4 Statistical Errors to Avoid in your Medical Thesis Writing - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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4 Statistical Errors to Avoid in your Medical Thesis Writing

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Title: 4 Statistical Errors to Avoid in your Medical Thesis Writing


1
Common Statistical Errors to Avoid in Medical
Thesis
2
STATISTICS
  • Statistics is a tool that helps you assess the
    relationship between two or more variables and
    evaluate the study questions. Bio-statistics
    utilizes this tool to resolve problems in
    biomedical sciences. It enables the researchers
    to analyze the effectiveness of a new drug, know
    the causal factors of a disease, calculate the
    life expectancy of the patient, the mortality and
    morbidity rate in a population, etc.
  • Though statistics is a primary tool in biomedical
    research, its misuse and abuse are common. And
    this misuse of statistics is one of the main
    reasons your medical thesis gets rejected.

3
4 common statistical errors which you must avoid
in your medical thesis writing
4
1) Lack of clarity in presenting the statistical
data
  • 87 called statistics to be very difficult
  • 9 could not define P value
  • 45 could not define the standard deviation
  • 97 failed to calculate the sample size

Thus, its important to have a basic knowledge of
statistics before writing a medical thesis. You
must analyze and present your data clearly in
your medical thesis.
5
2) Exceptional emphasis on data rather than the
theory
  • The basic research studies carried out in
    colleges involve biochemistry, behavioral
    science, animal models, and cell cultures. This
    makes their statistical analysis challenging.
  • Often the students statistically analyze their
    data only after performing their experiment a
    strategy which provides only limited insight into
    the research study.

6
3) Poor decision-making before data collection
  • Following from the above point, statistical
    analysis should be planned before the data
    collection, like when deciding the sample size.
    This is so because the sample size can affect
    several variables in the outcome of the study.
  • Thus, its recommended to perform sample size
    computations for each outcome and then decide on
    the largest practical sample size.

7
4) Biases in data collection and statistical
analysis
  • While designing your studies, you must pay
    attention to the control groups (conditions),
    randomization, blinding, and replication.
  • If you use a large sample size, randomization
    will help you avoid unintentional bias and
    confounding errors.
  • Otherwise, its easy to confound and bias your
    study results.

8
How will statistical errors affect your medical
thesis?
The common statistical errors that occur
during medical thesis writing can be classified
into 4 categories
  • Errors in study design (For example, no
    randomization in controlled trials inappropriate
    control group)
  • Errors in data analysis (For example, incorrect
    reporting P values)
  • Errors in data presentation (For example,
    improper defining of standard deviation pie
    charts to present distribution of continuous
    variables)
  • Errors in data interpretation

9
 How to avoid misuse of statistics in medical
thesis writing?
  • Since statistical data is vital to the
    advancements in biomedicine, there have to be
    conscious efforts to avoid misuse and abuse in
    gathering, analyzing, and presenting the
    statistical data.
  • Therefore, students must make themselves aware of
    ICMJE and Statistical Analysis and Methods in
    the Published Literature (SAMPL) guidelines
    before beginning their studies. And also educate
    themselves about the best practices related to
    statistical methods.

10
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