Methodologies for Medical Computing. Date Bases and Management Database Management: Development of a Friendly Self-Teaching Interactive Statistical Package for Analysis of Clinical Research Data: The BRIGHT STAT-PACK

摘要

We have developed a new statistical analysis package for use by the clinical investigator, the clinician, and the laboratory researcher. This package attempts to implement the following philosophy: 1) the programs should be essentially self-teaching, friendly and forgiving; 2) the programs should educate the user regarding the underlying theory, assumptions, and interpretation of the statistical methods involved; 3) the programs should automatically test relevant assumptions, and warn the user when these assumptions appear to have been violated; 4) the programs should make recommendations about the availabity of alternative statistical methods, and automatically perform such analyses when indicated; 5) the programs should interpret the results, and 6) the programs should mimic, insofar as possible, the logic used in a routine, elementary, statistical consultation. Several programs have been developed, extensively tested and used.