Research methodology in dentistry: Part II — The relevance of statistics in research

摘要

The lifeline of original research depends on adept statistical analysis. However, there have been reports of statistical misconduct in studies that could arise from the inadequate understanding of the fundamental of statistics. There have been several reports on this across medical and dental literature. This article aims at encouraging the reader to approach statistics from its logic rather than its theoretical perspective. The article also provides information on statistical misuse in the Journal of Conservative Dentistry between the years 2008 and 2011Keywords: Normal distribution, P value, research methodology, standard deviation, standard error, sample size