Connect
MJA
MJA

Guided by the research design: choosing the right statistical test

Alissa Beath and Michael P Jones
Med J Aust 2018; 208 (4): . || doi: 10.5694/mja17.00422
Published online: 5 March 2018

Choosing the right statistical test or model can be baffling for researchers, and if it is not conducted correctly, the results from statistical analyses can be misleading. This article covers some common medical research designs, ranging from simple to more complicated, and provides an outline of which statistical test to apply in each instance. In these contexts, data are collected from a sample that is assumed to be representative of a wider population, and the conclusions drawn from the analyses apply to the wider population.1


  • Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW


Correspondence: alissa.beath@mq.edu.au

Series Editors

John R Attia

Michael P Jones


Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Jones MP, Attia JR. Sampling: how you choose people is as important as how you analyse their data. Med J Aust 2017; 206: 67-68. <MJA full text>
  • 2. Lindsey JK, Lambert P. On the appropriateness of marginal models for repeated measurements in clinical trials. Stat Med 1998; 17: 447-469.
  • 3. Hubbard AE, Ahern J, Fleischer NL, et al. To GEE or not to GEE: comparing population average and mixed models for estimating the associations between neighborhood risk factors and health. Epidemiology 2010; 21: 467-474.
  • 4. Cnaan A, Laird N, Slasor P. Using the general linear mixed model to analyse unbalanced repeated measures and longitudinal data. Stat Med 1997; 16: 2349-2380.
  • 5. Goldstein H. Multilevel mixed linear model analysis using iterative generalized least squares. Biometrika 1986; 73: 43-56.
  • 6. Sullivan GM, Feinn R. Using effect size — or why the P value is not enough. J Grad Med Educ 2012; 4: 279-282.
  • 7. Dobson AJ, Barnett A. An introduction to generalized linear models; 3rd ed. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2008.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.