Abstract
Descriptive statistics are used to summarize individual observations from a study and estimate a typical value (measures of central tendency) and the spread of values (measures of dispersion). Measures of central tendency include the mean and median. Measures of dispersion include the standard deviation and the range. Hypothesis tests and confidence intervals are two general forms of inferential statistical methods, for which the aim is to make an inference from a sample of subjects to a relevant population. Confidence intervals represent a plausible range of values of a population parameter, such as the difference in mean response, the difference in proportions, or the relative risk. p values are reported from hypothesis tests. Small p values (e.g., <0.05) suggest that the observed result was unlikely to have occurred by chance alone. There are many statistical methods which may be appropriate for any given research study. The most appropriate statistical approaches must consider the research question and the study design.
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Durham, T.A., Koch, G.G., LaVange, L.M. (2012). Introductory Statistics in Medical Research. In: Supino, P., Borer, J. (eds) Principles of Research Methodology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3360-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3360-6_11
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