From
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/Syllabus%20for%20MRCPsych.pdf
iv). Research methods, statistics and evidence-based practice
The Trainee shall demonstrate knowledge of the principles of research methods, statistics, epidemiology and evidence-based practice. This includes:
a. The history and philosophy of science as it relates to concepts of mental disorder
b. Scientific analysis and interpretation of psychiatric literature. To include basic structuring of research: individual, population, case-control, whole and intervention studies, clinical trials and meta-analysis.
c. Concepts of scale of measurement, sampling methods, frequency and probability distributions. Summary statistics and graphs, outliers, stem-and-leaf plots, Bos plots, scattergrams. Types of data e.g. categorical, ordinal, continuous.
d. Descriptive and Inferential Statistics. Significance tests, estimation and confidence intervals. The advantage of confidence intervals over p values.
A Competency Based Curriculum for Psychiatry
e. Specific tests, particularly t-test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, confidence intervals for difference between means, proportions and medians.
f. Clinical trials - the advantages of randomised trials and the problems with alternatives such as historical controls.
g. A brief introduction to more complex methods such as factor analysis - no more than a description of what the techniques aim to achieve.
h. Problems of measurement in psychiatry, latent traits (constricts) and observed indications (symptoms). Type I and type II errors.
i. Ideas of reliability and validity. Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of research measures. Bias.
j. Diagnostic agreement measured by Kappa and intra-class correlations. Cronbach’s alpha.
k. Metanalysis, survival analysis, logistic regression.
l. Concepts of incidence (inception), prevalence and population at risk.
m. Sampling techniques, case identification, case registers, mortality and morbidity statistics
n. Epidemiology of specific psychiatric disorders.