Applied methods discussion group starting in 2025
December 2, 2024
The UC Davis Center for Healthcare Policy and Research (CHPR) in partnership with the Division of Health Policy and Management in the Department of Public Health Sciences will launch a new Applied Methods Journal Club in 2025. Participants will discuss the latest innovative methods in applied health services research.
Health services researchers use applied methods to study practical solutions to improve healthcare quality, delivery and access, while also aiming to inform policy and practice. Methodological challenges arise when applying methods in observational studies, cost-effectiveness analysis and qualitative research.
The journal club is open to CHPR affiliated faculty, staff and graduate and medical students. For those interested in attending but not already affiliated with CHPR, the center is accepting new affiliate applications.
Melissa Gosdin and Jeffrey Hoch will co-lead the journal club. Gosdin, a qualitative researcher at CHPR, says journal club meetings will alternate between quantitative and qualitative topics with conversations around recent scientific papers. Hoch is the associate director of CHPR and a professor of public health sciences where he serves as chief of the Division of Health Policy and Management at UC Davis.
“For our first applied methods journal club, Professor Hoch and I will lead a discussion about the challenges of using odds ratios to communicate findings,” said Gosdin. “We will focus on the recent paper, ‘Requiem for odds ratios,’ that should spark an enlightening conversation. I look forward to welcoming people interested in learning and discussing how to use methods to help generate and communicate more impactful findings.”
Edward Norton, a professor at the University of Michigan, is the lead author of the odds ratio paper. He will present his research at CHPR’s Seminar Series on January 22, 2025. Hoch said attending journal club before Norton’s seminar will give participants a deeper understanding of the topic.
The inaugural Applied Methods Journal Club will meet virtually in January. It will then transition to in-person meetings after CHPR relocates to Aggie Square in 2025. For questions or to join the journal club, email Gosdin at mmgosdin@ucdavis.edu.
The Center for Healthcare Policy and Research’s mission is to facilitate research, promote education, and inform policy about health and health care. The goal is to improve the health of the public by contributing new knowledge about access, delivery, cost, quality and outcomes related to health care and providing rigorous evidence to policymakers and other stakeholders. CHPR executes its mission through interdisciplinary and collaborative research; education and career development; and research synthesis and dissemination.
