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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Confidentiality vs. Anonymity



In the data collection process, when researchers are trying to obtain information from survey participants, they frequently indicate that the survey will be conducted anonymously or confidentially.  There are distinct differences between the two terms and the researcher should be clear on the meaning of each, as they are very important for the protection of the participant.  It is also important to remember that a study, with only one data collection method, cannot be both confidential and anonymous.  Research participants should be informed beforehand of the type of data collection that will take place.  They should also be informed of how long the data will be stored, where the data will be stored, and how it will be destroyed after an appropriate amount of time. 

When data is collected and held anonymously, it indicates that there are no identifying values that can link the information to the participant; not even the researcher could identify a specific participant.  Online survey tools are typically conducted anonymously, however, the researcher needs to be certain the IP address is not stored.  The researcher also needs to keep in mind that too many identifying demographic variables could hinder the anonymity of the participants.  In an anonymous study, the researcher needs to indicate how the participants will be kept anonymous.  Be certain to include that no participants will be identified.  It is also helpful to let the participant know that data will be analyzed at the group level.

When data is collected and held confidentially, the researcher can identify the subjects.  One way of identifying the subjects is to assign and identifying number or code to each participant.  Additionally, any survey that takes place in face to face environment is automatically labeled as confidential, as the researcher will know who provided the data.  When data is collected confidentially, the information needs to be kept in a secure environment because the participants are identifiable.  And similarly to anonymous data collection, it is also helpful to let the participant know that data will be analyzed at the group level in order to de-identify participants.  Identifying numbers will not be presented in the results of the analyses. 

Friday, March 8, 2013

Odds Ratio


  • Odds Ratio (OR) measures the association between an outcome and a treatment/exposure.  Or in other words, a comparison of an outcome given two different groups (exposure vs. absence of exposure).

  • OR is a comparison of two odds: the odds of an outcome occurring given a treatment compared to the odds of the outcome occurring without the treatment.
  • Odds represent the probability of an event occurring divided by the probability of an event not occurring.

  • Although related, probability and odds are not the same. Probability values can only range from 0 to 1 (0% to 100%), whereas odds can take on any value. 

  • An OR value of 1 indicates no effect on the odds from the exposure to the outcome; of OR values less than 1 indicate that lower odds of the outcome are attributed by the exposure; and of OR values greater than 1 indicated that higher odds of the outcome are attributed by the exposure.

  • OR can be used to assess if a particular treatment is considered a ‘risk factor’ for a particular outcome.

  • To calculate OR, the frequencies of two dichotomous variables are required.

  • For example: a study consist 263 participants, where the aim of the study is to assess the OR of having the flu virus given the presence of a diet pill.  

o   The two dichotomous variables to be examined are flu virus (yes vs. no) and diet pill consumption (takes regularly vs. does not take regularly). 
o   Of the 100 participants: 45 participants have the flu virus and regularly consume diet pills, 86 participants have the flu virus and do not take diet pills regularly, 32 participants do not have the flu virus and take diet pills regularly, and 100 participants do not have the flu virus and do not take diet pills regularly.
o   To calculate the OR, we make sure the numerator and denominator are in the correct location:

      • the numerator of the ratio is the number of participants who have the flu and take diet pills regularly (45) divided by the number of participants who do not have the flu virus and take diet pills regularly (32); and
      • the denominator of the ratio is the number of participants who have the flu and do not take diet pills regularly (86) divided by the number of participants who do not have the flu and do not take diet pills regularly (100).
      • OR = (45/32) / (86/100) = 1.63

o   Thus, the odds of having the flu are 1.63 higher given the regular consumption of diet pills compared to not taking diet pills regularly.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Dissertation Help

If you are a student writing a dissertation, it is only natural for you to need help as you write your dissertation. In fact, students who seek dissertation help finish on-time and with success, while students who do not seek dissertation help are left to flounder as they continually make mistakes and must start all over again.

Statistics Solutions is the country's leader in dissertation help and dissertation statistics. Contact Statistics Solutions today for a free 30-minute consultation.

Dissertation help is the best way to ensure graduating on-time and with success. Dissertation help provides all of the tools and information you need to do proper research, accurate analysis, and valid statistical procedures.

Dissertation help is provided by trained professionals who are trained in both dissertations and in statistics. Most people who provide dissertation help have themselves acquired their PhD, and they therefore know what a student goes through when he or she must complete the lengthy and difficult dissertation. The people who provide dissertation help know that the dissertation is the most stressful project that a student must complete. The people who provide dissertation help also know that it is imperative that the student finish on-time so that they do not have to delay their future careers.

