What Do Anesthesiologists Know about p Values, Confidence Intervals, and Correlations: A Pilot Survey
Joint Authors
Boer, Christa
Bossers, Sebastiaan M.
Dong, Phi-Vu
Schwarte, Lothar A.
Schober, Patrick
Source
Anesthesiology Research and Practice
Issue
Vol. 2017, Issue 2017 (31 Dec. 2017), pp.1-5, 5 p.
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Publication Date
2017-10-12
Country of Publication
Egypt
No. of Pages
5
Main Subjects
Abstract EN
Background.
Statistical methods form the basis for clinical decision-making in evidence-based anesthesia.
Data on the knowledge of anesthesiologists about statistics are lacking.
This pilot study aims to provide a first impression of the anesthesiologists’ understanding of commonly used concepts in statistics.
Methods.
A cross-sectional pilot survey was performed at a major international anesthesia conference.
The questionnaire consisted of three basic multiple-choice questions on the topics “p value,” “confidence interval,” and “correlation.” Results of the questions are reported as percentage of correct answers (95% confidence interval).
Results.
65 questionnaires were analyzed.
Forty participants were male, and mean age was 40 (standard deviation: 10) years.
The question addressing the p value was correctly answered by 15% (95% CI: 8 to 27%) of respondents.
The question concerning the 95% confidence interval was answered correctly by 28% (95% CI: 18 to 40%) of participants.
For the question about correlation, a correct answer was given by 52% (95% CI: 40 to 64%).
None of the participants answered all questions correctly, and 19 participants provided a wrong answer to all questions.
Conclusions.
Anesthesiologists seem to demonstrate a poor understanding of statistical key concepts.
Further studies are needed to address statistical knowledge gaps among anesthesiologists more comprehensively.
American Psychological Association (APA)
Schober, Patrick& Bossers, Sebastiaan M.& Dong, Phi-Vu& Boer, Christa& Schwarte, Lothar A.. 2017. What Do Anesthesiologists Know about p Values, Confidence Intervals, and Correlations: A Pilot Survey. Anesthesiology Research and Practice،Vol. 2017, no. 2017, pp.1-5.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1125500
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Schober, Patrick…[et al.]. What Do Anesthesiologists Know about p Values, Confidence Intervals, and Correlations: A Pilot Survey. Anesthesiology Research and Practice No. 2017 (2017), pp.1-5.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1125500
American Medical Association (AMA)
Schober, Patrick& Bossers, Sebastiaan M.& Dong, Phi-Vu& Boer, Christa& Schwarte, Lothar A.. What Do Anesthesiologists Know about p Values, Confidence Intervals, and Correlations: A Pilot Survey. Anesthesiology Research and Practice. 2017. Vol. 2017, no. 2017, pp.1-5.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1125500
Data Type
Journal Articles
Language
English
Notes
Includes bibliographical references
Record ID
BIM-1125500