Title: 4 Statistical Errors to Avoid in your Medical Thesis Writing
1Common Statistical Errors to Avoid in Medical
Thesis
2STATISTICS
- 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.
34 common statistical errors which you must avoid
in your medical thesis writing
41) 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.
52) 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.
63) 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.
74) 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.
8How 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.
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