Statistics with Confidence

Douglas Altman FMedSci was an English statistician best known for his work on improving the reliability and reporting of medical research and for highly cited papers on statistical methodology. David Machin is Professor of Media and Communication at örebro University, Sweden. He has published numerous books and journal papers mostly drawing on linguistic methods.

Contributors viii

Source of Contents ix

Introduction xi
Douglas G. Altman, David Machin, Trevor N. Bryant

PART I: ESTIMATION AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS

1 Estimating with Confidence 3
Martin J. Gardner, Douglas G. Altman

2 Confidence Intervals in Practice 6
Douglas G. Altman

3 Confidence Intervals Rather Than P Values 15
Marin J. Gardner, Douglas G. Altman

4 Means and Their Differences 28
Douglas G. Altman, Martin J. Gardner

5 Medians and Their Differences 36
Michael J. Campbell, Martin J. Gardner

6 Proportions and Their Differences 45
Robert G. Newcombe, Douglas G. Altman

7 Epidemiological Studies 57
Julie A Morris, Martin J. Gardner

8 Regression and Correlation 73
Douglas G. Altman, Martin J. Gardner

9 Time to Event Studies 93
David Machin, Martin J. Gardner

10 Diagnostic Tests 105
Douglas G. Altman

11 Clinical Trials and Meta-Analyses 120
Douglas G. Altman

12 Confidence Intervals and Sample Sizes 139
Leslie E. Daly

13 Special Topics 153
Michael J. Campbell, Leslie E. Daly, David Machin

PART II: STATISTICAL GUIDELINES AND CHECKLISTS

14 Statistical Guidelines for Contributors to Medical Journals 171
Douglas G. Altman, Sheila M. Gore, Martin J. Gardner, Stuart J. Pocock

15 Statistical Checklists 191
Martin J. Gardner, David Machin, Michael J. Campbell, Douglas G. Altman

PART III. NOTATION, SOFTWARE, AND TABLES

16 Notation 205
Douglas G. Altman

17 Computer Software for Calculating Confidence Intervals (CIA) 208
Trevor N. Bryant

18 Tables for the Calculation of Confidence Intervals 214
Martin J. Gardner

Index 233