Twenty-one of the respondents (6.77%) did not respond to the question. Teachers of medical statistics have recommended that the focus should be on interpretation and understanding of concepts, and Regorafenib clinical trial that mathematical formulae and calculation must be kept to a minimum.[10�C12] Doctors engaging in research are expected to perform statistical analyses themselves or consult with a statistician right from the beginning of the research project.[13] Two hundred and sixty-three (84.8%) respondents in this study said that they took the help of the statistician for data analysis. The respondents gave various responses to the question on the stage at which they would seek a statistician’s help. Doctors�� statistical training needs may have changed due to advances in information technology and the increasing emphasis on evidence-based medicine.
[13] Biostatistical methods make research scientific if they are used from the stage of planning of the research itself. Unbiased, consistent, and efficient parameter estimates are provided by correct use of statistics. This is possible by applying statistics from the planning stage until the end of the study. So it is necessary to consult statisticians at each and every stage of the study. Only 97 (31.29%) respondents in this study felt that the use of statistics is required from the stage of planning of the proposal, the remaining respondents felt that the help of a statistician is required only after data collection is completed, after tabulating the data, or after analysis��for interpretation and to check the significance of findings.
Those who would not seek the statistician’s help from the stage of planning seemed to be more interested in the ��P value.�� The respondents mentioned various reasons for not seeking a statistician’s help, of which the most common were lack of awareness regarding the need for consulting a statistician from the beginning of the research and the nonavailability of a statistician at their institute. Some of the respondents mentioned that they would be capable of doing it themselves by referring to books and the internet and by discussion with colleagues. Harry Robinson et al. found in their study that students who preferred learning by self-instruction did as well or better in terms of exam grades than their colleagues taking lectures.
[14] Actually researcher have to calculate sample size appropriately, either himself/herself or with the help of statistician by examining previous studies (i.e. references or review of literature), with suitable error, with certain significance level and suitable power of the test; but some researchers take 25, 30, Batimastat 50 or 100 as the sample size without referring to other studies. In this study, half of the respondents (158; 50.97%) did not calculate sample size appropriately.
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