Accurate understanding of certain basic statistical terms and principles is key to critical appraisal of published literature.
Objective:
This review describes type I error, type II error, null hypothesis, p value, statistical significance, a, two-tailed and one-tailed tests, effect size, alternate hypothesis, statistical power, β, publication bias, confidence interval, standard error, and standard deviation, while including examples from reports of dermatologic studies.
Conclusion:
The application of the results of published studies to individual patients should be informed by an understanding of certain basic statistical concepts.
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