[BMRD Roster] 

The Biostatistical Methods and Research Design [BMRD] Study Section reviews applications that focus primarily upon advancing techniques and technologies that address important statistical and mathematical problems, research design and methodological issues, and the modeling of phenomena relevant to biomedical, behavioral and scientific research. BMRD reviews generic methodological research that can improve the validity, reliability, or precision of measures; the development of statistical theory and mathematical models to analyze data, clinical trial intervention studies, and non-behavioral basic science; statistical research targeted at data structures developed in clinical trials; advanced ways of using computers and/or new testing technology, or computational modeling techniques with existing data sets; or applying techniques from other disciplines [e.g., genetics, neurology, computer science] to behavioral and social science topics, as well as other biomedical areas of research. The emphasis and main focus of applications should be upon the methods, statistics, or modeling techniques.  

Specific areas covered by BMRD: 

• Data collection, including processes associated with self-reports; validity, reliability, precision of measurements; self-disclosure of stigmatized and illegal behaviors or rare phenomena; computer-assisted interviews and data collection; biomedical or biobehavioral measures, testing, and evaluations; physiological measures of behavioral phenomena [e.g., fatigue]; and techniques for incorporating the collection of biological specimens in behavioral and social science as well as other areas of biomedical research.
  
  
• Research design, including sample selection, completion, and bias estimation; research designs for complex interdisciplinary studies; novel clinical trials design, multiple sub-studies within clinical trials and cohort/longitudinal design; integration of qualitative, quantitative, clinical, and historical data collection.
  
  
• Advanced statistical issues, including development of theory and models that might include new approaches in Bayesian methodology; regression artifacts; application of smoothing distributions; heteroskedasticity; statistical problems; statistical and methodological issues in clinical trials; medical signals, images, and statistical analyses.
  
   
• Analytic methods and modeling, including theoretical and methodological issues in meta analysis; modeling measurement error; generalized linear models; statistical issues for large data sets for missing observations or non-response; statistical models of the progression, transmission, and spread of diseases and conditions; demographic modeling; modeling of social networks and family tree and kin networks; connectionist/neural network models of social, psychological and biobehavioral processes; event history analysis; computer simulation; mathematical modeling; graphic information systems; and analytic methods and modeling of qualitative data. Software development. 

BMRD has the following shared interests within the HOP IRG: 

• BMRD reviews applications that emphasize the development of new statistical methods or the improvement of research design, and these applications may involve any of the variables included in the other Study Sections within the HOP IRG. Applications that emphasize the development of new statistical methods or the improvement of established research designs can be reviewed by BMRD. Applications that rely primarily upon existing statistical methods or research designs may be reviewed by other study sections within HOP, depending upon the subject matter. 

BMRD has the following shared interests outside the HOP IRG: 

• Other IRGs: BMRD reviews applications that emphasize the development of new statistical methods or the improvement of research design, and these applications may involve many of the variables included in other Study Sections outside the HOP IRG.  Applications that rely primarily upon existing statistical methods or research designs may be reviewed by other study sections within these IRGs, depending upon the subject matter.
  
  
• Study Sections in NIAAA, NIDA and NIMH may review applications in treatment and health services research. For more information, see their web sites.