This section provides advice on common fallacies and errors to avoid in the use and interpretation of statistics. Study design is also considered in details and resources are offered to help you identify in simple terms their relative limitations and benefits. This should help you, not only in identifying the best possible design for your own study but also, in providing a sound critical review of your own study methodology. It is a good idea to consider this section before launching into your own study.  As you should note from some of the examples provided, you need not assume that study design and reporting of statistics in clinical journals are infallible.

Avoiding bad practice in statistics and exploring study design by Margaret MacDougall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.