Tag Archives: statistics

Why we need to report more than “Data were analysed by t-tests or ANOVA”

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T-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are common statistical tests in physiology and biomedical science. While the SAMPL guidelines for reporting statistical analyses and methods in published literature state authors should “describe statistical methods with enough detail to enable a knowledgeable reader with access to the original data to verify the reported results”, such recommendations are rarely implemented. Simply stating

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Research concepts: Confidence interval of a mean

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In previous posts, we learned that the aim of statistics is to extrapolate properties of samples to make inferences about population. However, random variation in individuals in the population produces sampling error, which means a single sample may not accurately reflect properties of the population. When data are binary, we learned how the 95% confidence interval (CI) of a sample

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Research concepts: The Normal Distribution

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At Scientifically Sound, we have shown how to verify whether data are Normally distributed, and discussed whether it matters that data are Normally distributed. Let’s take a step back and consider what a Normal distribution is. A Normal distribution is a bell-shaped curve observed when the number of data points that occur in a population (y-axis) is plotted against the

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Research concepts: Quantifying scatter

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In a previous post we used binary data to demonstrate sampling error and calculate 95% confidence intervals (CI). Now, suppose that data can take many values; for example, normal body temperature has many values and varies continuously over a physiological range. How can we measure this variability in body temperature? For continuous data, variability can be quantified as the standard

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Research concepts: Interpreting the 95% confidence interval

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Understanding the meaning of a confidence interval can take a little effort. The key idea is we want to infer findings from a study to subjects who were not part of the study. Sometimes, reading explanations in different words can help. Let’s pause in our series and see how others have explained what confidence intervals mean: Harvey Motulsky: The true

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Research concepts: Confidence interval of a proportion

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Data which exist in categories that only have 2 possible values are known as binary data. “Yes” or “No” survey responses, dead or alive, male or female, etc. are examples of binary values. These data can be expressed as proportions (e.g. the proportion of male students in a class), are known as binomial variables, and follow a binomial distribution. The

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