CONWAY, Ark. (December 3, 2013) – Hendrix economics
professor Dr. Tom Stanley recently gave an invited talk at the Harvard Faculty
Club.
His talk, titled “Synthesizing quasi-experimental evidence,”
was part of a workshop on the inclusion of quasi-experimental studies in
systematic reviews of health systems research sponsored by the Harvard School
of Public Health, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (World
Health Organization) and the Cochrane Collaboration, and he was invited to lead
a group of distinguished meta-analysts to develop guidelines on
quasi-experimental studies for authors of systematic reviews. The Cochrane
Collaboration is an international network of over 31,000 researchers from more
than 120 countries working to help healthcare practitioners and policy-makers
make well-informed decisions about health care. It serves as the central
clearinghouse for the evidence-based practice movement in medicine and
health.
“It was great to interact with Harvard professors, senior
and junior, as equals,” said Stanley. “However, our task is quite daunting. How
should health care professionals weigh evidence from less than perfect
quasi-experimental research when the lives of their patients may be at
risk?”
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in
engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the sixth consecutive year,
Hendrix was named one of the country’s “Up and Coming” liberal arts colleges by
U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think about Colleges,
as well as the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of America's Top Colleges, and
the 2014 Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United
Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.