scholarly journals A failure to replicate the effect of visual symmetry on subjective duration

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexis D.J. Makin ◽  
Afzal Rahman ◽  
Marco Bertamini
Keyword(s):  
Time Perception ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Subjective Duration ◽  
Null Result ◽  
Actual Duration ◽  
Ceiling Effects ◽  
The Uk ◽  
File Drawer

AbstractPrevious work has shown that symmetrical or regular stimuli are judged as lasting longer than asymmetrical or irregular ones, even when actual duration is matched. This effect has been replicated with different methods and stimuli types, both in the UK and Japan. We aimed to a) replicate the effect of symmetry on subjective duration, and b) assess whether it was further modulated by the number of symmetrical axes. There was no evidence for either effect. This null result cannot be explained by reduced statistical power or enhanced floor or ceiling effects. There is no obvious stimulus-based explanation either. However, we are mindful of the reproducibility crisis and file drawer problems in psychology. Other symmetry and time perception researchers should be aware of this null result.

scholarly journals No effect of multi-axis dot pattern symmetry on subjective duration

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0238554
Author(s):  
Alexis David James Makin ◽  
Afzal Rahman ◽  
Marco Bertamini
Keyword(s):  
Time Perception ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Subjective Duration ◽  
Null Result ◽  
Actual Duration ◽  
Ceiling Effects ◽  
File Drawer

Previous work has shown that symmetrical stimuli are judged as lasting longer than asymmetrical ones, even when actual duration is matched. This effect has been replicated with different methods and stimuli types. We aimed to a) replicate the effect of symmetry on subjective duration, and b) assess whether it was further modulated by the number of symmetrical axes. There was no evidence for either effect. This null result cannot be explained by reduced statistical power or enhanced floor or ceiling effects. There is no obvious stimulus-based explanation either. However, we are mindful of the reproducibility crisis and file drawer problems in psychology. Other symmetry and time perception researchers should be aware of this null result. One possibility is that the effect of symmetry on subjective duration is limited to very specific experimental paradigms.

scholarly journals Estimating the effective sample size in association studies of quantitative traits

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Ziyatdinov ◽  
Jihye Kim ◽  
Dmitry Prokopenko ◽  
Florian Privé ◽  
Fabien Laporte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Quantitative Traits ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Association Studies ◽  
Effective Sample Size ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Gene Environment Interaction ◽  
Gene Environment ◽  
The Uk

Abstract The effective sample size (ESS) is a metric used to summarize in a single term the amount of correlation in a sample. It is of particular interest when predicting the statistical power of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) based on linear mixed models. Here, we introduce an analytical form of the ESS for mixed-model GWAS of quantitative traits and relate it to empirical estimators recently proposed. Using our framework, we derived approximations of the ESS for analyses of related and unrelated samples and for both marginal genetic and gene-environment interaction tests. We conducted simulations to validate our approximations and to provide a quantitative perspective on the statistical power of various scenarios, including power loss due to family relatedness and power gains due to conditioning on the polygenic signal. Our analyses also demonstrate that the power of gene-environment interaction GWAS in related individuals strongly depends on the family structure and exposure distribution. Finally, we performed a series of mixed-model GWAS on data from the UK Biobank and confirmed the simulation results. We notably found that the expected power drop due to family relatedness in the UK Biobank is negligible.

scholarly journals The PROMIS of Better Outcome Assessment: Responsiveness, Floor and Ceiling Effects, and Internet Administration

2011 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 1759-1764 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES FRIES ◽  
MATTHIAS ROSE ◽  
ESWAR KRISHNAN
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Computerized Adaptive Testing ◽  
Patient Reported Outcome ◽  
Measurement Information ◽  
Sf 36 ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
Ceiling Effects ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
One Year ◽  
Longitudinal Examination