In fact, one of the biggest disappointments to most students who are working on their dissertations is that they are behind schedule. This is by no means something new, as many students end up finishing their dissertation behind schedule. And while this is to be expected because the dissertation is such a lengthy, difficult and complicated project, it does not have to be this way! Dissertation help provided by dissertation consultants can save all students much time and energy as dissertation help can ensure that the student is always progressing in the right direction. Dissertation help will go over every single aspect of the dissertation with the student and dissertation help will make sure that the student does not make the typical mistakes. Mistakes can lead to having to start things over, and dissertation help will ensure that the student does not make those mistakes.

Dissertation help can be sought at the beginning, middle or end of a dissertation. Thus, any student can benefit from dissertation help. So, if you are just starting your project and you don’t know where to begin, dissertation help is for you. Dissertation help can even help you narrow down your topic—something that might seem easy, but in reality is quite difficult. Dissertation help will also help the student who is just beginning his or her dissertation as dissertation help will assist that student as he or she does the dissertation research. The dissertation research is important because all dissertations must provide new information to the field or discipline, and the research will let the student know if his or her topic has been studied before. The dissertation research is done mainly at the beginning of a project and because it is so important to do extensive dissertation research, dissertation research can be very time consuming. But not so with the guidance of dissertation help. With dissertation help assisting a student at the beginning of a project, that student will save much valuable time and energy.

And while dissertation help is most useful at the very beginning (because the more help a student receives from dissertation help, the easier it is to complete the dissertation), dissertation help can also be just as useful throughout the dissertation process. So, if you are stuck on the statistical part of your dissertation, dissertation help is also for you. Dissertation help can make statistics easy to manage and understandable, and most importantly, dissertation help will instruct you when it comes to statistics. You will therefore know what you need to know concerning statistics and this will help you in the oral defense of your dissertation.

No matter where you are in your dissertation, dissertation help can assist you and guarantee that you finish on time and with success. The best thing you can do if you are writing a dissertation is to seek the guidance of dissertation help.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

APA Citation

A simple search on the internet will yield thousands of entries about APA citation. This is because there are indeed hundreds and thousands of web-sites all touting valuable information about APA citation. The problem with most of these APA citation sites is that the APA citation help they offer only gives “quick-fix” solutions to APA citation.

Statistics Solutions is the country's leader in APA Citation and dissertation statistics. Contact Statistics Solutions today for a free 30-minute consultation.

APA citation stands for the American Psychological Association and it is a way of formatting everything in a dissertation or science related paper. APA citation is not necessarily hard, but APA citation has hundreds and hundreds of rules that govern how everything should be done within a paper. This includes the way that charts and graphs are formatted, the way that the table of contents is laid out, the documentation of statistics, the citing of sources, and on and on. APA citation, then, must be carefully followed if a dissertation is going to be approved and accepted.

One of the most difficult parts of APA citation is simply having the time, energy and patience to look-up everything that needs to be followed if a paper or dissertation is to have proper APA citation. Most students, however, worry about APA citation at the very end of their dissertation, when they are simply wishing for the entire dissertation to be complete. At this point, it is very difficult for that student to have the tolerance necessary to go back over every aspect of the dissertation and record and format it in proper APA citation. Further, this is when the student goes on-line and must navigate through hundreds and thousands of APA citation web-sites that he/she hopes will give him/her the exact formatting for his/her exact problem and dissertation. It is certainly easy for a student to be in this predicament, for who wants to worry about the inconvenient hassles of what seems to be “nit-picky” details that do not actually affect the data or research or conclusions?

This is exactly where consultants can come in, however, as consultants – and more specifically dissertation or statistics consultants— have immense knowledge of APA citation and they can quickly convert every aspect of the dissertation into proper APA citation. There is no shame in seeking help in APA citation as APA citation is not often taught to most students who need it most. If it is taught, it is simply explained as far as the very basics, and the rest is left to the student to research and figure out. Because there are so many rules governing APA citation, and because students are strapped for time as it is, there is little wonder why students seek help with their APA citation.

A good analogy for APA citation help would be to compare it to an editor. All authors have editors, and these editors “clean-up” whatever it is the author writes. The editor then sends it back to the author who agrees with the changes. APA citation help also “cleans-up” what the student has written, calculated and observed and it standardizes all of the results as every dissertation is written with APA citation.

