Having submitted my doctoral thesis at last, I finally began getting around to all the things that need updating. The first cab off the rank is Open Badges Redux: A Few Years On, How's the Evidence Looking?
I ended the year with a wrap-up of a year in peer review research: 5 Things We Learned About Peer Review in 2019.
The “Oh, the Things We Could Know!” cartoon was a good way to open a new year for science: it pays homage to the glorious Dr. Seuss’ book –
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
People had a lot to say about systematic reviews this month, and I had things to say about what they said. So it was all systematic reviews, with zombies and Goldilocks – but not in the same blog post!
First up: The Power of Zombie Statistics: Systematic Review Edition and then,
The Systematic Review is Dead! Long Live [insert preferred sweeping claim]!
New development in a continuing saga, It's a Start: The Amended Version of the Cochrane Review on Exercise and CFS. This latest installment is the outcome of consumer criticisms starting in 2015, and there's still a major overhaul/update to come. So it won't be over any time soon.
And more news, this time about search engines and systematic reviewing.
Tweets about a thought-provoking conference presentation about Google Scholar led to some pleasant surprises. Here's my post at Absolutely Maybe: Google Scholar Risks and Alternatives.
And a new trial made this question worth a look: Am I Going to Need a Smaller Plate? In Which I Juggle a New Weight Loss Trial & Old Systematic Reviews.
From June to August, there was a bunch of studies on a subject that doesn't get enough attention - and it gave me the opportunity to wheel out two of my favorite old cartoons! One's below. The post: A Double Whammy of Non-Good News About Non-Inferiority Trials.
A new foundation was announced with some fanfare, with the goal of reversing the dwindling number of physician-scientists in the US - and concerned with increasing diversity, too. Sounds ok, but ... My first post for the month at Absolutely Maybe: Is Gender Bias the Elephant in the "Endangered Physician-Scientist" Room?