The Use of Statistics in Medical Research: A Comparison of “The New England Journal of Medicine” and “Nature Medicine”.

A study was conducted to examine the use of statistics in medical research. Data were obtained from analysis of original research articles in Nature Medicine, vol. 10, nos. 1–6, and The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 350, nos. 1–26. Findings revealed that 94.5 percent of New England Journal...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:American Statistician Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 47 - 56
Autores principales: Strasak, Alexander M., Zaman, Qamruz, Marinell, Gerhard
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: American Statistical Association February 2007
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:A study was conducted to examine the use of statistics in medical research. Data were obtained from analysis of original research articles in Nature Medicine, vol. 10, nos. 1–6, and The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 350, nos. 1–26. Findings revealed that 94.5 percent of New England Journal of Medicine and 82.4 percent of Nature Medicine articles incorporated inferential statistics. Furthermore, findings indicated that statistical errors occurred in a considerable proportion of articles, although they were not always serious in nature. Findings imply a need to pay closer attention to statistical methodology in order to raise standards.