Objective.Use of item response theory (IRT) and, subsequently, computerized adaptive testing (CAT), under the umbrella of the NIH-PROMIS initiative (National Institutes of Health – Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System), to bring strong new assets to the development of more sensitive, more widely applicable, and more efficiently administered patient-reported outcome (PRO) instruments. We present data on current progress in 3 crucial areas: floor and ceiling effects, responsiveness to change, and interactive computer-based administration over the Internet.Methods.We examined nearly 1000 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and related diseases in a series of studies including a one-year longitudinal examination of detection of change; compared responsiveness of the Legacy SF-36 and HAQ-DI instruments with IRT-based instruments; performed a randomized head-to-head trial of 4 modes of item administration; and simulated the effect of lack of floor and ceiling items upon statistical power and sample sizes.Results.IRT-based PROMIS instruments are more sensitive to change, resulting in the potential to reduce sample size requirements substantially by up to a factor of 4. The modes of administration tested did not differ from each other in any instance by more than one-tenth of a standard deviation. Floor and ceiling effects greatly reduce the number of available subjects, particularly at the ceiling.Conclusion.Failure to adequately address floor and ceiling effects, which determine the range of an instrument, can result in suboptimal assessment of many patients. Improved items, improved instruments, and computer-based administration improve PRO assessment and represent a fundamental advance in clinical outcomes research.

scholarly journals Examining publication bias – A simulation-based evaluation of statistical tests on publication bias

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Schneck
Keyword(s):  
Publication Bias ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Scientific Misconduct ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Research Problems ◽  
Repeated Analysis ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Effect Heterogeneity ◽  
File Drawer

Background Publication bias is a form of scientific misconduct. It threatens the validity of research results and the credibility of science. Although several tests on publication bias exist, no in-depth evaluations are available that suggest which test to use for the specific research problem. Methods In the study at hand four tests on publication bias, Egger’s test (FAT), p-uniform, the test of excess significance (TES), as well as the caliper test, were evaluated in a Monte Carlo simulation. Two different types of publication bias, as well as its degree (0%, 50%, 100%), were simulated. The type of publication bias was defined either as file-drawer, meaning the repeated analysis of new datasets, or p-hacking, meaning the inclusion of covariates in order to obtain a significant result. In addition, the underlying effect (β = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5), effect heterogeneity, and the number of observations in the simulated primary studies (N =100, 500), as well as in the number of observations for the publication bias tests (K =100, 1000), were varied. Results All tests evaluated were able to identify publication bias both in the file-drawer and p-hacking condition. The false positive rates were, with the exception of the 15%- and 20%-caliper test, unbiased. The FAT had the largest statistical power in the file-drawer conditions, whereas under p-hacking the TES was, except under effect heterogeneity, slightly better. The caliper test was, however, inferior to the other tests under effect homogeneity and had a decent statistical power only in conditions with 1000 primary studies. Discussion The FAT is recommended as a test for publication bias in standard meta-analyses with no or only small effect heterogeneity. If no clear direction of publication bias is suspected the TES is the first alternative to the FAT. The 5%-caliper tests is recommended under conditions of effect heterogeneity, which may be found if publication bias is examined in a discipline-wide setting when primary studies cover different research problems.

scholarly journals The Role of Trust in the Social Heuristics Hypothesis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Montealegre ◽  
William Jimenez-Leal
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Open Science ◽  
Equivalence Testing ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Online Study ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Null Result ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science Framework

