Before new measurement instruments and procedures are being used in daily practice, it is essential to assess their reliability and validity. Setting up a reliability study is not an easy task as many design factors are involved. As illustrative example, consider pulmonary auscultation where lung sounds are analyzed at different places of the lungs. To set up a reliability study in that setting, researchers should choose e.g. the number of observers making the assessment, the type of observers (e.g. experienced/unexperienced), the number of replicated measurements made by each observer, the lung places where the sounds will be sampled and the number of patients.

The PhD candidate will develop statistical methods to determine optimal designs when planning reliability and agreement studies. In particular, the aim will be to achieve a desired level of precision of reliability/validity/agreement estimates at minimum study costs. Further, a stand-alone app or software will be created to reach researchers developing measurement instruments.

• Graduated with a MSc in Statistics, Psychometrics, Biometrics, Econometrics or similar
• Excellent mathematical and computer programming skills
• Knowledge of R is a plus
• Experience with optimal designs, the delta method or multilevel models is a plus
• Good writing and expressional skills in the English language
• Be able to motivate oneself, think analytical and creative, work in organized and focused manner, take initiative

Fixed-term contract: 1+3 years.

We offer a full-time position (38 hours/week) with the Maastricht University at the Department Methodology of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, School CAPHRI  

The employment contract will be for a period of 1 year and will be extended for another 3 years after positive evaluation.

The salary will be set in scale P (between € 2.395 and € 3.061 ). The gross salary will start at €2.395 in the first year and can go up to €3.061 in the 4th year. On top of this, there is an 8% holiday and an 8.3% year-end allowance. 

The terms of employment of Maastricht University are set out in the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO). Furthermore, local UM provisions also apply. For more information look at the website http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl > Support > UM employees.

Maastricht University

Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 20,000 students and 4,700 employees. Reflecting the university's strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.
For more information, visit www.maastrichtuniversity.nl.

Department Methodology and Statistics

The successful candidate will work in the Department Methodology and Statistics of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of the Maastricht University Medical Center, in Maastricht, the Netherlands. This Department works closely together with the dept. of Methodology and Statistics of the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (FPN) under a common leadership. Together, these two departments consist of 20 staff members from PhD student to Professor, and provide the statistics education in five different Bachelor programs and various master and PhD courses in the two aforementioned faculties. The research is mainly carried out within the School CAPHRI and concentrates on themes like Optimal design and sample sizes and multilevel/mixed models. Further, the Department offers statistical consulting and advanced data analyses to researchers from other departments.