Abstract
Th e session on undue and disproportionate infl uences included three presentations that considered areas of profound importance for investigators involved with breast cancer research. Th e fi rst two presentations focused on areas that substantially impact the inter pretation of scientifi c research, peer review and the topic of statistical signifi cance. Clearly, both these topics have an importance that extends beyond breast cancer to all research. Th e third presentation considered whether randomized adjuvant therapy trials in early breast cancer were necessary for drug development, which is a topic of increasing importance given the increasing number of potentially valuable drugs that are in development and the corresponding increase in restrictions and limitations on funding available for the conduct of clinical research. Peer review is considered the essential process by which judgments can be made regarding the quality of a manuscript, a grant proposal or other scholarly work. Despite acknowledgement of peer review as the corner
Highlights
The session on undue and disproportionate influences included three presentations that considered areas of profound importance for investigators involved with breast cancer research
Professor Judith Bliss, Director of the Institute of Cancer Research Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit, provided a thoughtful and enlightening review of Pvalues in the context of clinical research, a subject at the center of interpretation of such trials. She asked that investigators should be able to distinguish between probability of observing a difference as large as that seen when there is no difference between treatments group and probability that there is no difference between treatment groups given the data observed
Professor Bliss addressed the important issue of ‘clinical significance’ in the setting of ‘statistical significance’ and provided valuable insights into statistical considerations that are important to the clinician who must make judgments regarding findings reported in the literature
Summary
The session on undue and disproportionate influences included three presentations that considered areas of profound importance for investigators involved with breast cancer research. Peer review is considered the essential process by which judgments can be made regarding the quality of a manuscript, a grant proposal or other scholarly work. Despite acknowledgement of peer review as the cornerstone for making these judgments, there is widespread appreciation of the shortcomings and deficiencies of this process.
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