Swiss medical weekly
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The role of statistics in medical research starts at the planning stage of a clinical trial or laboratory experiment to establish the design and size of an experiment that will ensure a good prospect of detecting effects of clinical or scientific interest. Statistics is again used during the analysis of data (sample data) to make inferences valid in a wider population. In simple situations computation of simple quantities such as P-values, confidence intervals, standard deviations, standard errors or application of some standard parametric or nonparametric tests may suffice. ⋯ Such advanced methods should only be applied with a clear understanding both of their purposes and the implication of any conclusions based upon their use. Close collaboration between statisticians, whether professionals in that field or medical research workers with a sound statistical background, and other members of a research team is needed to ensure a seamless integration of the statistical elements into the reporting and discussion of research outcomes. Some suggestions are made as to how that collaboration is best achieved.