Increasingly, health and social care environments require occupational therapists to demonstrate cost and clinical effectiveness and appropriate outcome measurement of services, the importance of which has been discussed previously in this journal (de Clive-Lowe, 1996). Therapists may be required to select objective tools which can provide data to enhance their qualitative observations of client performance. It is argued that today's therapists require a working knowledge of statistical concepts (Drummond, 1996).
This article attempts to provide an introduction to the main statistical concepts that underpin the selection and interpretation of data, from tools that have been designed to measure various aspects of work performance. The information provided is intended to be useful in assisting therapists to make informed decisions about the clinical applicability of a particular tool.
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