Consultants can do more than simple APA citation help. Good dissertation consultants can guide students every single step of the way—offering them help and guidance for every single part of their dissertation. It is up to the student, however, to decide what kind of help they are looking for. If a student is simply looking for help on APA citation, that is readily available by consultants who specialize in APA citation. Additionally, they have up-to-date information about all of the current changes to APA citation. If a student needs more help than simple APA citation help, that too is available. In other words, whatever help the student seeks, be it APA citation help in the closing stages of their dissertation or dissertation guidance from the very beginning, dissertation consultants can ensure that the student seeking his/her doctoral degree is successful.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What is dissertation research?

What is dissertation research?

Dissertation research is the research that must be completed by every single doctoral degree seeking student before he or she begins serious work on the dissertation.

Statistics Solutions is the country's leader in dissertation consulting. Contact Statistics Solutions today fora free 30-minute consultation.

Why do I need to perform dissertation research?

Each and every single dissertation writing student needs to perform exhaustive and comprehensive dissertation research because dissertation research serves many purposes. First, dissertation research provides you with more information about what it is you are about to study and what it is you are about to invest months and months (if not years and years) of your time into. Dissertation research also allows you to see if the subject or topic that you are studying has been studied before. All students who are working on their dissertation and writing their dissertations must choose a topic that has not been studied before because all dissertation writing students are responsible for contributing something to the field in which they are studying. Dissertation research will be the proof you need to prove that you are choosing a topic that indeed has not been studied before.

Finally dissertation research allows you to make changes to your topic of study depending on what you find in your dissertation research.

Can I get help on my dissertation research?

Yes, you can get help on your dissertation research. Because dissertation research needs to be so extensive and comprehensive, it is important to do it correctly. And there are also ways that you need to document your dissertation research. And because dissertation research needs to be documented properly and because dissertation research needs to be so extensive, it is important to do it correctly the first time. A dissertation consultant can help you as you perform your dissertation research and a dissertation consultant can push you in the right direction when it comes to documenting your dissertation research. There is no substitute to good dissertation research and a dissertation consultant can make sure that you do the dissertation research correctly from the very beginning.

Is a dissertation consultant expensive?

No, it is not expensive to hire a dissertation consultant. A dissertation consultant is extremely cost effective because a dissertation consultant can offer you help when you need it. And even on the dissertation research that needs to be completed and documented before you begin to gather statistics and before you begin to gather data, a dissertation consultant can prove to be invaluable because a dissertation consultant can show you how to do dissertation research without spending months and months on collecting dissertation research. Additionally, a dissertation consultant can also show you how to document that dissertation research properly. It is very important to properly document the dissertation research because that will play a part in your final dissertation. Dissertation research needs to be properly documented if your dissertation is to be approved and accepted.

There is no better way to make sure that you perform adequate dissertation research than to hire the help of a dissertation consultant to help you every single step of the way. And not only will a dissertation consultant help you on the dissertation research, he or she will also help you until your dissertation has been both accepted and approved.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Dissertation Help

Dissertation help comes in many forms—it can come from a doctoral student’s advisor, it can come from peers and it can come from the internet. And while all of these means of getting help can be successful for the doctoral student, the absolute best form of dissertation help comes from dissertation consultants.

Statistics Solutions is the country's leader in dissertation help. Contact Statistics Solutions today for a free 30-minute consultation.

Dissertation consultants are experts at providing dissertation help and the dissertation help that dissertation consultants can provide is unmatched. The reason why the dissertation help that a dissertation consultant can provide is unmatched is because dissertation help from dissertation consultants is tested and true. Dissertation help from dissertation consultants provide unmatched service and dissertation help because dissertation consultants are experts and are trained to provide expert dissertation help. And when getting dissertation help, why not seek experts to assist you?

Dissertation help provided by dissertation consultants has gained momentum in the last ten years because of the internet. Doctoral students no longer have to be dependent solely on their doctoral advisors. Rather, doctoral students can seek dissertation help from experts remotely. In other words, dissertation help can come from all over because the internet has made this possible.

Clearly, then, a student should turn to professionals if he or she needs dissertation help.