According to the social heuristics hypothesis, people intuitively cooperate or defect depending on which behavior is beneficial in their interactions. If cooperation is beneficial, people intuitively cooperate, but if defection is beneficial, they intuitively defect. However, deliberation promotes defection. Here, we tested two novel predictions regarding the role of trust in the social heuristics hypothesis. First, whether trust promotes intuitive cooperation. Second, whether preferring to think intuitively or deliberatively moderates the effect of trust on cooperation. In addition, we examined whether deciding intuitively promotes cooperation, compared to deciding deliberatively. To evaluate these predictions, we conducted a lab study in Colombia and an online study in the United Kingdom (N = 1,066; one study was pre-registered). Unexpectedly, higher trust failed to promote intuitive cooperation, though higher trust promoted cooperation. In addition, preferring to think intuitively or deliberatively failed to moderate the effect of trust on cooperation, although preferring to think intuitively increased cooperation. Moreover, deciding intuitively failed to promote cooperation, and equivalence testing confirmed that this null result was explained by the absence of an effect, rather than a lack of statistical power (equivalence bounds: d = -0.26 and 0.26). An intuitive cooperation effect emerged when non-compliant participants were excluded, but this effect could be due to selection biases. Taken together, most results failed to support the social heuristics hypothesis. We conclude by discussing implications, future directions, and limitations. The materials, data, and code are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/939jv/).

scholarly journals Statistics education in undergraduate psychology: A survey of UK course content

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
. TARG Meta-Research Group
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Statistics Education ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Reproducible Research ◽  
Frequentist Statistics ◽  
Course Syllabi ◽  
Psychology Courses ◽  
Undergraduate Psychology ◽  
The Uk

Widely-used statistical practices may undermine the quality of scientific research. Several proposals have been made for how to improve these practices—with effective statistical education of developing researchers being one. With this in mind, we sought to document the statistical content currently taught in undergraduate psychology courses in the UK. We found that 21% of universities had publicly available course syllabi describing the statistical content taught in their psychology course. Of the course syllabi we obtained, most of them mentioned specific tests (ANOVAs, regression, correlation, t-tests, frequency tests, and rank tests) and about half mentioned probability and randomness, effect size, and statistical power, but few mentioned concepts such as confidence intervals, multiple comparisons, meta-analysis, replication, Bayesian statistics, frequentist statistics, and practical significance. These findings suggest that undergraduate psychology courses may not emphasize key statistical concepts relevant to producing robust and reproducible research.

scholarly journals Bayesian analysis of genetic association across tree-structured routine healthcare data in the UK Biobank

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Cortes ◽  
Calliope A. Dendrou ◽  
Allan Motyer ◽  
Luke Jostins ◽  
Damjan Vukcevic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Analysis ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Heterogeneous Data ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Genetic Associations ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Healthcare Data ◽  
Immune Mediated ◽  
The Hierarchical Structure ◽  
The Uk

Genetic discovery from the multitude of phenotypes extractable from routine healthcare data has the ability to radically transform our understanding of the human phenome, thereby accelerating progress towards precision medicine. However, a critical question when analysing high-dimensional and heterogeneous data is how to interrogate increasingly specific subphenotypes whilst retaining statistical power to detect genetic associations. Here we develop and employ a novel Bayesian analysis framework that exploits the hierarchical structure of diagnosis classifications to jointly analyse genetic variants against UK Biobank healthcare phenotypes. Our method displays a more than 20% increase in power to detect genetic effects over other approaches, such that we uncover the broader burden of genetic variation: we identify associations with over 2,000 diagnostic terms. We find novel associations with common immune-mediated diseases (IMD), we reveal the extent of genetic sharing between specific IMDs, and we expose differences in disease perception or diagnosis with potential clinical implications.

scholarly journals Non-stationarity in annual and seasonal series of peak flow and precipitation in the UK

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 5499-5544 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Prosdocimi ◽  
T. R. Kjeldsen ◽  
C. Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Type I ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Wide Debate ◽  
Error Probabilities ◽  
Log Normal ◽  
The Uk

