1.

The Use of Statistics in Medical Research: A Comparison of The

New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine

There is broad proof of the broad utilization of factual systems in therapeutic

exploration. In any case, benchmarks are for the most part low and a developing
collection of writing focuses to factual blunders in most therapeutic diaries. On the
other hand, there is no far-reaching study differentiating the top medicinal diaries of
fundamental and clinical science for late practice in their utilization of
measurements. All unique examination articles in Volume 10, Numbers 1-6 of
Nature Medicine (Nat Med) and Volume 350, Numbers 1-26 of The New England
Journal of Medicine (NEJM) were screened for their measurable substance. Sorts,
frequencies, and intricacy of connected measurable strategies were deliberately
recorded. A 46-thing agenda was utilized to assess factual quality for a subgroup of
papers. 94.5 percent (95% CI 87.6-98.2) of NEJM articles and 82.4 percent (95% CI
65.5-93.2) of Nat Med articles contained inferential insights. NEJM papers were
essentially more inclined to utilize progressed measurable systems (p < 0.0001).
Measurable mistakes were distinguished in a significant extent of articles, in spite of
the fact that not generally genuine in nature. Documentation of connected
measurable techniques was by and large poor and inadequate, especially in Nat
Med. Contrasted with 1983, a tremendous increment in use and unpredictability of
factual routines could be watched for NEJM papers. This does not as a matter of
course remain constant for Nat Med papers, as the consequences of the study
demonstrate that essential science stays with fundamental examination. As
measurable blunders appear to stay regular in restorative writing, closer regard for
factual philosophy ought to be truly considered to raise norms.

The Use of Statistics in Medical Research: A Comparison of The New England

Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine
Strasak, Alexander M; Zaman, Qamruz; Marinell, Gerhard; Pfeiffer, Karl P; Ulmer,
Hanno. The American Statistician 61.1 (Feb 2007): 47-55.
1. Abstract/Details

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Abstract
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There is widespread evidence of the extensive use of statistical methods in medical
research. Just the same, standards are generally low and a growing body of literature
points to statistical errors in most medical journals. However, there is no
comprehensive study contrasting the top medical journals of basic and clinical
science for recent practice in their use of statistics. All original research articles in
Volume 10, Numbers 1-6 of Nature Medicine (Nat Med) and Volume 350, Numbers
1-26 of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) were screened for their
statistical content. Types, frequencies, and complexity of applied statistical methods
were systematically recorded. A 46-item checklist was used to evaluate statistical
quality for a subgroup of papers. 94.5 percent (95% CI 87.6-98.2) of NEJM articles
and 82.4 percent (95% CI 65.5-93.2) of Nat Med articles contained
inferential statistics. NEJM papers were significantly more likely to use advanced
statistical methods (p < 0.0001). Statistical errors were identified in a considerable
proportion of articles, although not always serious in nature.
Documentation of applied statistical methods was generally poor and insufficient,
particularly in Nat Med. Compared to 1983, a vast increase in usage and
complexity of statistical methods could be observed for NEJM papers. This does not
necessarily hold true for Nat Med papers, as the results of the study indicate that
basic science sticks with basic analysis. As statistical errors seem to remain common
in medical literature, closer attention to statistical methodology should be seriously
considered to raise standards.

2. The nature and role of statistics in the business school

curriculum
The purpose of this study was to investigate the statistics curriculum at AACSBaccredited business programs. The results show that 72.8% of the responding
universities were providing undergraduate students with the opportunity to take two
statistics courses, and 69.3% also provided a graduate level course in statistics. The
most commonly taught topics in the introductory undergraduate course were
descriptive statistics, probability distribution, hypothesis testing, and tables and
charts. The second course tended to concentrate on multivariate techniques.
In 1993 the AACSB (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business)
stipulated that the undergrad business educational modules ought to have a general
instruction segment that makes up no less than half of an understudy's degree
program. As schools reevaluate their projects to meet this necessity, they are
checking on conventional center business courses to decide their quality in light of
this expanded accentuation on general training. A few courses, including
measurements course prerequisites, are being considered for end to make space for
others outside the business educational modules or courses with more noteworthy
spotlight on correspondence. Nonetheless, an in number contention for holding
insights is the AACSB prerequisite that the undergrad educational programs
incorporate establishment courses in an assortment of territories, including
arithmetic and measurements (AACSB, 1993). The prerequisites don't obviously
characterize what constitutes a satisfactory establishment, with the understanding of
the rule being left to a great extent to the individual school's circumspection. A late
investigation of AACSB schools (Levine, 1992) found that at the undergrad level
61.9% required 1 semester of measurements, 30.6% required two semesters, 0.7%
required none, and 6.8% reacted with "other." At the MBA level, 90% required a
center level course in factual techniques.

