Data Sharing and the Development of the Cleveland Clinic Statistical Education Dataset Repository

Abstract

Examples are highly sought by both students and teachers. This is particularly true as many statistical instructors aim to engage their students and increase active participation. While simulated datasets are functional, they lack real perspective and the intricacies of actual data. In order to obtain real datasets, the principal investigator of a study must be willing to share the data. Understanding investigators' opinions regarding data sharing would thus help elucidate the general lack of data sharing currently exhibited. Presented are the results of a survey designed to gather information regarding the proportion of researchers willing to share their data, conditions, formats, primary motivation, concerns and current availability of data for sharing. With 76% (56/74) responding favorably to the idea of sharing their published data, the creation of a new statistical educational resource was prompted. Thus, additionally described is a web-based dataset repository that can be used as a resource by both educators and students of statistics. This growing repository presents raw data from real medical studies and offers (a) a vignette summarizing the study, research question and study design; (b) a data dictionary with clear documentation of variables and codes; (c) a complete citation for the associated study publication; and (d) a variety of data formats compatible with the majority of statistical packages. The repository went online on 12/18/12 at the URL http://www.lerner.ccf.org/qhs/datasets/.

• Data Sharing
• Teaching Examples
• Educational Resource
• Biostatistics
• Medical Data
• Clinical Trial Data
• Health Data