Median Watch

Eyes on statistics

Goodbye to all that

Today I end my two year stint as president of the Statistical Society of Australia. As I press “submit” on my presidency, here’s a hodge-podge of reflections. I was delighted to be president, and I will miss being able to say, “I’m the president of the Stats Society”. Statistics has given me an incredible career and I feel I owe something back. It might sound strange to feel a debt to a thing, but statistics is a big thing.

Posted by Adrian Barnett Thursday, July 23, 2020

When should I quit research? An evidence-based approach

Re-posted from the AusHSI blog (8 May 2015). After yet another failed fellowship application I considered if I should leave research. I now have seven fellowship failures and no successes, and that seems like a lot. Success rates for grants are nose-diving and even the former head of the NHMRC says that researchers should be considering other careers (pay-walled). I’ve spent a lot of time running research projects for no money, but working for no money is a luxury I can’t afford.

Posted by Adrian Barnett Friday, July 17, 2020

I did the dishes.

My daughter loves a song by Parry Gripp called “I did the dishes”. The chorus is “I did the dishes, I’m a hero.” I can’t work out if the song is trying to encourage kids to do the dishes, or if it’s making fun of people who think their housework is heroic, or a bit of both. “Plates, done! Bowls, done! Gravy boat, done!” I helped some people, I’m a hero Here’s a screenshot of some my colleagues who I’ve helped with their statistics.

Posted by Adrian Barnett Monday, June 8, 2020

Working Weekends and Late Nights

Re-posted from the March 2020 issue of Advocate. The smell of pool chlorine reminds us of work. Both of us admit to doing emails while sitting at the local pool waiting for the kids to finish their lessons, as well as at cafés, on airplanes, waiting in queues. At least one of us does the odd email or two from the bathroom. We are academics and therefore work anywhere, anytime (maybe most of the time?

Posted by Inger Mewburn & Adrian Barnett Wednesday, May 20, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis is amplifying shortcomings in health and medical research.

Re-posted from Campus Morning Mail. Poor quality medical research is nothing new. A major cause is the race to be published first, which means researchers do not adequately check their work. The COVID-19 crisis has put an already pressured system under even more strain, and the cracks are clearly visible. Small studies have been used to justify massive changes in clinical practice, such as the early results on Hydroxychloroquine, which have looked less promising as more work is published.

Posted by Adrian Barnett Wednesday, April 29, 2020