Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Education and Research

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VOLUME 54 , ISSUE 2 ( April-June, 2020 ) > List of Articles

BIOSTATISTICS SERIES

Statistics Corner: Reporting Descriptive Statistics

Rakesh Kapoor

Citation Information : Kapoor R. Statistics Corner: Reporting Descriptive Statistics. J Postgrad Med Edu Res 2020; 54 (2):66-68.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10028-1364

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 11-10-2020

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2020; The Author(s).


Abstract

Reality check Most of the studies in medical research collect raw data. However, raw data need to be processed and presented in meaningful numerical summaries to get information. Data processing can be broadly segmented into descriptive and inferential statistics. There are various descriptive measures to report data. However, the mean and standard deviation are the most popular reporting measures. Therefore, many times, investigator face dilemmas to either report mean and SD or some other appropriate descriptive measures? • Are there any guidelines to report descriptive measure? • What are the best descriptive measures to report continuous data? • What are the best descriptive measures to report ordinal data? • What are the best descriptive measures to report nominal data?


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