MD Research Prep... or not?

[Laker55]

I'm starting M1 in August and I am considering taking an online course to learn R or another data analysis tool. I would like to pursue research fairly early in med school (maybe wishful thinking?) but I didn't gain much data analysis experience in my undergrad research. Would it be beneficial to do a quick intro course or will I be fine learning as I go?

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[Redpancreas]

I'm starting M1 in August and I am considering taking an online course to learn R or another data analysis tool. I would like to pursue research fairly early in med school (maybe wishful thinking?) but I didn't gain much data analysis experience in my undergrad research. Would it be beneficial to do a quick intro course or will I be fine learning as I go?

If you enjoy taking courses for the sake of doing it, I suppose learning R isn't the worst thing you can do. Also, PIs will ask for your resume. Having R on their could be a positive! I recommend Lynda (free trial LinkedIn Premium) or Coursera. Both are good starts.

OTOH, many would say learning statistical analysis when most schools have a stats department is overkill and if you make it in with the right people, you can just be a chart review monkey and pump out a high volume of publications and in fact this is what the large majority of students do. If there is something advanced you need to learn, many learn it on the job.

If I were you, I'd do it if I had nothing else to do and enjoyed it.

 

[Laker55]

If you enjoy taking courses for the sake of doing it, I suppose learning R isn't the worst thing you can do. Also, PIs will ask for your resume. Having R on their could be a positive! I recommend Lynda (free trial LinkedIn Premium) or Coursera. Both are good starts.

OTOH, many would say learning statistical analysis when most schools have a stats department is overkill and if you make it in with the right people, you can just be a chart review monkey and pump out a high volume of publications and in fact this is what the large majority of students do. If there is something advanced you need to learn, many learn it on the job.

If I were you, I'd do it if I had nothing else to do and enjoyed it.

Great, thanks for the advice!

 

[aldol16]

I'd definitely learn R. You have the time and it gives you a valuable skill to bring to the table. You'll still have to work to get that research productivity but it'll give you an edge because you won't be just another medical student volunteering to do a chart review. You'll have flexibility in what you can do and even in leading your own projects.

The things I would learn - data cleaning in R (this can only be learned by doing so find a data set for this), basic statistical analyses on data sets (univariate analyses, regression analysis and its interpretation for linear and non-linear models), and basic machine learning, in that order. For the machine learning, that is where the field is going so having some basic knowledge of the advanced techniques in the field can be useful. Things like cluster analysis and random forest models. You don't see that many papers with these new techniques yet but they're very popular in the data science world.

 

[Redpancreas]

I'd definitely learn R. You have the time and it gives you a valuable skill to bring to the table. You'll still have to work to get that research productivity but it'll give you an edge because you won't be just another medical student volunteering to do a chart review. You'll have flexibility in what you can do and even in leading your own projects.

The things I would learn - data cleaning in R (this can only be learned by doing so find a data set for this), basic statistical analyses on data sets (univariate analyses, regression analysis and its interpretation for linear and non-linear models), and basic machine learning, in that order. For the machine learning, that is where the field is going so having some basic knowledge of the advanced techniques in the field can be useful. Things like cluster analysis and random forest models. You don't see that many papers with these new techniques yet but they're very popular in the data science world.

Thanks for this.

 

[Laker55]

I'd definitely learn R. You have the time and it gives you a valuable skill to bring to the table. You'll still have to work to get that research productivity but it'll give you an edge because you won't be just another medical student volunteering to do a chart review. You'll have flexibility in what you can do and even in leading your own projects.

The things I would learn - data cleaning in R (this can only be learned by doing so find a data set for this), basic statistical analyses on data sets (univariate analyses, regression analysis and its interpretation for linear and non-linear models), and basic machine learning, in that order. For the machine learning, that is where the field is going so having some basic knowledge of the advanced techniques in the field can be useful. Things like cluster analysis and random forest models. You don't see that many papers with these new techniques yet but they're very popular in the data science world.

Yea thanks so much for this!