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Improving the Quality of Statistics in Psychiatric Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

David Hand  and
Pak Sham
David Hand
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
Pak Sham
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine and Department of Biostatistics and Computing, Institute of Psychiatry, London SE5 8AF
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Extract

David Hand

The paper by McGuigan in this issue of the BJP examines the frequency of errors in statistical methods presented in papers published in the BJP in 1993. In that year, 248 papers appeared, 164 contained numerical results, and 65 of these contained statistical errors. So, one might infer, some 26% of the papers in the BJP draw potentially doubtful conclusions. Moreover, the level of misunderstanding implied by some of the examples McGuigan cites is frightening.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue 5 , November 1995 , pp. 689 - 691
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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