Research output per year
Research output per year
DR, Medical Statistician and Researcher in Education
Accepting PhD Students
PhD projects
I would be particularly keen to supervise PhD candidates who wish to pursue clinical or medical education projects with a strong quantitative element. This could be extended to involve mixed methods projects (involving both qualitative and quantitative elements), where appropriate. Initial expressions of interest should be sent to me by email (Margaret.MacDougall@ed.ac.uk).
For many years, I have served as the statistician at the University of Edinburgh responsible for providing advice on research design and statistical analysis to Year 5 undergraduate medical students enrolled on the MBChB programme. I am also a statistics lecturer for the MBChB Year 2 module Research and Evidence-Based Medicine and play a leading role in teaching and assessment for the Year 3 intercalated honours programme BMedSci Health Sciences. I am also highly experienced, and have been proactive, in the development, and use of existing, technologies to enhance student learning in statistics, and in proposing successful funding bids to lead innovative educational projects which have attracted interest on a national and international scale through conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.
I have conceived and managed eleven funded research and resource development projects in medical education, and statistics education and supervised and managed research staff and students through various spin-off projects. Relatedly, I continue to hold a very long-standing commitment to identifying and addressing evidence-based needs for statistical learning throughout the Edinburgh MBChB and beyond. My research background also includes supervising and collaborating in clinical research projects across a wide range of clinical fields in addition to leading projects in statistics and informatics.
I have served as an invited speaker and chair at a range of local national and international events relating to learning and teaching in higher education and I organised the Annual Meeting for Teachers of Statistics in Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in 2008 and 2018. I use my research to promote curriculum innovation and the enhancement of student learning, especially in statistics, and have published widely in the fields of education, medicine, philosophy, and statistical methodology for the quality evaluation of educational assessments.
I proposed and organized the 2012 Royal Statistical Society (RSS) interdisciplinary debate Randomized controlled trials in medical research - gold standard or unhealthy fixation? I am also the editor of a book in progress for instructing medical educators on the teaching of randomised controlled trials and an editor of the Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice special issue Innovations and challenges in the teaching of statistics to non-specialists.
Currently, I am Vice Chair of the Teaching Statistics Section of the Royal Statistical Society, which has a focus on promoting teaching excellence in statistics education, including in higher education and professional training.
Undergraduate
Within the MBChB1 curriculum:
Internal
External
Undergraduate research project supervision
Internal
External
Postgraduate research project supervision
My principal areas of research are Medical Education and Applied Statistics. I also collaborate in and supervise research projects over a range of clinical specialties. My personal research interests fall into the categories Teaching Statistics to Medical Students and Students in the Health Sciences, Statistical Methods for Assessing the Quality of Assessment Practices, Modern Methods for Standard Setting in Medicine and the Health Sciences, Medical Statistics, Research-Teaching Linkages, Mathematical Logic and the Philosophies of Mathematics and Statistics.
Current PhD students
Iona Crofts (2023 - ), Child Life and Health, University of Edinburgh
Sandhya Marrana (2023 - ), Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning, University of Southern Australia
Mathematics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Mathematics
Mathematics, Bachelor of Science (Honours), Mathematics
Vice Chair of the Teaching Statistics Group of the Royal Statistical Society
Jun 2022 → …
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Other contribution
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Special issue
Research output: Contribution to specialist publication › Editorial
Margaret MacDougall (Invited speaker)
Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Margaret MacDougall (Chair and Invited Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
Margaret MacDougall (Peer reviewer)
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication peer-review
Margaret MacDougall (Editor)
Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editorial activity
Margaret MacDougall (Invited speaker)
Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
20/03/15 → …
Project: University Awarded Project Funding
12/06/18 → 10/08/18
Project: Research Collaboration with external organisation
1/08/15 → 31/08/16
Project: University Awarded Project Funding
9/06/14 → 8/08/14
Project: Research Collaboration with external organisation