Another issue to be considered in deciding the part insights courses ought to take
in a business degree project is the subject of which topical territories ought to be
taught. A distinguishing proof of the basic points that ought to be incorporated into
the undergrad measurements educational modules will decide the quantity of
courses required and maybe give understanding into the office and/or school in
which insights ought to be taught.
Further the teaching content, method and data analysis of statistics in a business
degree program are discussed.
In spite of the fact that the present study gives data with respect to the cutting edge
in the educating of measurements, it has certain restrictions. In the first place, in
spite of the fact that the study is exploratory in nature, the examination just
approached respondents for their view of the significance of different subjects and
whether they incorporated those themes in their courses. These discernments and
their recollections could be obfuscated by some type of attractive quality
inclination, which could impact their reactions with respect to which points are
incorporated and which are most vital in the course. In spite of the fact that this is a
typical deficiency of study research, the discoveries do give knowledge into the
impression of significance and consideration from the suppliers' points of view. A
second restriction is that the concentrate just evaluated the impression of AACSB
educators, who, one could contend, speak to just a minority of the considerable
number of schools and colleges occupied with showing business measurements. By
and by, on the grounds that these instructors may be portrayed as fitting in with the
more elite class of advanced education, they ought to be the ones most mindful of
applicable changes and necessities in business training.
Future examination ought to address these confinements. The specimen and
information gathering configuration could likewise be changed both to extend the
example and to build the reaction rate. Future studies may incorporate the view of
business college graduates; truth be told, graduates could be overviewed in a
longitudinal study to survey their utilization of measurements and their suppositions
as their vocations progress.

The nature and role of statistics in the business school curriculum

Parker, R Stephen ; Petition, Charles E ; Keillor, Bruce D . Journal of
Education for Business 75.1 (Sep/Oct 1999): 51-54.
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Abstract
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the statistics curriculum at AACS1B-accredited business programs.
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ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to investigate the statistics curriculum
at AACSB-accredited business programs. The results show that 72.8% of the
responding universities were providing undergraduate students with the opportunity
to take two statistics courses, and 69.3% also provided a graduate level course in
statistics. The most commonly taught topics in the introductory undergraduate
course were descriptive statistics, probability distribution, hypothesis testing, and
tables and charts. The second course tended to concentrate on multivariate
techniques.
In 1993 the AACSB (American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business)
stipulated that the undergraduate business curriculum should have a general
education component that makes up at least 50% of a student's degree program. As
schools reexamine their programs to meet this requirement, they are reviewing
traditional core business courses to determine their value in light of this increased

emphasis on general education. Some courses, including statistics course

requirements, are being considered for elimination to make room for others outside
the business curriculum or courses with greater focus on communication. However,
a strong argument for retaining statistics is the AACSB requirement that the
undergraduate curriculum include foundation courses in a variety of areas, including
mathematics and statistics (AACSB, 1993). The requirements do not clearly define
what constitutes an adequate foundation, with the interpretation of the guideline
being left largely to the individual school's discretion. A recent study ofAACSB
schools (Levine, 1992) found that at the undergraduate level 61.9% required 1
semester of statistics, 30.6% required two semesters, 0.7% required none, and 6.8%
responded with "other." At the MBA level, 90% required a core-level
course in statistical methods.
Another issue to be considered in determining the role statistics courses should
take in a business degree program is the question of which topical areas should be
taught. An identification of the critical topics that should be included in the
undergraduate statistics curriculum will help determine the number of courses
needed and perhaps provide insight into the department and/or
college in which statistics should be taught. For example, if the topics are
primarily business-oriented and applied, it would seem that statistics should be
centered in the business school. If the topics are theory driven and math based, it
could be argued that any mathematics-based department could logically teach the
course(s). To that end, the purpose of this research was to explore the topic areas
that AACSB-accredited institutions believe to be most
important in a statistics curriculum.
Statistics in a Business Degree Program
Teaching Content
In attempting to match current statistics course topics with
practical business relevance, Guiffrida (1990) indicated that quality assurance is
one of the most vital topics for business students to understand. Unfortunately, it is
also a topic to which most students receive very little exposure as
part of their statistics education. If this is a generalizable example of an
area of importance in the business community that is presently not being taught in
statistics courses, the obvious question is, what is being taught in
business school statistics? A study conducted by Levine (1992) found the top five
topics covered in undergraduate statistic courses to be (a) estimation and hypothesis
testing (99.2%); (b) probability distribution (96.8%); (c) linear regression and
correlation (94.4%); (d) descriptive statistics (93.7%); and (e) tables and charts
(77.8%). Other topics covered, in descending order, were multiple regression
(65.1%), exploratory data analysis (60.3%), statistical software (59.5%),
analysis of variance (57.9%), nonparametric (42.9%), time series (40.5%), Bayesian

