Kevin McConway

Senior Lecturer in Statistics at the Open University

Department of Statistics

The Open University
Walton Hall
Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
United Kingdom

Tel +44 1908 653676
Fax +44 1908 652140
Email k.j.mcconway@open.ac.uk

Research interests

Applications of statistics in demographic, biological and medical sciences, particularly in plant ecology. (I am a member of the Open University's Ecology and Conservation Research Group.) Recent work in this area includes two projects involving the Park Grass Experiment at Rothamsted Experimental Station.
Statistical problems arising from the use of phylogenies to investigate ecological questions, particularly in relation to the comparative method.
Subjective probability assessment. Aggregation of differing probability assessments. Theories of group decision-making.

Some recent publications

Books:

K.J. McConway, M.C.Jones and P.C. Taylor (1999) Statistical modelling using Genstat, Edward Arnold.
F. Daly, D.J. Hand, M.C. Jones A.D. Lunn and K.J. McConway (1995) Elements of Statistics, Addison-Wesley.
K.J. McConway (ed.) (1994) Studying Health and Disease, revised edition. Open University Press.
D.J. Hand, F. Daly, A.D. Lunn, K.J. McConway and E. Ostrowski (1994) A handbook of small data sets. Chapman and Hall.

Papers:

E. Stanghellini, K.J. McConway and D.J. Hand (1999) 'A discrete variable chain graph for applicants for credit'. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series C (Applied Statistics), 48, 239-252.
J. Silvertown and K.J. McConway (1997) 'Does "publication bias" lead to biased science?' Oikos, 79, 167-168.
D.J. Hand, K.J. McConway and E. Stanghellini (1997) 'Graphical models of applicants for credit'. IMA Journal of Mathematics Applied in Business & Industry, 8, 143-155.
J. Silvertown, M. Dodd, K. McConway, M. Crawley, and J. Potts (1995) 'Species diversity and stability in grassland'. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 287-288.
M. Dodd, J. Silvertown, K. McConway, J. Potts, and M. Crawley (1995) 'Community stability: A sixty-year record of trends and outbreaks in the occurrence of species in the Park Grass Experiment'. Journal of Ecology, 83, 277-286. (Abstract)
J. Silvertown, M. Dodd, K. McConway, J. Potts, and M. Crawley (1994) 'Rainfall, biomass variation and community composition in the Park Grass Experiment'. Ecology, 75, 2430-2437. (Abstract)
M. Dodd, J. Silvertown, K. McConway, J. Potts and M. Crawley (1994) 'Biomass stability in the plant communities of the Park Grass Experiment: The influence of species richness, soil pH and biomass'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B., 346, 185-193. (Abstract)
M. Dodd, J. Silvertown, K. McConway, J. Potts and M. Crawley (1994) 'Application of the British National Vegetation Classification to the communities of the Park Grass Experiment through time'. Folia Geobotanica et Phytotaxonomica, 29, 321-334. (Abstract)
J. Silvertown, M. Franco and K. McConway (1993) `The eternal triangle - an attempt at reconciliation. Functional Ecology, 7, 380-1.
K.J. McConway (1992) 'The number of subjects in animal behaviour experiments: is Still still right?' Animal Behaviour, Supplement, 35-8.
J. Silvertown, M. Franco and K. McConway (1992) 'A demographic interpretation of Grime's triangle'. Functional Ecology, 6, 130-6.

Open University Teaching:

I have been involved in producing teaching materials, in the form of written texts, broadcast television, for many different Open University courses, including particularly:

M346 Linear Statistical Modelling. This course, presented first in 1998, covers the general linear model (regression, analysis of variance etc.) and generalized linear models (logistic regression, Poisson regression, loglinear models for contingency tables etc.). Students learn to perform much data analysis using Genstat. The book Statistical modelling using Genstat (McConway et al. 1999; see above) is largely based on material from this course.
M246 Elements of Statistics. This course provides a practical introduction to statistical ideas and statistical methodology. It is based round the book Elements of Statistics (Daly et al. 1995; see above).
MDST242 Statistics in Society. The course is intended for anyone who is interested in statistics and how it affects everyday life, and is designed to be useful to people who need a basic understanding of statistics for their work or for studies in other disciplines.
U205 Health and Disease. This wide-ranging course considers the relevance of medicine, biology, history, economics, politics, statistics and the social sciences to today's important health issues throughout the world. My involvement was particularly with the material on epidemiology, demography and research methods.