Upcoming Events

Description:

This Workshop will explore: the knowledge and skills required to conduct and report on clinical trials; the training, mentoring and support needed through the process; and the expertise required of supervisors/mentors to effectively impart research skills, and to support students of varying backgrounds and capacities.

Topics to be covered include: Developing Research Questions for RCTs; Trial Design; Sample Size Estimation for RCTs; Measurement / Endpoints in RCTs; Collecting and Managing RCT Data; and The Dreaded Statistics.

Description:

This Workshop will explore: missing data and the ways in which they arise; patterns and mechanisms of missing data; biases and loss of power introduced by missing data; techniques to compensate for missing data; and “missingness” in “sensitive” questions, demonstrated with an example from a real dataset.

Topics to be covered include: Missing Data Mechanisms; Biases and Loss of Power in Analysis; Multiple Imputation; Maximum Likelihood within Structural Equation Modelling; and Sensitive Questions in Surveys.

Digital Behaviour Change Interventions (DBCIs) refer to the incorporation and delivery of behaviour change techniques via a digital technology, such as a smart phone application, text messaging programmes, or web-based interventions, to improve health or well-being outcomes in a given context.

DBCIs are increasingly popular as they overcome many of the traditional obstacles experienced in population health research and enable expedient, person-centred care. In conjunction with the HRB TMRN and the eHealth Research and Innovation Network (ERIN), the aim of this workshop is to provide practical guidance, from international DBCI experts, about methodological considerations when conducting randomised trials.

Target audience 

This event will be of interest to researchers, healthcare practitioners, health organization representatives and technologists currently conducting or considering a digital behaviour change intervention.

The provisional timetable is as follows:

9.30am- 10.00am         Registration

10:00am-10.05am        Welcome address

10.05am-11.15am         Dr Marta Marques (Title of talk TBC)

11.15am-11.25am          Break

11.25am-12.15pm          Professor Tomas Ward (Title of talk TBC)

12.15pm-12.25pm          Break

12.25pm-1:30pm           Short presentations: Reflections on conducting DBCIs in randomised trials (Chair, Dr Brian Slattery)

1.30pm-2.30pm             Lunch and networking

2.30pm                            Event close

This training event will provide an overview of, and practical introduction to, using Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) to inform topics pertaining to clinical trial methodology. For example, matters including patient relevant trial outcomes (including non-health outcomes), trial recruitment, participation and retention can be examined using the DCE methodology. DCEs are a quantitative technique that can be used to quantify patient preferences regarding trial outcomes and participation. By conducting a DCE at an early stage in the clinical trial design, it can help ensure that the primary outcome of the trial is relevant to the patient, along with informing issues such as trial recruitment/retention.

This training event is suitable for researchers, health professionals and policy makers with an interest in clinical trial methodologies, patient preferences in clinical trials, public patient involvement in clinical trials, health economics and trials. Attendees will learn about what DCEs are, how DCEs can be used in trial methodology, current best practice, and the importance of incorporating patient involvement in clinical trial design.

QUESTS and the HRB-TMRN are delighted to bring “Working Qualitatively in Trial and Healthcare Methodology Research” to NUI Galway on 30-31 May 2019.

Over two days (08.30-17:00 30 May & 8:30-14:00 31st May), workshops will be facilitated by local and internationally-known experts with workshops focusing on:

• Rigour in qualitative research in trials
• Qualitative data analysis
• Mixed methods research
• Grant writing and publishing for impact
• How to be more effective, successful, and happy as a student, academic, or researcher

Featuring international workshop presenters: Alex Clark, Professor & Associate Vice-President (Research), and Bailey Sousa, Director, International Institute for Qualitative Methodology (IIQM), University of Alberta – Co-authors of “How to be a Happy Academic” (SAGE Publishing, London: 2018)

More information and registration can be found at https://effectiveacademic.regfox.com/galway2019.