Page 24 - PATIENT REGISTRY DATA FOR RESEARCH: A Basic Practical Guide

performing the analysis systematically, (iii) for documentation purposes (for example: a

dummy table can be one of the stipulated requirements of a research proposal), (iv) to

facilitate an effective two-way communication between the researcher and the statistician,

and (v) to enable the researcher to keep his/her focus on data collection and data analysis (so

that the initial presentation of data can serve as a useful starting point for a discussion

between researcher and statistician to enable both parties to mutually understand and agree on

the research question and/or hypothesis, which can lead to a further refinement of researcher's

intentions).

Each dummy table should be accompanied by a proper title. This title should be very

specific, and it can also be stand-alone. For instance, an example of a title for a dummy table

that describes demographic profile of patients in a registry dataset can be written as follows:

"Table 1: Demographic profile of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus enrolled in National

st
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Diabetes Registry from 1 January until 31 December 2018 in Malaysia." Hence, we can see
that a proper title for a dummy table should contain the variables/domains (for example:

demographic profile of patients), study population (for example: patients with type 2 diabetes

mellitus), name of registry (for example: National Diabetes Registry, Malaysia) and the

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duration of the registry (for example: from 1 January until 31 December 2018).
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This will enable the readers to have a better grasp of the overall presentation of results

in the dummy table to obtain a more specific understanding of the researcher's original

intention (in order for the reader to avoid having misunderstood the true intention of the

researcher). After having prepared the dummy tables, the researchers should carefully

evaluate them to ensure that all the dummy tables are able to clearly depict all the variables in

the study and also to present the results in a way that adequately addresses the study

objectives. This will allow the researchers an opportunity to make any necessary final