decision-making (27%), quality and productivity (26.2%), experimental design

(22.2%), and other miscellaneous topics (19.8%). Subjects directly related
to business situations (e.g., quality assurance) and the application of traditional
teaching techniques in a decision context were conspicuous by their absence. The
Levine study found only 26.2% of courses covered quality and productivity; the
topic ranked 13th out of 15 topics included in the study. In a more recent study
(Stressed & Ozgur, 1995), hypothesis testing received the greatest
proportion of coverage, with most courses covering binomial and normal
distributions. Again, a vast majority of the respondents did not cover quality control,
Bayesian decisionmaking, nonparametric, index numbers, and multivariate statistics
in any real-world, application-oriented context.
Method
The sample used in this study consisted of respondents from schools holding at least
undergraduate accreditation from the AACSB. Schools holding this
level of accreditation are generally considered to have the highest level of
business education in terms of academics, as well as an established track
record of meeting the needs of the business community. Of the U.S. educational
institutions offering at least a 4-year undergraduate degree program in business,
only 311 hold AACSB accreditation. We mailed a questionnaire to the dean of each
school and asked them to forward the questionnaire to an individual familiar with
the statistics offerings at their school (e.g., a department chair; full professor; etc.).
The initial contacts were established through deans because (a) these individuals
were more easily identified than a knowledgeable faculty member at each of the 311
institutions, and (b) we thought we could increase the response rate substantially by
providing the deans with a summary of the results in return for a completed and
usable survey instrument. The survey instrument inquired about 17 specific
statistical topics based on (a) the topic being taught, (b) the number of courses
addressing these topics at the undergraduate level, (c) the topics in courses offered
at the graduate level, and (d) the importance of these topics to
the business community. A total of 114 questionnaires were returned, resulting in a
response rate of 36.7%.
Although the response rate seemed satisfactory given the nature of the survey, we
dealt with the issue of nonresponse bias through the procedure outlined by
Armstrong and Overton (1977). Each response was placed in a quartile based on the
order in which it was received. A series of t tests were conducted on responses to
individual questions to determine if statistically significant differences existed
between early respondents in the first quartile and later respondents represented by
the fourth quartile. No statistical differences between these two groups were
revealed.
Data Analysis

The results of the study indicate that 83 (72.8%) of the responding universities
provided undergraduate students with two statistics courses and 79 (69.3%)
provided a graduate level statistics course. These findings support the notion that the
majority of the respondents at AACSB universities believe that statistics is an
important tool course that should be a part of their core business offerings.
Further, of the 17 statistical topics examined, there seemed to be a rather clear
separation of topics by level of the course. In Table l, we show the topic areas
taught in each statistics course.
The most commonly taught topics in the introductory course (Statistics 1) included
descriptive statistics (97.2%), probability distribution (95.5%), estimation and
hypothesis testing (90.9%), and tables and charts (90.0%). Other topics generally
covered (over 50%) in the Statistics 1 course were statistical software, exploratory
data analysis, and linear regression and correlation. Though other topics were
occasionally noted, they were reported as receiving much less coverage in the
first statistics course.
Respondents indicated that the second course (Statistics 2) tended to concentrate on
higher level, or multivariate, techniques such as multiple regressions (89.2%), linear
regression and correlation (83. No), statistical software (80.7%),
analysis of variance (73.5%), and the use of technology applications in problem
solving. Time series and estimation and hypothesis testing were the only other
topics covered by at least 50% of the responding universities. Some of the topics
reportedly covered in the Statistics 1 course also were given coverage, in some
cases, but the overall percentage of respondents noting those topics was relatively
small. Graduate programs tended to cover a wide range of topics, with 10 of our
list of 17 covered by more than 50% of the responding universities, likely because
graduate level business statistics courses are frequently part of the master's of
business administration course work and contain a substantial review component.
The second area covered in this study, the level of importance
that statistics professors believed each topic has to the business community, was
measured through a 5-point Likert scale ranging from I (not important) to 5 (very
important). The results of this portion of the questionnaire appear in Table 2.
Of the 17 topics examined, eight received mean ratings of 4.00 or better, indicating
that they were viewed as being of relatively high importance to
the business community. These topics were, in order of importance,
descriptive statistics, linear regression and correlation, tables and charts, multiple
regression, estimation and hypothesis testing, statistical software, quality and
productivity, and time series. The other nine topics were rated less important to
the business community and ranged from exploratory data analysis (3.87) to factor
analysis (2.32). Perhaps as a result of this perceived importance, five of the eight
topics most highly rated (i.e., descriptive statistics. linear regression, tables and

