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  • Impressions of XY Scatter graph Analysis

    I’ve just had an email from the DMD team to let me know that the XY scatter graphs are live and that I could have a play around and give my thoughts. The purpose of the XY scatter graphs is to investigate whether school absence due to flu is linked to the four variables. So the…

  • The school holidays: a break in the data

    The school holidays over Christmas might have given schools a welcomed break but they also stopped us from collecting data for couple of weeks. This is one of the main scientific limitations of this project, as it means we can’t monitor what’s going on during this period using school absence levels. Despite the break in…

  • Impressions of Time Trend Analysis

    Hello! After writing about my first impressions of the project in the previous blog, I’ve now been asked to write about how I found starting to use the site. I’ve found the few last bits of data to get my school profile complete and I’ve started working with our absence administrator to get the data…

  • How to make an epidemiologist happy

    After months of planning and hard work we’ve got some data! There’s now a graph on the welcome page for you to look at, this is being updated with data as it comes in. Because it’s live data don’t be surprised if the numbers jump around a bit, and like us, you’ll need to be…

  • The known unknowns

    In 2002 Donald Rumsfeld (the former United States Secretary of Defense) made a famous speech describing categories for what US intelligence services did and didn’t know about Iraq and it’s supply of weapons of mass destruction. One of Mr Rumsfeld’s categories was called the known unknowns. To clarify what he meant Mr Rumsfeld explained “we know…

  • Icebergs, outbreaks and Flu

    The Flu! project is all about trying to create a new and exciting method of Flu surveillance. When epidemiologists talk about surveillance, they mean the continuous collection, analysis and interpretation of data that be used to prevent and control diseases.  This tells us how much Flu there is in the community and where it is…

  • First Impressions

    Hello! I’m a teacher from the south of England and I’ll be taking part in Flu! I’ve been asked by the Decipher my Data! team to give my first impressions of the project. I’ve been told I have to post anonymously – it seems Dr Rob takes this side of the experiment very seriously! I…

  • Will my school’s data be anonymous?

    Anonymity has been a major focus for the project being passed by the ethics committee at UCL.  We have ensured that the anonymity and security of schools is protected by the following actions:

  • The green light at end of the tunnel!

    UCL’s ethics committee have now given Decipher My Data the green light for inviting schools to take part in the project. This is the result of 12 months of planning and preparation, including coming up with the project idea, finding funding, specifying the research protocol, and submitting it to the UCL ethics committee for approval.…

  • Ask a question

    Once your account has been activated you’ll be able to ask the team questions from virtually any page on the site. But until then please see if your question has already been answered in our FAQ and if not leave a comment here and we’ll get back to you.