So what kind of dissertation help can dissertation consultants provide? The answer to this is quite simple—dissertation consultants providing dissertation help can assist the student on every single aspect of the dissertation. Thus, if a student is struggling at the very beginning—at the choosing of a topic—dissertation help can step in and inform the student when it comes to the choosing of a topic. And once that student has chosen a topic, dissertation help can help the student phrase that topic so that it makes sense statistically and so that the student gets the “go ahead” to carry on with the project. And, of course, dissertation help can provide much assistance to the student as he or she performs dissertation research. Dissertation research must be extremely exhaustive and comprehensive, but with dissertation help, this is not difficult to do. Further, dissertation help can make sure that the doctoral student is documenting the dissertation research properly. Once the dissertation research is completed, dissertation help can assist the student as he or she writes the proposal of the dissertation—something that can be incredibly time consuming if the doctoral student is working alone. And once that dissertation proposal is accepted, dissertation help can provide unparalleled assistance on the dissertation statistics—the area where most doctoral degree seeking student struggle. With dissertation help, however, doctoral degree students will not struggle because the dissertation help will be there assisting the students and instructing the students when it comes to every single statistical procedure that is involved in the dissertation.

Clearly, then, dissertation help can assist the student as he or she tackles the long and frustrating dissertation. And there is no downside to getting help—just like in the real world where there is no downside to getting help when one struggles with something. Most importantly, dissertation help will instruct and educate the doctoral student so that he or she will be able to understand statistics and will be able to use those skills later in life. And, of course, understanding the statistical procedures of the dissertation will also be necessary for the student when he or she must orally defend the dissertation and the dissertation statistics at the very end of the project. With dissertation help, the doctoral student will ensure that he or she finishes the complicated dissertation with relative ease and with much success.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Dissertation Statistics Services

The fastest way for a doctoral degree seeking student to expedite the process of writing and working on a dissertation is to seek the help of dissertation statistics services. Thousands and thousands of doctoral students have had help from dissertation statistics services and these students have benefited greatly from these dissertation statistics services. In fact, students who have the help of dissertation statistics services are guaranteed to finish on-time and with much success.

Statistics Solutions is the country's leader in dissertation statistics services. Contact Statistics Solutions today for a free 30-minute consultation.

Dissertation statistics services are services provided to help any doctoral student. Dissertation statistics services, in fact, are in business to make the dissertation easier on the student. Now, it is very important to note that dissertation statistics services to not do the work for the student. Rather, dissertation statistics services merely provide the student with everything he or she will need throughout the dissertation process. These tools provided by dissertation statistics services are incredibly useful because these tools will be the difference between the student struggling the entire time and the student feeling confident that they are continually moving in the right direction. Dissertation statistics services, then, make the entire dissertation writing process much more manageable for the doctoral student.

One such way that dissertation statistics services makes the dissertation writing process much more manageable is to help the student come up with a timeline in the very beginning of the dissertation project. This very specific timeline that is produced by both the doctoral student and the dissertation statistics services is incredibly helpful to the student because many students do not know how to organize their time when it comes to such a lengthy and difficult project. With dissertation statistics services and the timeline that they help create, however, this will not happen and the student can be certain to finish the dissertation and all of the statistical procedures within the dissertation on time and in a timely manner.

Another area where dissertation statistics services prove to be so helpful is in the statistical procedures of the dissertation. It is here where most doctoral degree seeking students have trouble for the statistics of a dissertation can be incredibly difficult to complete. This is especially true for students who have never before worked on a dissertation or a project of such magnitude. Dissertation statistics services can help these “first timers” and the statistical procedures and analyses will be much easier to get through with the help of dissertation statistics services.

More specifically, dissertation statistics services can provide individual help to all dissertation writing students throughout the statistical portions of the dissertation. For example, dissertation statistics services can provide help to students as they gather the data necessary for the statistical analyses. While it might seem simple to gather data, this is actually not the case. In gathering data, doctoral students need to be very careful of several things. For one, bias can creep into the gathering of data process if a doctoral student is not careful. Additionally, it is very important that a student use the correct sample size when gathering data and in order to use the correct sample size, the doctoral student must be very familiar with the laws and methodologies of statistics and sample size justification. Dissertation statistics services can make this easy, however, as dissertation statistics services can explain all of these things to the student. And this explanation is key to the student actually understanding the concepts of statistics. Thus, with the help of dissertation statistics services, the student will not only finish on time and with success, but the doctoral student will also have a working concept of statistics because dissertation statistics services will take the time to instruct the student along the way. And what could be more valuable than that?