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E-post: jo@joroislien.no
Jo Røislien er professor i medisinsk statistikk ved Det helsevitenskapelige fakultet, Universitetet i Stavanger og profilert vitenskapsformidler.
Articles by Jo Røislien
Those troublesome fractions
- Jo Røislien,
- Anne Lene Johnsen
03.06.2024:
The health service is awash with numerical information, and a good understanding of numbers is important for making the right decisions for both your own health and that of others. However, some figures are more difficult to understand than others. The brain has an innate understanding of basic...
Statistics lessons from a salmon
- Jo Røislien
25.09.2023:
Craig Bennett could not believe his eyes. In his hand, he held an image that showed the brain activity of a salmon, where three statistically significant dots shone back at him – a clear sign that they had made a pioneering discovery in the relationship between salmon and humans. Or else the...
Clusters
- Jo Røislien,
- Mette Langaas
09.12.2022:
Not all data sets have explanatory variables and outcomes. The data may nevertheless contain associations that are worth revealing. In the 2010s, the Intervention Centre at Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet worked to develop a computer algorithm that could automatically detect tumours in a...
Numbers are not neutral information
- Jo Røislien
02.03.2022:
There is no such thing as a neutral presentation of numbers and statistics. When I moved to London as a student, I found myself a new favourite number: 17. I was seated in row 17 on the plane over, and the address of the apartment where I was going to live was 17 New Road in East London. I saw the...
Sprechen Sie Statistik?
- Kathrine Frey Frøslie,
- Jo Røislien
26.02.2019:
Is statistics a foreign language, like German, Latin or Mandarin? Using numbers to tell stories is a cornerstone of medical research. Clinical researchers translate observations of blood, sugar, sweat and tears into numbers and categories that can be analysed using statistical methods. They exchange...
Jane and John do not exist
- Jo Røislien,
- Kathrine Frey Frøslie
01.01.2019:
The average person is a ghost from the past. An important use of statistics is to condense many individual observations into a few summary figures, so-called descriptive statistics. Naturally, there are certain principles to follow to ensure this is done properly, but some mistakes have been made...
Knowing the numbers or knowing why?
- Kathrine Frey Frøslie,
- Jo Røislien
28.05.2018:
Only a century ago, an early and painful death was predicted for those experiencing excessive urination, and urine with a sweet odour or taste. This was before any mechanistic understanding of diabetes was established. Diabetes was a predictor for death, but little could be done to prevent either...