Healthcare providers, such as nurses, physicians, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, nutritionists and many others, use scientific evidence to make important patient care decisions every day. Using evidence effectively, however, requires skills and competencies for reading and interpreting the meaning of research results. The Language of Data Program is a novel approach for teaching the skills and competencies required for using the statistical language of data in real-world clinical practice settings.
Our Mission is to provide tools, training and teams that improve the use of data in health systems. Our goal is to improve the skills, competencies and confidence of nurses and other healthcare providers for recognizing, reading and understanding the meaning of statistics in reported research findings.
The ability to meaningfully interpret statistical symbols is a missing skill for many clinicians. The Language of Data Program is one aspect of the evidence-based practice (EBP) trajectory, with tools to improve the adoption of EBP by improving the ability of clinicians to confidently recognize statistical symbols, understand the meaning of statistics in context, translate science and use evidence-based practice protocols.
Some symbols and letters in the Data Language Alphabet*
| Symbol or Letter* | Term | Definition Used In Quizlet |
|---|---|---|
| H0 | Null Hypothesis | A hypothesis that the effect of the intervention to the desired outcome is zero (no effect) |
| α | Alpha | The level of significance; describes how extreme observed results must be in order to reject the null hypothesis (that the observed effect occurred by chance alone) |
| β | Beta | The "weight" or contribution that a single variable makes to the overall model |
| p | Probability | Describes the likelihood that an observed effect occurred by chance alone |
| r | Correlation | The degree of relationship between two variables |
| t | t-test | Used to determine whether two mean values are significantly different |
| χ2 | chi square | A test of independence of groups |
*Table does not include all symbols and letters included in Data Language Alphabet
Changes in knowledge, confidence and accuracy from pre- to post-test scores at two academic-affiliated health system sites.
(t=14.88, 95%CI 15.5605, 23.9861;p<.0001)
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