Does the term “p value” make you anxious when you read research articles? How high is your confidence level in interpreting research data? As librarians interact with more research through efforts with evidence-based practice and systematic reviews, they have a growing need for understanding statistics. This confidence-building course will help you be more comfortable with statistical concept for reading research findings and interpreting data.

Goals and objectives:

After participating in this webinar, you will be able to:

• Understand basic statistical terms such as standard deviation, t test, p value, and so on
• Identify test measures used in published research studies
• Interpret the data, formulas, and graphs used in the research findings

Agenda:

1. Examine sample research papers and their data analysis findings. Highlight statistical terms that will be discussed.
2. Define the statistical concepts.
3. Use interactive exercises to verify understanding. For example, to examine different research studies and decide which test measure was used.
4. Reexamine the research papers and data to further reinforce the concept.

Presenter

Jin Wu is an emerging technologies librarian at the University of Southern California (USC) Norris Medical Library. In this role, she tracks, investigates, and uses data proactively to address emerging trends that improve library services and promote library resources. Wu has extensive experience using various tools to gather and apply user information to make data-driven strategy and planning decisions. She has taught MLA continuing education courses on statistics and data analysis a few times in the past years. The classes were well attended and scored very well on evaluations. Wu is active in professional organizations and has given multiple presentations at national and local conferences. She is also a master’s of business administration candidate at USC Marshall School of Business.

For additional information: http://www.mlanet.org/blog/getting-started-with-statistics-for-librarians