Investigating academic veterinarians’ knowledge of biostatistics: a web-based survey

Abstract

The primary aim of our study, web-based survey, is to gain an understanding of veterinarians’ statistical knowledge and how it varies by focus area. The secondary aim is to address the following question: when should biostatistics be taught in veterinary education? A total of 155 veterinarians from 41 countries participated in this study. The results indicate that while veterinarians place an emphasis on biostatistics education, the majority state that biostatistics education should be taken both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level and the participants also believe that taking a biostatistics course is useful for their occupation. In biostatistics education, the topic of sampling, which plays a significant role at the planning stage of any study, should be considered particularly important. A biostatistics education should also emphasize the necessity of consulting to a biostatistician when planning a study

Keywords

• Biostatistics course
• biostatistics knowledge
• veterinary medicine
• web-based survey

Akademik veteriner hekimlerin biyoistatistik bilgisinin incelenmesi: web tabanlı bir araştırma

Abstract

Web-tabanlı çalışmamızın birincil amacı veteriner hekimlerin istatistik bilgisini anlamak ve istatistik bilgisinin çalışma alanlarına göre nasıl değiştiğini incelemektir. İkinci amaç şu soruya yanıt aramaktadır: Veteriner hekimliği eğitiminde biyoistatistik ne zaman öğretilmelidir? Çalışmaya 41 ülkeden 155 veteriner hekim katılmıştır. Sonuçlar veteriner hekimlerin biyoistatistik eğitimine önem verdiğini, bu eğitimin hem lisans hem lisans üstü seviyesinde verilmesi gerektiğini ayrıca biyoistatistik dersi almanın meslekleri için yararlı olduğuna inandıklarını göstermektedir. Biyoistatistik eğitiminde, çalışmaların planlama aşamasında önemli bir rol oynayan örnekleme konusu özellikle dikkate alınmalıdır. Biyoistatistik eğitiminde ayrıca bir çalışmanın planlanırken biyoistatistik uzmanına danışılmasının gerekliliği vurgulanmalıdır

Keywords

• Biyoistatistik bilgisi
• biyoistatistik dersi
• veteriner hekimlik
• web-tabanlı araştırma

References

1. Altman DG, Bland JM (1991): Improving doctors' understanding of statistics. J. R. Statist. Soc. A, 154: 223-267.
2. Bearman J (1969): The teaching of biostatistics: minimum goals for veterinary students. (Symposium on education in veterinary public health and preventive medicine) St. Paul, Minnesota, 18-22 March, 1968, pp: 43.
3. Bellamy J (1983): Coming to grips with statistics. Can J Comp Med, 47: 385.
4. Boyle CR (1999): A problem-based learning approach to teaching biostatistics. J Stat Educ., 7: 1-22.
5. Deutsch R (2002): "What sample size do I need?" ...or ... a biostatistical consultant’s role as an educator. (Proceedings of the American statistical association, section on teaching statistics in health sciences) American statistical association: alexandria, VA; 758–763.
6. Dhand N, Thomson P (2009): "Scenario-based approach for teaching biostatistics to veterinary students," next steps in statistics education. (Proceedings from the 2009 IASE satellite conference) Durban, South Africa: International association for statistics education retrieved from: https://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications/sat09/8_3. pdf (18 January 2014).
7. El Tantawi MM (2009): Factors affecting postgraduate dental students’ performance in a biostatistics and research design course. J Dent Educ., 73: 614-623.
8. Ercan I, Ocakoglu G, Ozkaya G, et al (2013): An international survey of physicians’ knowledge of biostatistics. Turkiye Klinikleri J Med Sci., 33, 401-409.

9. Ercan I, Ocakoglu G, Sigirli D, et al (2012): Assessment of submitted manuscripts in medical sciences according to statistical errors. Turkiye Klinikleri J Med Sci., 32: 1381- 1387.
10. Ercan I, Ozkaya G, Ocakoglu G, et al (2008): Determining biostatistics knowledge of students and physicians in medical school. InterStat, 2008, January, 7.
11. Ercan I, Yazici B, Yang Y, et al (2007): Misusage of statistics in medical researches, Eur J Gen Med., 4: 127-133.
12. Festing MF, Altman DG (2002): Guidelines for the design and statistical analysis of experiments using laboratory animals. ILAR J., 43: 244-258.
13. Gangadharan P (2007): "Priorities for Teaching in Agricultural Statistics and Computer Applications". (XV. National conference of agricultural research statisticians) New Delhi, India: Published by RCMU, 3-4 December, 2007, pp: 134-136.
14. Kim HL, Hollowell CM, Patel RV, et al (2000): Use of new technology in endourology and laparoscopy by American urologists: internet and postal survey. Urology, 56: 760-765.
15. Montiani-Ferreira F, Cardoso FF, Petersen-Jones S (2004): Basic concepts in statistics for veterinary ophthalmologists. Veth Ophthalmol., 7: 79-85.
16. Moskowitz E (2007): Statistics in dentistry: who needs them? NYS Dental Journal, 73: 4.
17. Ocakoglu G, Ercan I, Gunel Karadeniz P (2013): Knowledge of dentists about biostatistics: a worldwide survey. e-Journal of Dentistry, 3: 361-370.
18. Petrie A, Watson P (1999): Statistics for veterinary and animal science. Blackwell Science Ltd, Oxford, UK, pp: xi.
19. Polychronopoulou A, Eliades T, Taoufik K, et al (2011): Knowledge of european orthodontic postgraduate students on biostatistics. Eur J Orthod., 33: 434-440.
20. Russell RA, Meyer MT, Scanlon MC, et al (2013): The state of telemedicine in wisconsin. WMJ, 112: 152-153.
21. Swetz KM, Cook KE, Ottenberg AL, et al (2013): Clinicians' attitudes regarding withdrawal of left ventricular assist devices in patients approaching the end of life. Eur J Heart Fail., 15: 1262-6.
22. Yasmeen S, Romano PS, Tancredi DJ, et al (2012): Screening mammography beliefs and recommendations: a web-based survey of primary care physicians. BMC Health Serv Res., 12: 32.