Vassili P. Leonov wrote:
>> Dear colleagues!
>> I work in Tomsk State University (Russia, Siberia) and
> more than 10 years I be busy in the statistical analysis
> of data in medicine, biology, psychology, ecology and etc..
> In these years I have collected large collection of examples
> of misuse of statistics in the dissertations and articles.
> Their analysis shows, that most of all errors in use of statistics
> is observed in medicine and biology. Especially it is bad when
> it is observed in medical work. Errors in use of statistics in
> medicine resultin errors in methods treatments of the ill people.
>> ...
I have been aware of the misuse of statistical methods
in medical research (bothh USA and UK) since starting
my doctoral work around 1980. A key article which tries
to address this is:
Altman, D G (1980) Statistics and Ethics in Medical Research,
British Medical Journal, vol 281 pp 1182-1184.
This is the first of a series in which he persues the notion
that poor statistical work is unethcal and looks at their
use. The subsequent parts are:
vol 281: p1267-9, p1336-8, p1399-401, p1473-5, p1542-4, p1612-4
vol 282: p44-47 plus letters p480 and p990
There is a strong ethos in medical publishing which suggests
that meaningfull research can only be done through controlled
trials with quantitative statistical otcomes. This notion that
statistics are good (or do I mean God?) is very pervasive
and ignores other research methods. With this sort of
preasure both authors and referees demand statistical results
even where there use is inappropriate and misleading.
--
Best wishes
Tony E
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Dr A D Elliman, BTech MBCS CEng Email: Tony.Elliman at brunel.ac.uk
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& Undergraduate Course Director
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