GeroStats guides and resources
Knowledge Hub.
Explore research, statistics and data.
Practical guides, clear explanations and worked examples for anyone working with research, statistics and data. Look up a concept, develop a skill or find guidance for the task in front of you.
The full collection · 22 guides and companions
Browse by topic or task.
Explore research practice, study design, statistical ideas and software. Student project guidance is included within the research practice collection.
Research practice
Questions, evidence and writing
- Start with the questionShape a topic into a focused, answerable brief.
- Find evidence without drowning in itPlan, run, refine and record a proportionate search.
- Read and appraise a research paperMap the study, judge the results and record what the evidence can support.
- Save sources as you readBuild and maintain a reliable EndNote or Zotero library.
- Dissertation & project guidanceConnect the question, evidence, method, analysis and written argument.
- Weekly supervision checkpointOptional prompts for questions, feedback and manageable next steps.
- Student project guideA guided route from your first research question to a finished dissertation.
Understand and work with study data
Design, data and worked practice
- Survey Methods HandbookDesign a survey: choose a mode, develop and test questions, plan sampling, and use digital, AI-assisted or web data responsibly.
- How a medical study becomes dataLearn populations, designs, variables, missingness, bias and confounding.
- Estimates & confidence intervalsRead magnitude, direction and precision before a p-value.
- Choosing covariatesUse timing and causal roles rather than bivariate p-values.
- Jennifer’s fictional cohort coursePractise description, comparison, regression, confounding and reporting in one linked course.
- Newcastle 85+ Study data accessLearn how students can request access to governed real study data.
Understand statistical inference
Hypotheses, errors and p-values
- Hypotheses in medical researchKnow when H₀ and H₁ are useful, and when they are not.
- Type I & Type II errorsLearn false alarms, missed detections and power through the wolf story.
- Multiple testing & error controlSee why families of tests need a planned interpretation.
- Where a p-value comes fromFollow data to a test statistic and null reference distribution.
- What a p-value meansInterpret one limited measure of compatibility without overclaiming.
Analyse with software