Research methodology

Abstract

Given the diversity of psychiatric research, having a statistically rigorous set of methodological tools for the design and analysis is critically important. The field of psychiatry has, in and of itself, inspired several advances in research methodology that have led to widespread use across all areas of medicine and, more generally, throughout the biological, social, and physical sciences. This chapter reviews statistical and methodological contributions to the analysis of longitudinal data, inter-rater agreement, item response theory (IRT), and computerized adaptive testing (CAT), as well as the joint modelling of both the mean and variance functions in intensive longitudinal data (location-scale models). It is written for a general psychiatric research audience, but lays out areas for future study and development for quantitative scientists as well.