Abstract. When designing or maintaining an hydraulic structure, an estimate of the frequency and magnitude of extreme events is required. The most common methods to obtain such estimates rely on the assumption of stationarity, i.e. the assumption that the process under study is not changing. The public perception and worry of a changing climate have led to a wide debate on the validity of this assumption. In this work trends for annual and seasonal maxima in peak river flow and catchment-average daily rainfall are explored. Assuming a 2-parameters log-normal distribution, a linear regression model is applied, allowing the mean of the distribution to vary with time. For the river flow data, the linear model is extended to include an additional variable, the 99th percentile of the daily rainfall for a year. From the fitted models, dimensionless magnification factors are estimated and plotted on a map, shedding light on whether or not geographical coherence can be found in the significant changes. The implications of the identified trends from a decision making perspective are then discussed, in particular with regard to the Type I and Type II error probabilities. One striking feature of the estimated trends is that the high variability found in the data leads to very inconclusive test results. Indeed, for most stations it is impossible to make a statement regarding whether or not the current design standards for the 2085 horizon can be considered precautionary. The power of tests on trends is further discussed in the light of statistical power analysis and sample size calculations.

scholarly journals Panomics: New Databases for Advancing Cardiology

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dara Vakili ◽  
Dina Radenkovic ◽  
Shreya Chawla ◽  
Deepak L. Bhatt
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Biological Variability ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Biological Mechanisms ◽  
Noisy Signals ◽  
Clinical Measurements ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Study Designs

The multifactorial nature of cardiology makes it challenging to separate noisy signals from confounders and real markers or drivers of disease. Panomics, the combination of various omic methods, provides the deepest insights into the underlying biological mechanisms to develop tools for personalized medicine under a systems biology approach. Questions remain about current findings and anticipated developments of omics. Here, we search for omic databases, investigate the types of data they provide, and give some examples of panomic applications in health care. We identified 104 omic databases, of which 72 met the inclusion criteria: genomic and clinical measurements on a subset of the database population plus one or more omic datasets. Of those, 65 were methylomic, 59 transcriptomic, 41 proteomic, 42 metabolomic, and 22 microbiomic databases. Larger database sample sizes and longer follow-up are often better suited for panomic analyses due to statistical power calculations. They are often more complete, which is important when dealing with large biological variability. Thus, the UK BioBank rises as the most comprehensive panomic resource, at present, but certain study designs may benefit from other databases.

scholarly journals Effects of pathogenic CNVs on biochemical markers: a study on the UK Biobank

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Bracher-Smith ◽  
Kimberley M Kendall ◽  
Elliott Rees ◽  
Mark Einon ◽  
Michael C O’Donovan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Copy Number Variants ◽  
Uk Biobank ◽  
Rare Cnvs ◽  
Medical Disorders ◽  
Affymetrix Microarrays ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
Pathogenic Cnvs ◽  
The Uk

ABSTRACTBackgroundPathogenic copy number variants (CNVs) increase risk for medical disorders, even among carriers free from neurodevelopmental disorders. The UK Biobank recruited half a million adults who provided samples for biochemical and haematology tests which have recently been released. We wanted to assess how the presence of pathogenic CNVs affects these biochemical test results.MethodsWe called all CNVs from the Affymetrix microarrays and selected a set of 54 CNVs implicated as pathogenic (including their reciprocal deletions/duplications) and present in five or more persons. We used linear regression analysis to establish their association with 28 biochemical and 23 haematology tests.ResultsWe analysed 421k participants who passed our CNV quality control filters and self-reported as white British or Irish descent. There were 268 associations between CNVs and biomarkers that were significant at a false discovery rate of 0.05. Deletions at 16p11.2 had the highest number of significant associations, but several rare CNVs had higher effect sizes indicating that the lack of significance was likely due to the reduced statistical power for rarer events. The distribution of values can be visualised on our interactive website: http://kirov.psycm.cf.ac.uk/.ConclusionsCarriers of many pathogenic CNVs have changes in biochemical and haematology tests, and many of those are associated with adverse health consequences. These changes did not always correlate with increases in diagnosed medical disorders in this population. Carriers should have regular blood tests in order to identify and treat adverse medical consequences early. Levels of cholesterol and related lipids were unexpectedly lower in carriers of CNVs associated with increased weight gain, most likely due to the use of statins by such people.

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