccines. Currently he works full time as a biostatistics consultant.
Program
- Introduction
- Case studies to make clear that simple application of statistics lead to problems
- Discussion in subgroups
- Plenary discussion
- Place of statistics in research
- Intelligent experimental design
- Getting the context clear
- Getting the research question clear
- Deriving a design from that question
- Case studies on reading and displaying results
- Discussion in subgroups
- Plenary discussion
- More than only data: combining expert knowledge and statistics
- Models
- Interpretation
- Conveying the message
- Recap and putting things in the bigger context again
- Closure
Practical info
29 January 2024
Leuven - Park Inn by Radisson
Martelarenlaan 36
3010 Leuven
Belgium
29 January 2024
Leuven - Park Inn by Radisson
The hotel is located 300m from Leuven Central Station. The hotel connects to Leuven Central Station by a pedestrian bridge.
29 January 2024
Leuven - Park Inn by Radisson
Park Inn hotel has no own parking. It is possible to park underground in P1-Parking Station Leuven, Martelarenlaan 4, 3010 Leuven or in parking De Bond, Martelarenlaan 18, 3010 Leuven.
29 January 2024
Leuven - Park Inn by Radisson
+32 16 61 66 02
sales.leuven@parkinn.com