Some feedback

One of the students (working on the malaria problem), came back to me wondering whether we could look at a weighted average of historical data, or somehow pool the percentages across the different studies to calculate the historical proportions. Sounded like a sensible request to me. I suggested he should mention in his sample size section the assumptions behind the calculations, and add the caveat that these proportions are from different studies, using different populations, and different study designs. I've spent the rest of the week building and adapting the introduction to medical statistics and research workshop to roll out on the 22^nd August.

  
I got some email feedback from a couple of the students. The student who i'd been working on the time to event analysis, had emailed to say;

“Hi there, just to say `asante` for your help in statistics & sample size estimations. I`ve completed and handed in my proposal for approval. God bless you and good evening”. I'm not sure I made a sustainable difference, but hopefully I've given her some background to survival analysis, which will help her when she comes to do her final analysis. Also, the student who I'd been working on logistic regression with had emailed to say “Sorry for the any inconveniences caused for probably too many questions but I think I am understanding alot of sample size determination which is key to my defending my thesis.” This was great feedback, because  if he had now a better understanding of sample size calculations, it would mean that he could carry that work on in the future. My focus next week will be to concentrate on the training presentations for the Global Network. 
 
I'm sad that this week is my house mates last week though. Mike left on Wednesday to climb Mount Kenya, and Mira left tonight. I got a bit teary when it came for her to go, not just because she was leaving, but also because I guess I was imagining how lonely the house will get. My landlady has no other house mates lined up, so I'm thinking about going down to the IU (Indiana University) house, to see if there are any planned trips, and to get to know the students living there. They all come from Indiana University, or various other American Universities on the East coast.
 
We had really bad storms tonight, and the landlady's children invited themselves over to my place, which I found a little disconcerting. Apparently the power had gone off at theirs, however, I hadn't been affected, so they turned up at mine.  I chatted to them for a bit, but it soon became apparent, they wanted to be left on their own to chat. They stayed till about 10.30pm. This was little surprising to me, being Scottish, and being too shy to even get to know my neighbours back in the UK, this was a new experience for me! Is this part of their culture, or was it just because they thought I might be feeling lonely after Mike and Mira leaving?  I felt perhaps I was being ungrateful, because maybe they thought they were doing me a favour by coming over, to stop me from being lonely.