School of Dentistry: Evidence-Based Practice: Understanding Statistics

Statistics: 1           : a branch of mathematics dealing with the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of masses of numerical data

1. 2:  a collection of quantitative data

                                                                                                                             -Merriam Webster online​

Other terms used in discussing and using statistics:

variance :  expressed as standard deviation, represents the average distance of each score from the mean

frequency distribution :  commonness of the values of a variable (how often it occurs in the data set)

​dispersion: the scattering of the values of a frequency distribution from the mean

range : difference between the least and greatest values of the variable of a frequency distribution

The Electronic Statistics Textbook

• offers training in the understanding and application of statistics and data mining
• covers a wide variety of applications, including laboratory research (biomedical, agricultural, etc.), business statistics, credit scoring, forecasting, social science statistics and survey research, data mining, engineering and quality control applications

The Normal Distribution Empirical Rule
*Provides an estimation of the spread of data given the mean and standard deviation of a data set that follows the standard, normal distribution

Faculty recommended video: "Choosing a Statistical Test"

"

Five tutorials provide illustrative understanding of statistical concepts including null-hypothesis, p-value and confidence intervals.  Click on the graphic below to access:

click on the graphic below: "Interpreting a Forest Plot of a meta-analysis"

     - created and presented by Dr. D. Slawson for CIS Clinical Information Sciences

All videos have close captioning available and are outside links.