charts, estimation and hypothesis testing, and statistical software) are generally
covered in the Statistics 1 course. Two other topics (multiple regression and time
series) were reported to be covered in the Statistics 2 course. Only quality and
productivity, which received a 4.16 rating, was included by less than 50% of the
respondents in either the Statistics I or Statistics 2 course.
Discussion
An interpretation of the findings may lead to some interesting implications. First,
when subjects that professors regarded as most important are compared with the
topics most frequently included in their courses, some differences are obvious. For
example, probability distribution was identified as being included in almost
96% of the introductory statistics courses, yet it was only tenth in its rating on
importance (X (over scored) = 3.76). Further, linear regression and correlation was
identified as the second most important topic (X (over scored) = 4.48), and multiple
regression was identified as the fourth most important (X = 4.26); yet these two
topics were ranked seventh (53.6%) and tenth (20.0%) in terms of their
inclusion in the introductory statistics course. These deviations may be interpreted
to indicate conflicting conclusions. The first conclusion, which seems most
plausible to us, is that two statistics courses may be necessary. This conclusion is
based on the premise that the first course must provide the basics of statistics,
regardless of their importance in future applications. It seems myopic to suggest that
because the topic of probability distribution received only a
rank of tenth in importance it should not be included in the
introductory statistics course. Without it, students would have little
comprehension of the foundation for much of their future statistical analyses. A
similar conclusion could be drawn regarding exploratory data analysis, as its
exclusion could arguably undermine the basis for much of the logic and theory that
follows. Yet, as any professor recognizes, a limited resource in the
introductory statistics course is almost always time; there are too many critical
subjects to discuss and too little time
Conversely, one could reasonably argue that too much time is devoted to the
theory of statistics and too little to its practice. Though we may disagree with this
particular conclusion, its logic may be deserving of some discussion. The findings
indicate that the most important topics seem to be related to the practice of
statistics (i.e., descriptive statistics, linear regression, tables and charts, multiple
regression, etc.). These topics could be emphasized to the exclusion of more
theoretical topics (i.e., probability distribution, estimation and hypothesis testing,
nonparametric statistics), and the student may still be able to obtain valuable
information that could be applied in the business community.
As stated, we believe that these findings provide a persuasive argument for a
second statistics course. A failure to provide the students with the basic foundation

knowledge necessary could result in the misapplication and

misinterpretation of many powerful statistical tools. Ideally, two statistics courses
could be required, early in the student's academic career. The first course would
build a strong foundation in the basic theory for future practical endeavors that
could then be discussed in the second statistics course. Although it is recognized
that the cost of this strategy may be considerable in terms of both faculty resources
and short-term student desires, the potential payoffs may be quite high in a society
that not only has the means to analyze massive amounts of data, but also often
requires businesses to use such data to avoid failure.
This strategy would coincide with the sentiment that students with a solid statistical
background may be more appealing to business employers. This line of thought
seems to be supported by Sneer (1993), who recommended that both the content and
the delivery of statistical education be revised to include a greater emphasis on
topics such as data collection, graphical display of data, experiments, surveys, and
problem solving. He further noted that experiential learning techniques, as well as
the use of a combination of both left-brain styles (reading, lectures, and exercises)
and right-brain styles (visual aids, experiments, and projects) should increase
students' interest in the subject matter.
Though the current study provides information regarding the state of the art in the
teaching of statistics, it has certain limitations. First, although the study is
exploratory in nature, the research only asked respondents for their
perceptions of the importance of various topics and whether they included those
topics in their courses. These perceptions and their memories could be clouded by
some form of desirability bias, which could influence their responses regarding
which topics are included and which are most important in the course. Though this
is a common shortcoming of survey research, the findings do provide insight into
the perceptions of importance and inclusion from the providers' perspectives. A
second limitation is that the study only assessed the perceptions of AACSB
professors, who, one could argue, represent only a minority of all the colleges and
universities engaged in teaching business statistics. Nevertheless, because these
educators may be described as belonging to the upper echelon of higher education,
they should be the ones most aware of relevant changes and requirements in
business education.
Future research should address these limitations. The sample and data collection
design could also be changed both to expand the sample and to increase the
response rate. Future studies might include the perceptions of business school
graduates; in fact, graduates could be surveyed in a longitudinal study to assess their
use of statistics and their opinions as their careers progress.