Principles of Statistics
Abstract
Understanding the results and statistics reported in original research remains a large challenge for many sports medicine practitioners and, in turn, may be among one of the biggest barriers to integrating research into sports medicine practice. The purpose of this article is to provide minimal essentials a sports medicine practitioner needs to know about interpreting statistics and research results to facilitate the incorporation of the latest evidence into practice. Topics covered include the difference between statistical significance and clinical meaningfulness; effect sizes and confidence intervals; reliability statistics, including the minimal detectable difference and minimal important difference; and statistical power.
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Focusing on the magnitude and precision of differences, instead of making decisions based on p-value thresholds, reduces the likelihood of spurious findings.
“Focusing on the magnitude and precision of differences, instead making decisions based on p-value thresholds, reduces the likelihood of spurious findings (72,73).”
From The devil is in the details: Reporting and transparent research practices in sports medicine and orthopedic clinical trials (2021) · cites this paper as [73]
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References 21 · Cited by 71
- Authors
- Riemann, B. L., & Lininger, M. R.
- Affiliations
- Georgia Southern University (US)
- Northern Arizona University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Riemann, Bryan L.
- Venue
- Clinics in Sports Medicine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 375-386
- ISSN
- 0278-5919 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2809285794
- Cited by
- 71
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 5.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Clinics in Sports Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Epidemiology
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty › Meta-analysis and systematic reviews
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Sports Science and Education
- Keywords
- statistical interpretation, sports medicine research, statistical significance, clinical meaningfulness, effect size, confidence intervals, reliability statistics, minimal detectable difference, minimal important difference, statistical power, evidence-based practice
- MeSH terms
- Data Interpretation, Statistical, Humans, Research, Sports Medicine, Confidence Intervals
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