Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28888225›Full record

ArticleBMC medical research methodology2017

Towards evidence-based computational statistics: lessons from clinical research on the role and design of real-data benchmark studies.

Anne-Laure Boulesteix, Rory Wilson, Alexander Hapfelmeier

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical research methodology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Anne-Laure BoulesteixInstitute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology, LMU Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, Munich, 81377, Germany. boulesteix@ibe.med.uni-muenchen.de.
Rory WilsonInstitute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology, LMU Munich, Marchioninistr. 15, Munich, 81377, Germany.
Alexander HapfelmeierInstitute of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Technical University Munich, Ismaninger Str. 22, Munich, 81675, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe goal of medical research is to develop interventions that are in some sense superior, with respect to patient outcome, to interventions currently in use. Similarly, the goal of research in methodological computational statistics is to develop data analysis tools that are themselves superior to the existing tools. The methodology of the evaluation of medical interventions continues to be discussed extensively in the literature and it is now well accepted that medicine should be at least partly "evidence-based". Although we statisticians are convinced of the importance of unbiased, well-thought-out study designs and evidence-based approaches in the context of clinical research, we tend to ignore these principles when designing our own studies for evaluating statistical methods in the context of our methodological research. MAIN MESSAGE: In this paper, we draw an analogy between clinical trials and real-data-based benchmarking experiments in methodological statistical science, with datasets playing the role of patients and methods playing the role of medical interventions. Through this analogy, we suggest directions for improvement in the design and interpretation of studies which use real data to evaluate statistical methods, in particular with respect to dataset inclusion criteria and the reduction of various forms of bias. More generally, we discuss the concept of "evidence-based" statistical research, its limitations and its impact on the design and interpretation of real-data-based benchmark experiments.

conclusionWe suggest that benchmark studies-a method of assessment of statistical methods using real-world datasets-might benefit from adopting (some) concepts from evidence-based medicine towards the goal of more evidence-based statistical research.

Indexed as

BenchmarkingBiomedical ResearchEvidence-Based MedicineStatistics as TopicAnimalsClinical Trials as TopicDatasets as TopicHumansClinical trialComparison studyGood practiceMethod evaluation

Identifiers

PMID28888225
PMCPMC5591542

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.